6 days, 5 flights, lots of fun!

The 2009 travel season is OVER. I ended the year with a bang – heading out west to Seattle for a 3 day conference for our Oil division. I had to fight for this meeting. The boss man was originally slated to plan and travel for this conference but I asked (begged) to have it. The meeting itself is a cake-walk. It’s a three-day meeting with one speaker and 24 attendees. I’ve done this exact same meeting maybe 5 or 6 times over the last 2 years. Super duper easy. The only reason I was asking for a meeting the week after Thanksgiving was because of the location. It’s not often I make it out to the Seattle/Portland area which is a shame since my mom’s side of the family is out that way. I haven’t been out there since I was in my cousin Christina’s wedding in March of 2004. Craziness. Needless to say I was super excited to have work paying for most of my tab to see my family. Work flew me to Seattle, I paid for the flight to Portland and work flew me back home out of PDX. Aside from transferring in NYC (making for 5 total flights) it was perfect.

Seattle was mostly boring work stuff. Seattle had amazingly sunny weather while I was there (rain, what rain?) so I thought a nice run would be a good idea. HA. Dear Crazy…there is no such thing as a “flat” run in Seattle. Thanks but no thanks…I’ll find a gym. The one cool thing I did while I was in Seattle was weasel my way up to the top of the Columbia Tower. The CT is the tallest building on the west coast and the top few floors are a very exclusive club, The Tower Club. The members only club is known for one kind of important member, Bill Gates. Since you can’t just go up there I decided to work the system a little….I called and told them I was a meeting planner (not a lie) and that I was interested in booking a room for a private event (could be true). They immediately put a sales manager on the phone and before I knew it I was up in the club. The view was A-MAZING. Totally clear night, full(ish) moon, and the city was decked out for the holidays in red and green. It was totally, totally cool. Take my word for it because my camera couldn’t catch a good shot with the reflection of my flash in the glass. Sad day.

After my meeting ended on Friday I was off to Portland! Technically my family lives in Washington [state] but Portland is the closest airport. So I flew out of WA into OR and got a ride back to WA. =) My grandma and her “boyfriend” Leonard picked me up from the airport. I got to spend a few hours with them at their house which was nice. Leonard is kind of into wood and making things….his latest obsession being handmade wood pens and letter openers. Needless to say I left their house with a brand new pen and letter opener!!! Sweet.

Eventually I found myself at my cousin’s house – her and her husband, Derek, have been BUSY fixing up the house that they bought. From all new floors to a brand new kitchen the whole place really looks amazing. Friday was a chill night spent playing games and catching up. In all reality I’ve never spent a lot of time with Derek since I met him for the first time the weekend of their wedding. It was fun hanging out with both of them and even more fun kicking Derek’s butt in card games!!! Derek spent the rest of the weekend trying to find a game he could win at…ahahahahaha! Sorry, friend. I always win.

Saturday was holiday shopping with Christina and more hanging out. I got in some special time with my Aunt Jalna AND I got some PJ’s Pizza. Yum. My aunt and uncle own a few pizza restaurants, PJ’s Pizza, and I’ve been craving “Taco Pizza” for about 6 years now. Sadly, I’m already craving it again. So good – pizza with ground beef topped with lettuce, tomato, cheese and served with taco sauce. Somehow on Sunday morning I got talked into going to Church with everyone. Their Church is pretty cool with a live band and a very laid back style. The message was about giving back, doing more, helping others etc…overall very inspiring. Which I do believe is the whole point of church. Brunch followed – and that’s when I got to see Jessica (another cousin) and her entire family. The last time I saw Jess she only had one kid – now she has 3! Just another reminder that 6 years is too long between visits.

My exciting news from Sunday was Derek and Christina took me to shoot a shotgun. Big day! Shooting a gun has always been on my list of things to do in my life so I was pretty excited. We took Derek’s truck and headed up a mountain (?) they call them hills…I call them mountains. Lucky for me they know their way around the logging roads and we found a nice quiet spot where I could shoot into the rocks. I shot the 22 gauge shotgun and I’m happy to report I nailed my target. I’m a natural. I declined Derek’s offer to shoot the riffle – I was a little nervous about the kickback and my shoulder. OR maybe it’s because I’m not even sure I could hold it steady (and let’s not even talk about the noise). All in all an excellent adventure. We wrapped up Sunday with more games (I lost at cribbage but kicked butt at Rock Band), had Chinese for dinner and then stopped by my grandfather’s house for a visit with him.


Two flights later and I was back home - face down in my bed, sleeping.