Back to PDX

at least for a little while  

At some point as we drove north we realized (much to our surprise) that we had gotten our fill of turns on the slopes…at least for now.  Instead of turning off towards Bend and Mt Bachelor we found ourselves continuing north to portland.

One of our goals when beginning this lifestyle was ensuring that we find the balance in our travels that lets us be just as excited to return “home” as we were to take off on any trip/adventure.  I guess in the case of this particular adventure we nailed it.  We pulled into Portland excited to catch up with friends, excited to see a few days of sun (sadly, still interspersed with far more days of rain), and to catch up on some projects both work and personal.

All in this trip took us almost 7000miles and delivered countless memories/experiences….and we’re actually considering buying the passes again for next year!  A true indicator of exactly how much fun we had exploring the snowy mountains, especially as a couple of self-professed beach bums such as ourselves.

Back in Portland we made our rounds.  Dinners and game nights with friends and catching up after a few months gone.  We are beginning to realize that we might just be that strange aunt/uncle who live in a van (down by the river) and only come back home every few months to get some hugs and share a few stories from the road. 

Odd to think of ourselves that way…but have to admit I've always wished I had that uncle growing up…so hopefully its a positive for them at some point. ;)

We also spent a few days driving around portland checking in on our client projects to see the status of construction and details since our departure.  As always it’s a blast to see our designs pop off the pages and transform into reality. 

This was a tough winter for building given the weather and we might have expected these to be a bit further along, but I'm sure we’ll see them develop rapidly in the coming weeks/months!  It's also been great living vicariously through our clients' projects. 

An especially good reminder when sitting down with one client to pick out fixtures/finishes for her project… that through zenbox I get my creative fix and a bit of money on the side, and our clients pay for the construction- far better than having the financial stress of our own project (and way better than us living on the floor of another construction zone again as we've done for so many years in the past).

 Im certain the travel bug will hit us soon and the road will come calling (we've already got a few things planned/cooking...)

But for now... we are loving our time in PDX, keep enjoying meals and happy hours with friends, and somehow even timed our return with highball week and st. paddy’s day in portland…what a great excuse to get out and enjoy a few of our favorite establishments as well.