So, we sold our house (read all about it).

The plan was to head off to Europe for as long as possible, but not in the heat of summer. Because the house sold literally smack dab in the heat of summer, we decided to travel around the US a bit to visit family and friends.

We left the Seattle area on August 12^th, mostly bright and early. Ok, not that early. We had to get the rest of our worldly possessions and donations packed into the car. One last stop at the charity where most of our belongings will be sold to good homes (I hope), and we were off, but not before stopping for breakfast at a place we’d had our eye on for a while. Couzin’s Café in Kirkland.  Lived up to the hype. It was one of the best scrambles I’ve ever had.

Our first stop was Portland, Oregon. The first thing we did was get totally lost going to the place where I was going to donate my wedding dress. Eventually it all worked out and we checked into our AirBnB. We stayed in a basement apartment which was really nice. The only weird thing is that we never actually met our hosts, who lived upstairs. We’ve stayed in plenty of places where we haven’t met our host (ok, I guess only 3 so far), but that’s because they were in South America, or somewhere else for work. Admittedly this was a little weird, but the place was nice and we had a good time exploring the neighborhood. No complaints (except for the outdoor temperatures). We stayed in Portland for a week, sampling ALL the beer. Portland is great for beer. And other stuff, but mostly beer. And we got to see my college buddy, Sharon and her husband Dave. That was good fun, except that the restaurant where we had dinner wouldn’t let me eat the yummiest looking burger I’ve ever seen because we weren’t sitting in the bar area. Anyways, it was awesome to see Sharon & Dave. That was the important part. We don’t get to see them enough (maybe we will make Portland our home in the future?).

Then we went further south to visit Husband’s family in southern Oregon. Stayed there about a week, got to see Crater Lake (amazing!) and probably drank a lot more beer. It was also eleventy billion degrees, but it was really nice to spend extra time with his family. The one downside of this part of the country (not specific to this town) is the lack of places to walk. Mostly because there aren’t sidewalks. We spent a few days risking our lives along the highway from Husband’s mom’s house to the little town. It was terrifying. We definitely need to work out a better plan for walking when we visit.

We decided to go the long way back and make a stop in Pendleton, Oregon, where our good friends are opening up a little distillery (Oregon Grain Growers Brand Distillers – check them out).

It’s a bit of a haul, so we spent the night on the way in Bend. Cute town on the river. I really liked it. Bend has some serious parks department budget! Wow. We also had some delicious beer and a little break from the heat.

In Pendleton, we got to see the still in action, which was really cool. It was great to see the Bullingtons too. We had a lot of fun and some good beer as well.

We were going to “swing by” Leavenworth (see driving directions from Pendleton to Seattle… there is no “swinging by” Leavenworth) to see our friends, Sarah and Cale, but they were close to having to evacuate because of a forest fire, so we opted to head straight back to Seattle.

We stayed with my mom for a few days, before heading off to visit my sister and her kids in Nashville. Never been to Nashville before. Oh yeah, it’s early September now, so it’s literally hotter than hell in Nashville (I was warned, but the timing didn’t work out to come at a better time of year). Literally. And muggy as fuck. And the worst bugs ever. I had so many bites!! It was really fun to see my sister and her family in their new digs. The kids are adorable and we had a good time hanging out with them. We also explored the budding Nashville micro-brew scene, which has some good bright spots. It’s pretty young and they have some wacky laws to deal with, so hopefully it will continue to get better.

After another quick pit stop in Seattle with my mom, we jetted off to California for a whirlwind trip from south to north. It was our first trip to LA together, which was fun. We stayed with my brother and his family in Altadena. They have an awesome house with an even awesomer pool and backyard (with a gas powered fire pit… which is great for roasting marshmallows and eating smores with the niece and nephew.)

We went to LA and ate ourselves silly (and let’s face it, we tried some beer too) at Philippe’s French Dip place and the Grand Central Market (we tried going to Egg Slut, but the line was ridiculous, so we settled for some fantastic carnitas). We had a lovely dinner with Peter and Victoria at a fancy Italian place that was very tasty (and where my math skills were tested with the bill).

I also got to see my friend, Ingrid (we spent junior year abroad in Italy together). We ate (I’m seeing a trend here…) at this Mexican/French fusion place. So good!! Omg. Highly recommend. We even got in with no line, which is crazy. I was told there would be a line. We got to meet her horse, Walden too. But it was hotter than balls, so we cut the visit a little short.

We had drinks and lunch with our good friends from Seattle, who have since relocated to SoCal, Victor & Gigi. Always fun to see those two crazy kids. They are loving California, but I really hope they eventually move back to Seattle, so we can see them more often (we probably aren’t going to settle in California, especially the southern part — too hot!!).

On our way out of town, naturally we ate some more food at the Farmer’s Market. We had excellent chilaquiles, which I’d never heard of in my life. They are fantastic. Basically tortilla chips dipped in a delicious mole or other sauce, fried a little bit and topped with meat and a runny egg. Holy shit, how did I live 45 29 years without trying these before???

We stopped in Ojai to see my god mother (and my mom’s best friend), Patty and her family. It was a one nighter and we got to see most of her boys (ok, I guess only half of them). I hadn’t seen most of them in probably 30 years, which was weird, but we had a nice but very short visit with everyone.

Then on to Santa Barbara where we visited my friends, Kerry and Alessandra. I hadn’t seen them since 2001, I think, so we had a nice time catching up, having lunch, and a fabulous dinner made by Ale. She made us wonderful hand-made pasta. It was soooo good. Again, a very quick visit, but wonderful to see old friends.

Funny side story — a bajillion years ago, Kerry left the US and moved to Italy for a while. I didn’t remember this, but I loaned him my college Italian textbook. Kerry kept it the whole time and returned it to me when we were there. Here is a picture of it.

There isn’t a whole lot on the coast between Santa Barbara and San Francisco (city-wise), so we stopped in Monterey for two nights. The drive up the coast is spectacular! I don’t remember ever doing that drive before (although it’s possible it happened when I was a child). We had a nice two day visit in Monterey. Not much to write about, but, yes, we found a good place for beer.

Last stop on the US tour was San Francisco and Mill Valley to see Liza, Howard, and Mackenzie, who happened to be in town (she’s living in Italy now, you guys. Soooo envious). We had a lovely visit with good food and too much booze. Mill Valley is a cute little town that has all sorts of staircases that lead from the hills/houses down into the town. Kind of reminds me of Modica, Sicily, actually. We can’t wait to see the Garfield/Grey’s at Christmas in Italy. That will be fun!!

We flew back to Seattle and stayed with my mom again until we set off for London on October 9^th (and yes, we finally made it to Leavenworth to drink beer, eat pizza, and see Sarah & Cale).

Two final things — On a weather-related note, I think we can safely assume if we are visiting your city, there will be record-breaking hot temperatures. That happened everywhere we went. No joke. Sorry in advance.

Secondly, thank you so much to all our family and friends who let us stay in their houses, cook in their kitchens, and disrupt their lives, even just a little bit. We really had a wonderful time traveling around and seeing you all, we only wish we could have visited for longer. thanks again. you guys are the best.