Jon and I bond along the Oregon Coast...

Greetings, all ye blog fans, and a happy bunny-and-chocolate holiday to you!

A few people have asked why my roommates so rarely appear in blogging fame, so to assure you all that the inhabitants of the Little Sorority on the Prairie are as normal, here is a photo taken at the local pub a little while ago:



(Robyn, Phil, Aditi and Linda are bound to be delighted. I'm sure they'll sign autographs if you ask nicely)

This is a slightly belated synopsis of Jon and I meeting in Seattle, and moseying our way down through Portland to the Oregon Coast, where we had a teeny tiny little cabin by the beach for a few days to escape from the world.

While Seattle is close to home, it does have a few things that BC lacks, such as... the Science Fiction museum! Very cool. Jon got to see Darth Vader's helmet, I got to see robots n' things! There was a really neat display of props and costumes used in some of the famous SF movies and TV shows, including Kirk's chair from the original Star Trek! There were also interviews with famous SF authors and, overall, much geeking to be had.

Enroute to Cannon Beach, we stopped to see my Auntie Dar, and my cousins Shanny and Greg. We stayed over at Shanny's totally fabulous house and had dinner at a strange and wonderful little Mexican restaurant. There was some quality time spent at the almighty American institution: The Mall, where I had a long list of items to pick up for all and sundry. I came back with three kilos of peanut butter. Really.

I arrived Thursday night, and Sunday afternoon found us in Cannon Beach, wandering the waves...and trying not to be blown away!





Cannon Beach is gorgeous, full of teeny little stores and cafes and beautiful sandy beaches as far as the eye can see. We had a kitchenette and had great fun shopping in the Louie the Loan Shark town market, with an average markup of 200-300%, and spent a preposterous amount of time debating whether we could justify $6 for the smallest jar of honey you've really ever seen. So we had a wonderful time, nauseated the whole town, and saw lots of small town Americana :)

Of the trip back, it is best not to discuss...let's just say that it took me SIX (yes, count them) flights to get from Seattle to Manchester. Two missed connections due to late takeoffs and almost running out of gas (which wasn't unnerving AT ALL, by the way), two cancellations, and an additional 36 hours at Chicago airport. For those of you who travel, I have two pithy pearls of wisdom: 1) NEVER fly American Airlines, and 2) Avoid Chicago airport like the plague.

I did finally make it home, bleary-eyed and hugely annoyed, and had a full IELTS day the following day and my Mom arriving Monday morning for a week. More on the Mommy and our jaunt to Ireland later...I bid you adieu to write a snarky letter to American Airlines and to put in a travel insurance claim - wish me luck!