As much as I wanted a few extra days to hunker down in Seattle, I couldn’t drive all the way up the coast without stopping to see Grandma Jo (my mom’s mom), Richard, my aunt LaRae (mom’s sister) and cuz Justin who have all been situated in the Portland area for as long as I can remember. I actually hadn’t been to Portland since I was 14, which was my first trip on an airplane all by myself. (I guess I could attribute a lifetime of venturing off to far flung places by myself to this first trip.) LaRae, a fellow former actress, has some great photos of that time we spent together, including shots of me donning any number of her fancy dresses for my own personal modeling session. I wish I had a couple of them scanned to put in here because they’re pretty funny for a number of reasons – not the least of which is my Rapunzel-like hair which draped all the way down my back. I’m not sure if I actually expected a fair prince to use it to climb up to my window and rescue me from my parents back in 1990, but I apparently wasn’t ready to rule it out as a possibility. Anything can happen when you’re 14. I cut all my hair off my senior year of high school. It probably comes to no surprise that there was no prince to save me, just my parents support as I made my way to college in far away Texas.
Back in present-day Portland, I yearned for more time to spend with my relatives. We always enjoy our time together, and only having a day and a half was just not enough. We crammed a lot of fresh red raspberries and snap peas into our 36 hours, luxuriously eating them by the handful. And, after lingering over coffee and dramatic tales of my SF departure, I left LaRae & Justin behind and officially began my journey east. My first stop was a remote corner of NE Oregon near Walla Walla.
LaRae, Justin and me, in their beautiful garden.
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