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...