Pacific Northwest Adventures

We spent the last half of December and all of January and February staying with friends Jay & Chris, Mike & Laurie, and Cindy in the Pacific Northwest, finishing up plans for travel, and exploring Oregon and Washington states.

First up were some holiday celebrations, starting with The Making of the Pierogis™, our friend Chris' family holiday tradition. Sheri and Chris made ten dozen pierogis filled with potato & cheese, ricotta & chive, or prunes (really much better than it sounds). All were consumed within a couple of weeks.

Prune pierogi makers at work.

New Year's was well celebrated with an exciting year to look forward to.

Happy New Year!

We celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary and the closing of our house sale within a couple of days of each other. We were fortunate the house sale went smoothly, quickly, and sold for over asking price. Lots to celebrate!

Celebrating 17 years of wedded bliss and a mortgage-free future

We got out to the Oregon coast, one of the most beautiful places in the world.

and visited the aquarium in Newport:

We also got to enjoy the critters closer to home, both the outside ones:

and the inside ones:

Oliver

Lily

Jameson and Bellini on a Laurie couch

We even got some snow!

Corvallis Snow

We went to the Oregon State University campus several times to enjoy the college atmosphere and take in a basketball game. The underdog OSU Beavers beat the top-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs in a thrilling overtime victory. Go Beavers!!

We spent a lovely week in Seattle with Mike & Laurie visiting Cindy and seeing the sites: Pike's Place Market, Vashon Island, the Boeing factory, and Oscar the Bird King troll, among many other things.

and in between all of the adventures, there was no shortage of friends and food:

As time wound down, we sold our car:

Bye bye, Corolla. Thanks for not breaking down!

And we downsized our possessions to fit in two suitcases and two backpacks:

Everything Brad owns.

Everything Sheri owns.

Our time in the Pacific Northwest came to an end with our friends all piling in a car to take us to brunch and the airport in Portland:

Goodbye brunch in Portland.

But it won't be goodbye for long, as we will see all of you in Europe in the next year. Thanks for making our time in the Pacific Northwest fabulous and fun. See you soon!

Next stop, Minnesota!