Hey now, hey now

"Don't Dream It's Over" by Crowded House



I think it's hitting me that my vacation is just about complete. We've been back in Vegas for almost three full days now, and I return to work on Monday. My self-imposed challenge of blogging every other day is calling me back too, and after not (really) having blogged for the past ...however many days (too lazy to figure out the math, despite it being really simple), it's difficult to bring myself back into the rhythm, and harder still to type it all out.
I think I'll forgo the month-end word count and movie reviews. I will say that May was another lackluster month for movie-viewing, but I expect June to be much better, especially since all the 'appointment' programs are done now. (Hi, Lost and Survivor!)

So. Vacation.
Steph, as usual, did a bang-up job covering ...pretty much everything already. She even included a youtube video in her post. You can't top video. I mean, unless you're reporting things live, which would...um...not really be a blog entry. (Yet.)

That being said, I should probably report my account of the trip, just for posterity's sake.
As stated before, the Reno-Vegas drive is a highly unpleasant one. I know I said it. I know Steph said it. But it really bears repeating. Out of all the drives in the world, I suspect this is on the top ten of Worst.

The good thing about having it be the first of the drives on the way up is that it got out of the way. (The bad thing, of course, being that it's the final drive on the way back.) What helped alleviate the boredom of the drive up was that we had some audio books of the first 4 "Howie" books - spin-offs of the Bunnicula series. These were entertaining enough to help pass the time. We also had an audio book of Redwall, but we never did finish listening to that...

Medford was good, again, and if we wound up there, I wouldn't complain. It's green, and it gets rain, and it's Oregon, which is an all-around pleasant state. Seriously, I don't know if it's the air, or the water, or what, but people in Oregon are just nicer than they are here. I mean, they pump your gas for you, no matter where you go.

Portland, though, has my vote for 1st pick, now. And I know that people who live there don't really want more influx of people moving there, but, you know, maybe if the place (and the populace) wasn't so damn enjoyable...

Yeah, it rained the entire time we were up there, and the temperature s were lower than Vegas (and even, supposedly seasonally lower than normal) but it wasn't that bad. I was even wearing shorts on ...Sunday? Saturday? I can't remember when, but I was able to tolerate the chill in the air. It certainly beat the triple digits I'm going to be suffering through for the next three months.

The conference was great, as usual, even if, as usual, (and very similar to Steph's feelings - which is why we're such a great match :)), I felt that I didn't really break out of my shell enough. The funshops were entertaining enough, and, really, there is nothing quite like the atmosphere of an unschooling conference. The hotel was fabulous, and was in a great location - right across the Columbia river, literally half a mile over Washington's border. We crossed state lines so many times over the course of 4 or 5 days.

It was also really good to see Chance & Brett - Steph's brothers who live in Portland now. Yet another reason for us to move up there.

After the conference ended, we still had another night in the hotel. It was eerie seeing it all quiet after having had it be constantly filled with unschoolers of all ages and ALWAYS having things going on for the past 4 days. When we checked out on Tuesday, I believe we may've been the last of the Life Is Gooders to leave the Red Lion. :(

But I supsect we'll be back next year. In a perfect world, we'll live in the area. It would certainly save on commuting time. Heh.

...Let's see. I feel pretty strongly that
a) I'm forgetting stuff
b) I'm not expressing the greatness of the entire experience *nearly* well enough
c) I'm too tired to really care (it's much later now than when I originally started this)

but, oh well. I'll have to relay all this info (and more, no doubt) multiple times on Monday when I go back to work. Joy.

Oh, right. Some stats on the vacation:

Stalled vehicle count: 79
Highest gas price seen: $4.75
Highest gas price paid: $4.09
Number of times "Five Dollar Footlong" was said and/or sung: aprox. 5739
Number of times we had a Five Dollar Footlong: Zero.
Greatest meals eaten: Abby's Legendary Pizza, Burgerville (twice), tuna sandwich in the hotel room (I was starving, and it was good tuna)
Worst meals eaten: McMenimamanin's (just not worth it, sorry.), Westside Pizza (meh)
# of people "killed" by the P@inator (that's me being a Terminator): 2 (Harper in Medford, and Harper in Vancouver)
# of decibels emitted by Harper's screams when seeing the P@inator approach: aprox. 5739
Funnest funshops: Let's Build a Fort [resulted in a cardboard fort the size of a small room]; Up, Up, and Away [balloons and foam rockets and frisbees all played with outside in the liquid sunshine]; Cootie Catcher [horrible name, fun craft]; Barefoot Boogie [not a funshop per se, but still a whole lot of fun]; Talent Show [ditto].

And with that, and the fact that it's now 11pm, I'm clicking publish post.