Ok. Diana and I are back from our trip, and I've got a full week's worth of news to write about. So let's get cracking!

Friday evening, we had a party at a nearby hotel to celebrate the launch of our big back office project. It wasn't company wide, but most of the Systems department was there, as well as a lot of key business users. It was all about celebration and congratulations, and was a really nice thank you for the hard work we put in. We had a nice dinner, and were entertained by the comedy stylings of a stand up comedian whose name eludes me. It was a good time. Not to mention, we got a very nice thank you letter from the CEO, thanking us for our hard work, and also thanking our families for their patience through our times of stress and long hours. A little bonus check didn't hurt matters either. But always a nice feeling to be appreciated.

Saturday morning, we got up at the crack of snot (the legacy of Bethany still live on in some colorful phrases) and headed down to the airport. We flew to Portland uneventfully, got in our rental car, and found our hotel. We soon met up with Diana's sister Alicia and her boyfriend David for a really good lunch, and some walking and shopping around a cute little area of some Portland suburb.

The short version of the story is that Alicia met her boyfriend David while on a trip to New Zealand. They kept in touch, and subsequently got together when Alicia was in Norway (I think). He has since moved out to the US, but as a tourist can only stay for three months (which ends in January). There is some talk about Alicia moving to Norway permanently with him, but it still seems a little up in the air.

David was great. I was very curious to meet him. He seems a little shell-shocked by being in the US for the first time, coping with English as a second language, not to mention living with three women and not really knowing anyone else. In spite of that, I found him very nice, fun to talk to, extrememly polite and really like hanging out with him.

That evening, we parted ways and met up at my cousin Mike's house, with his wife and two young children (what, 3 and 1.5?), my other cousin Jen, and my aunt and uncle.

I always love hanging out with their family. They are always so much fun. Most of the evening was spent watching the kids run around entertaining us with sumersaults and songs, and there may have even been some hokey-pokey'ing going on. Very, very cute kids.

At some point during the evening, my cousin Jen confided in me, with a somewhat guilty expression and red face, that she read my blog. I assured her that it was ok, and promised to give her a shout-out. So, everyone point and laugh at my nosy cousin! (Kidding!) In all seriousness, it was great to see her, especially, as I was told she wasn't going to be around. I've always felt like we are pretty similiar in personality and sense of humor, and I've always enjoyed being around her. So, yay.

We bugged out a little early, after the early morning and long travel day, and got some much needed sleep.

Sunday, we slept in, which was glorious. We watched a little football on TV, and headed out for a walk in a park with Alicia and David. That afternoon, as arranged the evening previously, we met up with Jen, and my aunt and uncle for an afternoon showing of "Sideways". It was pretty decent. I felt a little clobbered over the head with the wine/personality metaphor, and not insignificantly uncomfortable watching some sex scenes sitting next to my aunt, but overall, glad I saw it. We went out to a really nice dinner following that, and said our goodbyes. Great to see that side of the family, as usual. I think Jen suggested a little Montana reunion-type trip, and I think that would be a blast.

Monday, we cruised downtown a little bit, and met up with my old high school buddy Jon and his wife Lainie and their little sprout Ella (a couple months old). I hadn't talked to Jon in a number of years, and it was really great to see him again. It's always refreshingly great when old friends meet up and just click right back like they used to. We had a great time. Hopefully we can keep in better touch in the future.

That evening, we bought some food and had dinner at Alicia and Davids, which was a good time.

Tuesday, we drove out to the Columbia River gorge, and hiked around some really beautiful waterfalls in that area. The weather during the entire trip was low to mid 40's, and pretty cloudy and overcast. In spite of that, it was beautiful to hike around lush forests and very impressive falls.

That night, we went out for a nice dinner and drinks with Alica and David and their roomate Angela. I got to talk a little more to David that evening, which confirmed my opinions above (nice, polite, good guy).

Wednesday, we got up early, checked out, and journeyed up to Seattle. I've never been to Seattle, and was looking forward to it. I was also looking forward to seeing my boy Discostup and his metro-sexual city livin'. We got there and found his apartment soon enough, and there we were. It was great to see Mick, as always. His apartment was cozy and well located in the city, and we braved the cold to walk around downtown a little. I really liked Seattle. I liked the layout of the city on the hill, and just the look and feel of the place.

That evening, we waited for Gwen to get off work, and went out to a really nice dinner.

Gwen. Mike and Gwen apparently have a long and tumultous history (bits of which you can piece together from his blog), but in spite of that, they seemed really happy together. In fact, in spite of his often depressing blog posts, Mick really seemed to be in good spirits about almost everything.

A while back, I encouraged Mike to play Nethack a while back, and he opted out, but passed it on to Gwen, and as it's a hard game to learn, I emailed and offered to help with any questions that she had. We emailed back and forth off and on since then, the conversation naturally turning from Nethack to books and movies and whatever else geeky people talk about. She's definitely the kind of geek I can relate to and appreciate. So by the time she opened the door to Mike's apartment, I was really curious to actually meet her in person (as with every other person I've met in person after meeting them initially online). She was a lot of fun to be around during the entire weekend, very nice and funny and fun to be around, but at the same time, I had the feeling there was a lot more to her underneath. In any case, I'm glad she and Mike are together, from what I observed. I think she compliments him well, as does he her. They also tickled each other a lot. :)

The four of us headed out to a very nice dinner, and had a great time catching up and hanging out. Afterwards, we got some drinks and went back to Mick's apartment for some Euchre. Good times.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. We hung around in the morning (did we actually watch a dog show on TV?) and spent Thanksgiving proper with some of Mick's extended family. That is a whole 'nother post which I'll write about later.

Friday, Diana and I got up and out, thankful to have spent the time with family, and old friends and new, and thankful to be on our way home again. Got into good ol' San Diego late at night, and finally made it to our pad.

My fingers are tired, so I'll finish up the final bits later.