The festivities began the first weekend back, with multiple opportunities to socialize with amigos around Portland. We talked to lots of people, ate good food, and drank good drinks. When the partying was over, Julia began a 5-week stretch of part-time temporary work for her former company that provided a nice income and a chance to work with her old coworkers.
For Christmas, we split time between Kelso and Portland, opening gifts and distributing Central American souvenirs. We got to spend time with all of our immediate family and were shocked to see how much my niece and nephews have grown in the past year. We were also glad that nobody had forgotten who we where.
For New Years, we spent 3 nights with friends at a cabin near Mt Adams in the small town of Glenwood. The large snow covered property was perfect for light snowshoeing and for dogs to run around. We ate a lot of food and played a lot of games. The views of Mt Adams were spectacular with perfectly clear skies most of the time. On our last day (Sunday the 3rd), snow began to fall and accompanied us all the way back into Portland. We briefly drove along the Historic Columbia River Highway and stopped at Multnomah Falls to see the majestic cascade surrounded by ice.
snowshoeing around the property
After the holidays, we moved into another friends house on the westside of town to be closer to Julia's work. I began the project of refinishing an old school desk for them and I also did some work at another friend's house installing insulation. It felt good to be busy and it was great to be able to spend some extended time with good friends and to be able to get to know their young kids as well.
Over the past week, we have driven all of Julia's family to the airport so that they could fly down to Nicaragua without us. We are a little jealous right now as the weather here has been less than ideal. We have also begun the process of moving our possessions out of our storage unit and into Lucas & Tarah's basement. This has given us a chance to go through our things and get rid of stuff that the past year has taught us we do not need.
We are also setting things aside for the coming weeks of travel that await us. First up is a road trip to Missoula, Montana by way of Spokane. We will visit with Julia's extended family and see her good friends that live out that way. It will be a fun snow filled trip and a chance to test out the car that we have put mucho dinero into over the past 6 weeks.
Next up will be a 3 weeks stint in Eugene beginning February 1st for Julia to do some more fill-in work. We have rented an apartment on Airbnb and have stolen (borrowed) some cookware from the Smetana parents. The change of scenery will be nice despite the fact it is the home of the University of Oregon and I am an Oregon State University Beaver down to the bone. Rumor is they have a terrific ramen restaurant that we will have to try.
After all of that, the next trip is a little less in stone. The plan is for Julia to find travel work in the Flagstaff, Arizona area beginning in March that will keep us away for 13 weeks. But we can talk more about that later when we know more. For now, we just know that we will enjoy some road trips and visit some peoples.
Being back has been nice and it is hard to believe that just 6 weeks ago we were laying by the infinity pool, staring at the blue Pacific Ocean. We know that we are not done traveling to exotic places and will allow our minds to dream of playing on the beaches of Vietnam or hiking through the mountains of Nepal.
