on my trip

As most of you know, I just returned from a vacation. My mom and I went to Washington/Oregon last weekend for one of my old roommates and best friends wedding. Sheena was married last Saturday in Oregon. It was a great trip, though I'm glad to be back home.

Among many other things we were able to do on the trip, here are a few of the highlights. I'll post pictures as soon as possible.

-Flying into Seattle and passing through my old ghetto neighborhood in Tacoma. We passed right by the freeway exit to get to our apartment and it was fun to see the area I fell in love with (not the ghetto area, but WA in general). We also passed Ft. Lewis, Ben's old stomping grounds. Washington was as beautiful as ever, green and damp.
-A day trip to the Oregon coast on Friday. We kind of made a little triangle from Portland, to Seaside and Astoria, back to Portland. I saw the Pacific Ocean and nearly was blown away with the strong winds. Astoria brought back memories of a favorite childhood movie, The Goonies. We also climbed 164 steps up a column on a big hill in Astoria to get a once in a lifetime view of the quaint little city.
-Sheena's wedding and the beautiful Portland Temple. Located in Lake Oswego, OR, and just one block from our hotel, the white, castle-like temple was literally hidden in a little forest of pine trees and shrubbery. Since it was rainy for most of the weekend, we had to make a trip for pictures on Sunday after church to capture the temple on film. Sheena and Ryan looked wonderful at the ceremony and I could tell they were very excited. It was neat to be able to share the day with them.
-A Sunday visit to Seattle and the pier. We walked to my favorite Seattle pastime, Ivar's Restraunt, and I indulged myself with crab legs. Yum, yum, yum. I'll always love that place.

One last thing I wanted to write about my trip before I end: population.

It seems to me that every time I travel outside of the "valley" that is Salt Lake, I am overwhelmed at the population of cities and how very many people there really are. You can tell me there are 6+ billion people in the world and I know that's a lot, but not until I am stuck on the 5 in Portland going approximately 10 mph during rush hour, that I truly notice that I am really just one in a whole lot of people. It's a bit boggling to me.

Happy Weekend to everyone. My plans: Ben's mission reunion tonight and the reception of the already-wed brother and sister in law, Brandon and Meaghan. Oh, and conference.