Keep Oregon Weird

Yeah, that’s the shirt I almost bought. It said “Keep Oregon Weird”. And weird it was! There was a large population of homeless folks and some strange birds. Oh and lots of “green” living going on there.

Last week I flew to Portland, OR for a week long conference for work. I attended a National Meeting, the Pesticide Applicator Certification & Training Workshop. Phew!

My days consisted of 8-5 classes learning about all the tricks of the trade and exchanging ideas with other states. I didn’t have a rental car but my hotel was right downtown so I was at least able to explore a little and walk to dinner places and the mall. I really wish I could have seen Oregon more but oh well, beats a week at the office! Oh and the 3 hour time difference kicked my butt. I woke up around 4 every morning and had to force myself back to sleep, and by 8:30 at night I was pooped. But my oh my the non-humidity gorgeous 76 degree weather made up for it!

Here’s lunch dessert one day. Yum!

It was an hour flight to Atlanta and a 5 hour flight to Portland.

I’ve got quite a few aerial pictures. I just cannot get enough of staring out of an airplane window. I pretty much stay glued to it.

Gorgeous Sea of White!

iPhone pic – check out the ring around our plane. Kinda freaky!

I think these crop circles were in Oklahoma.

I’m thinking Idaho?

Coming into Oregon. The flat one is Mount St. Helens (huge devastating eruption in 1980) And the other is Mount Hood. So beautiful!

Loved the mountains!

My hotel, in downtown Portland. Notice the “tram” cable train running through the middle of the street.

The Pioneer Courthouse

Seal sculptures.

Life size chess game.

Scenery on the way to the airport.

Oregon Ducks plane.

More on the way to the airport…to and from there was the most “sight seeing” I got to experience :/

Something else I did while I was there was purchase this little baby:

I bit the bullet and bought an iPad! I have been wanting one…so an Apple Store + No Sales Tax = a purchase that I probably could have lived without. BUT, I am loving it. The convenience factor is pretty sweet. Just toting it to my meeting and checking my work email was super easy and much better than toting my laptop. Yay!

On Thursday, the last day of the conference, I had to be out of my hotel by 4:00 but my plane wasn’t scheduled to leave until 10:50…so that meant I had nowhere to go but the airport because I couldn’t very well tote my luggage all over downtown. So I went and I got something to eat at a restaurant and then I sat. And sat. And listened to music. And read blogs. And sat. And sat some more. Thank the Good Lord for free wireless at Portland International…ATL did NOT have free wifi…I may have died of boredom.

Here’s my camp all setup. Laptop, iPad, iPhone, magazines, books, the works.

And then finally it was time to board.

I was hoping to sleep the whole flight but unfortunately the man in front of me on the plane cranked his seat back squashing my head into the table and forcing me to sleep sitting up. Not too productive.

My camera was in the overhead compartment during takeoff, and this phone picture does not do the city nightlights justice. It’s stunning…

I got to Atlanta about 6:30 on Friday morning and had a two hour lay over. I got some chocolate milk for breakfast and took some pretty awesome pics.  

Like I said on Facebook…it was one advantage to being up at the crack of dawn!

Instagram on iPhone

Well, check the West Coast off the list. Can’t wait to go back for a vacation instead of work! But thankful I got to travel in the first place