Astoria, Oregon

View of the Astoria Bridge...gateway to Washington (across the mighty Columbia River)

My humble abode - 258 Grand Ave... Visitors welcome!

Okay, okay! I hear you loud and clear! Here's one picture of my house (just the outside, the inside is "In Progress") and some shots from when my family invaded Astoria a couple weeks ago (I couldn't resist one cute pic of my niece Frankie). The view is from the Astoria Column, up on the top of the hill. Pretty cool, eh? Don't you want to come visit????

View of the Columbia River and Washington State

Cutest niece EVER! Frankie (Francesca Rae) posing.

The Great Pacific Northwest

Hello friends!

I arrived to Astoria, OR after a long 1 1/2 day drive following my dad driving exactly 61 mph up I-5 from Santa Cruz, CA (now you know why it took so long!). I do appreciate his caution, as nothing in the moving truck broke or even shifted. Thanks Tim for tying everything down! I unloaded all of my stuff at my new house, which is approximately 5x larger than my studio (maybe even 6x!). It's still amazing how much crap I had stuffed into that tiny 400 sq ft studio. When it's all spread out at my new house it still looks empty! I promptly left for another 3 hour drive to Seattle, as my landlord and his wife were still there working on projects and I didn't want to interrupt anything.

Upon my return on Sunday Nov 16 I first freaked out and then started unpacking. The freakout was expected, I just didn't know when it would arrive. You know, the whole "Oh my gawd I moved to a town I don't know anyone and I miss my friends and family and what am I doing???" freak out. But once I started work on Monday morning, and ever since, I've been pretty much convinced that my choice was a good one, and that everything will work out. I'm actually really excited about my new job - lots of new challenges, lots of field work on boats in the ocean and rivers, with fish and birds...And the people I work with are really talented and smart, so it makes it all the better that I am here for the new chapter of my life. And the people around town, the places to see, things to do, are all great! Very exciting...