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Washington and mOregon!

Part of the mOre includes yesterday, over the course of which I travelled from Oregon to Minnesota to Michegan to Rhode Island to Connecticut to New York to New Jersey to Pennsylvania to Delaware. This process lasted from 5 AM pacific time to 5 AM eastern time, 21 hours. There were breaks primarily for food/coffee, but also when I had some difficulty tearing myself from poor abandoned Petey and Nory, on whom I look forward to lavishing sufficient attention to allow them to recover from their abandonment. I feel rather accomplished for my travels.

I also feel rather accomplished at having successfully proposed to my beloved Summer! I was going to post only a picture of her beringed hand, but you know what they say: a word is worth a thousand pictures.

Here, though, is a succinct account of the time elapsed since my previous entry.

Olympia: SEA and I spent some time with Grandma and Bill in Olympia. We played ourselves some pinochle, visited with other relatives (to me, great aunts and uncles and a first cousin once removed), and generally had a jolly old time. We also watched The Gods Must Be Crazy!

Seattle: SEA and I took a side trek to Seattle, stopping at SeaTac along the way to scoop up Mr. Slabaugh. We had Thai food for lunch and met GDF at the impressive Seattle public library. We also went out for sushi and had cake and ice cream.

Beaverton: We spent some more time with Summer's family in Beaverton. Marc, Matthew, SEA, and I rung in the new year with some champagne and a bit of merriment, then watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith when Mr. and Mrs. Allen returned home. We wanderered around and did other stuff, too, including cooking a delicious Indian dinner from a cookbook purchased with a Borders gift card Summer had. Here we also watched something else, I think (the previous forgotten movie was 42nd Street), and I finished reading Middlesex (reviews forthcoming).

Cape Meares: SEA and I went drove through rain out to the beautiful, sunny coast, where we took pictures and enjoyed the views and the weather. At Cape Meares we watched the sunset and I proposed. When we got back to Beaverton we went out for a tasty Italian dinner. The next day we had our picture taken!

The next day, however, it was time to go. There was much sadness, especially in the airport where I had forgotten all the information about my 6:45 flight, including which airline it would be prudent to ask. Eventually, though, SEA figured things out and I had to take leave of my new fiancee and catch up on sleep on my first flight. The next two flights I spent reading Augustus to Constantine by Robert Grant (a history of the interactions between the Roman state and early Christianity). I haven't finished yet.

When I reached Providence I managed to get a shuttle into town and lug my luggage back to the apartment, where mail had piled up and poor little Petey and neglected Nory were out of food and water! I spent a bit of time with them and had some soup, and then around 10PM took off for DE. I got lost in Paterson, NJ, trying to avoid toll roads, so it took me forever to get home. But home I am! and after sleeping to 2:30 this afternoon, I've been engaging in communications left and right, trying in vain to determine my first semester grades, and spending time with family and the neighbors across the street Tim and Kate, who came over for dinner.

All in all I can't imagine a much better start to the new year (or end to the old), except for the Paterson, NJ part. More later!