Emily’s Turkey Day in Portland

Last Saturday I flew into Portland (Oregon) to spend the week of Thanksgiving with family. I was born and raised in Portland and I love that little city, rainy weather and all.

I left Portland when I was 18 and I haven’t really lived there since that time. It’s become a tradition of sorts to spend at least 2 nights on the Oregon Coast during my annual visits and this time it was just me and my mom for some good old-fashioned mother-daughter bonding.

Sunday afternoon we loaded up on Starbucks eggnog lattes for the 2 hour drive to Lincoln City.

The coast line near Lincoln City (disclaimer: I didn’t take this photo)

My mom had rented a great place right on the ocean and we arrived just as a huge storm was setting in with 100-mile an hour winds.

The view from my bed at the beach house

Neither of us had checked the weather report, but it didn’t matter. We weren’t there to sunbathe, especially not on the Oregon Coast in late November.

For ages my mom and I had been wanting to make jewelry. I used to make bead and hemp necklaces when I was younger but it had been awhile. The morning after we arrived we braved the hurricane force winds to drive 10 miles south to Roots Beads. The women there walked us through the basics and then we wandered the store, eventually leaving with nearly $200 worth of jewelry making supplies. It would have been cheaper to just buy some bracelets but we were going to bond over beads.

Before we could get started on our crafts we had to check out a wedding venue just south of Newport, Oregon but more on that another time.

Back at the beach house we laid out our goodies and got to work. I made a bracelet and matching earrings for my best friend Christy and a bracelet for my childhood friend and pseudo sister Adie. I also made a bracelet for myself, which I’m not crazy about, and a couple of pairs of earrings.

My finished products

My mom made a slew of bracelets, repaired a store bought one that had broken, and made me my new favorite piece of jewelry.

Mom’s bracelets

It’s a beautiful bracelet with iridescent beads that reflect the color of my clothing so it always matches my outfit. Plus, we put a little bear charm on it, so I think of Dennis when I wear it.

My new favorite bracelet (on the right) and Mom’s new bracelet (left)

While at the beach we watched bad movies (Armageddon! One of my favorites), and drank hot cocoa while sitting by the fire. It was a perfect vacation within a vacation. Vaception?

We drove back to Portland on Tuesday, by way of Tillamook so we could indulge in Tillamook ice-cream cones and pick up some Tillamook cheese at great prices. By the way, if you haven’t yet tried Tillamook cheese (limited availability outside the west coast), then you must. It is the creamiest, most wonderful cheese on the planet. Well, I’ve heard Wisconsin has cheese and I haven’t tried it, but I can’t imagine anything better than Tillamook. Now that I’ve plugged Tillamook six times in one paragraph, we can move on.

Tuesday and Wednesday were mostly a blur of trying to get stuff done and trying to relax. On Wednesday night I was able to reconnect with close high school friends and Uncle Matthew arrived from Seattle.

Me and Uncle Matthew – two peas in a pod

My parents have a Tiki Lounge in the barn in their backyard so we passed the evening there with some drinks and a lot of laughs.

Turkey day was very pleasant. We were a small group. The food was amazing and we continued the tradition of each person lighting a candle and sharing what they are thankful for.

Thanksgiving dinner table setting

I am thankful for my family who continue to support me through all of my adventures, and for having found the most wonderful man to spend the rest of my life with.

Playing with the iPhone’s panorama feature at the dinner table

This should have a witty caption that has to do with reflecting on what we’re thankful for but I’m too tired.

After dinner we played some games (most notably Dominion, which my brothers and I are somewhat obsessed with) and eventually went to bed.

Friday was very hectic as I prepared to leave Portland. I ran a bunch of errands, including stopping by the Columbia Sportswear Outlet (they are based in Portland and we get the Friends and Family Discount so I have a lot of Columbia stuff…) and braving the mall to go to the Apple Store. The mall was, surprisingly, not that crowded for Black Friday. The Apple Store, however, was another story.

I freely admit that I have drunk the Apple kool-aid; I love my iPhone 5 and I just bought a MacBook Air (the purpose for my Black Friday visit), but seriously, Apple, the store was ridiculous. All of the Apple employees were in bright red shirts so that they were easy to find. That’s excellent. What is not excellent is that the store was so crowded you could barely walk around and the crowd was all in red! There were at least 2 employees for every customer and I walked around trying to get help for a solid 10 minutes before one of the employees decided to break away from the group and talk to me. All those employees just standing there talking to each other and no one else was fairly off-putting and the employee who did help me, though very sweet, was an older gentleman who didn’t seem to have any idea how to do what needed doing. It is one thing to have 40 red shirted employees in a store if they are needed, it’s another to make it seem like we, the customers, are impeding on their social hour by trying to drop a chunk of change on a laptop. I expect more from Apple.

I digress. I love my MacBook Air and I’m using it right now to write this post during my layover in San Francisco.

The Golden Gate Bridge and downtown San Francisco from the airplane

The rest of Friday went quickly as I looted my parents’ house for cat supplies for Harvey (their last cat passed away last year), and tried to fit everything into 1 checked bag and 1 carry-on. Impressively, my checked bag weighed in at 50.0 pounds at the United check-in counter at PDX this morning, which was awesome. And then they checked my almost certainly oversized carry-on for free at the gate. Score!

My layover here is 4 hours and then I’ll land in Philly and drive 3 hours back to D.C. It’s going to be a long day and I can’t wait to be home, but I already desperately miss Portland and my wonderful family.