Days 38-43: While Mike Was Away

As previously mentioned, Mike flew back to Minnesota Wednesday, June 18, for Kevy and Katie’s wedding. (CONGRATS!!!! I’M SO HAPPY FOR BOTH OF YOU!!!!) While he was a away, I stayed with Andrew Fredericksen and his roommate, Alex, in Corvallis, OR. They were nice enough to invite me over so I wouldn’t have to camp alone and risk being eaten by a bear. (Thanks, boys!)

So… After dropping Mike off at the airport on Wednesday, I drove to Corvallis to meet up with Andrew and Alex. They both work in radiation therapy and weren’t off until 4:30p. So, I sat in a colorful organic coffee shop by the college, drank lemonade, read my book (Kurt Vonnegut is amazing…), and watched all the cute little hippy kids come and go from the shop. I swear, it seemed like everyone was on bikes. I loved it. :-D. Later that night, we watched Juno and just relaxed. Andrew and Alex love playing Rock Band, so they introduced the game to me and we all rocked out. It was a lot of fun! All they needed were a couple mullets and I would have sworn they were real rock stars. Haha.

Thursday, while the boys were at work, I went for a quick bike ride, picked up around the apartment, and made cookies. It was a pretty good day. Sammy, Freddy’s dog, followed me around the apartment all day and sat on my feet. She’s a fun and energetic dog to be around, but it was nice to see her so mellow. That night, the three of us played a little cut-throat pool at the Peacock (a bar downtown).

Friday was a little less productive for me. I took an early morning nap, did some laundry, and took Sammy for a walk. Well… I suppose you could say that she took me for a walk. (She was a bit stronger than I anticipated and SUPER excited to go walking. I was being pulled most of the way! Haha.) Alex ended up visiting his brother in Portland for the weekend, so Andrew and I went downtown with his co-worker, her boyfriend, and their friend, because Callie (his co-worker) was moving to Portland the next day. We had a lot of fun and it was really nice meeting them all At one point we even sang karaoke! EEK!

Saturday was pretty low key. Andrew and I hung out around the apartment, grabbed some dinner at an AWESOME fish place, and saw Get Smart. It was really funny! I definitely recommend seeing it.

We took Sammy for a walk on Sunday, got dinner, and then Andrew showed me around Corvallis. It’s such a pretty town! We checked out some of the parks and stopped at the organic coffee shop I had visited for some lemonade. (Did I mention that they had really good lemonade? I didn’t? Well, they did. )

So far, I love what I’ve seen of the west coast states. It is absolutely beautiful out here! Everything is so green!

Today (Monday), I picked Mike up from the airport in Portland. We’re staying at a hotel in the area tonight and then visiting my friends Anya and Rob tomorrow. I first met them in Bayfield, WI, last summer at the marina. Fabulous people. I can’t wait to see them! It’s been almost a year, which is much too long.

As always, I hope all of you are doing well and enjoying your summer so far. We miss and love you dearly. Take care!

-Shay