Friday, June 6, 2008

West Coast Adventures

So we didn't make it to Paris, but it was just as well. I go a nasty allergy induced head cold that I am just now starting to ditch so I would have been miserable in Pari. We did have a good time in Seatlle though.

I have actually been all over the place lately.
First I to Orlando for one of our Family Gatherings and to see Prince Caspian on opening night. It wasn't bad by the way, just not true to the book. The book is always better, you know?

After Otown, I met up with Chris in Cinci where we hopped on a plane to San Francisco to see Jennifer (my sister-in-law) graduate from college. She finished up her B.A at St. Mary's College which is just outside of SanFran. Chris couldn't get the time off so he had to leave before the ceremony. I wound up staying with Jennifer for five nights and spent lots of time with her. I'd never really spent any time alone with her so it was a neat opportunity, we had a good time. Though it was really weird being in a college atmosphere again. We did all sorts of site seeing and spending time with other family that was in town for the same reason. You can see all the fun pictures here.

From SanFran I hopped down to LA to meet up with my old internet buddy, Eddie and his new fiance Margaret. We did all the typical tourtist things and had fun trying to find the illusive Hollywood sign and ate good food. He was an amazing host and had all sorts of little details in place to make me feel uber welcome. Pictures from LA are here.

From LA I went back up the coast to Seattle where I took a bus out to Mount Vernon to hang out with some of my new cousin-in-laws and aunt-in-law. I played with the kids, got a tour of the farm and just had a general good time. I stayed with Debbie and her family who's lives are just non-stop. I just tagged along for the ride and while I had a fabulous time and really respect Debbie for handling it all so well, I gotta say that it just reinforced that I am definitely not ready for that stage in life yet.

I spent a lot of time with Aunt Judy learning about the Utley family history, looking at old pictures and hearing about my newly acquired ancestors. It was really interesting, especially since it isn't something that Chris's family talks about a lot. Not that there are tons of skeletons or anything, just that it's not something they focus on, so most of the stories I heard were not only new to me, but new to Chris's family too.

Since I wasn't feeling so hot, instead of heading back to Cinci to meet up with Chris and head towards Paris, he came to Seattle to meet up with me. We stayed in his parents new house, saw some old friends and went back out to Mount Vernon to see family, while there Jen fed a cow and Chris fell in love with a kitten.. All the Mount Vernon pictures are here.

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