In a few days Rachael and I will leave Qatar for our summer vacation. I'm headed straight back to Oregon for 63 days of Pacific Northwestern Glory, and Rachael will fly to Peru to lead a group of high schoolers on a four week study abroad trip before joining me in Oregon.
Last summer was more scattered for us. We started off with a brief trip in England and Wales and then went to Las Vegas for my brother's wedding. We spent a few weeks in Oregon and then flew to Minnesota to visit Rachael's extended family. After a few more weeks in Oregon we were back in Qatar, where this whole adventure began.
This summer is shaping up to be a little bit more laid back. But I'm only speaking for myself now, since Rachael's story is diverging, briefly, from my own.
In order to keep myself busy while we're apart, I've planned a long bike ride through Oregon to visit people who are important to me. My first stop will be St. Paul, where my sister and brother-in-law live, then onto Albany to visit my maternal grandparents, then over the Cascades to visit our former partners in Qatari crime, Mike and Liz and their daughter Piper. From there I plan to head northeast toward Pendleton to visit my paternal grandparents. I'll head back to Portland via Hood River, where I'll stay with with the wonderful folks who hosted our wedding, Mike and Leanne. It'll be good to be back on a bike again, but I'm also expecting it to be a great challenge. I don't have any plans to blog along the way, but I hope to write it up once I get back in late July.
Rachael is sure to be mostly incommunicado (that's Spanish!) during her trip to Peru, but maybe I can convince her to write a guest post on her experiences once she's back (no promises, but a few encouraging comments below wouldn't hurt).