Czechs and Austrians visit the PNW

Being home is sweet - having friends from around the world visiting at home is wonderful!

WA Park Sunset

Smalls picked me up from PDX (Portland airport) on Saturday and brought me down to her new apartment at George Fox. From GF I buzzed south in the 'Ru to meet Ulli (short for Ulrike) at Willamette. Ulli had been my "Tandem" in Graz through a program set up by the language center. We met once a week at a coffee shop to practice our English and German. When I left Graz, I really didn't expect to see Ulli again unless I somehow made it to Austria in the next year or two... and then she decided to study abroad at Willamette! We caught up on life over heaping bowls of Froyo :)

The next morning Smalls dropped me off with Petra and Jan (who I had previously visited in Glacier) in Portland. We drove through rain and traffic to drizzly Seattle. We ended up taking cover and eating Other Coast Cafe sandwiches with a friend from A-town until the rain let up. It was almost nice when the three of us made it to the Chittenden Locks. Petra and I got a good laugh out of how big Jan's eyes got when he saw all the Coho in the fish ladder. Priceless!
In the evening we walked in to downtown and met Mom and Dad at Benihana for Dad's birthday dinner. Yum!

Monday I drove down to Whidbey after work, had dinner at Penn Cove, and met Petra and Jan when they came up from Seattle on the ferry. In the morning we hiked the bluff at Ebey, picnicked next to the guns at Ft Casey, and wandered Coupeville. I'm starting to think that maybe I do want a cabin in San de Fuca long-term...

Tuesday evening, Dad cooked up a seafood feast that fueled us through paddleboarding the next morning.

Pros! And their seal friend on the right

the Mountain is out!

Dad took Petra and Jan fishing off North Beach in the afternoon, and I was home in the evening just in time to join my friends for the sunset at WA Park. The next morning, we had to say goodbye... with many promises of future visits!

magic

If you ever find yourself with an evening in Charleston, I have a suggestion for you. Drive out to Fiery Ron's Home Team BBQ at Sullivan's Island and enjoy a heaping pile of seasoned meat smothered in barbecue sauce. After you recover a little, walk a few blocks down, a few blocks over, and kick off your shoes where the sidewalk ends...

NFL Kickoff

Two football games in two weekends. What a way to kick off the season!
The great thing about being on the east coast is that the "early game" doesn't start until 1:00PM, which gave Jim and I plenty of time to drive up to Charlotte. Decked out in our green and navy, we fit right in. No really - there were a ridiculous number of #3 and #24 jerseys!
We had time for sandwiches and walking around the city pre-game. Charlotte is cleaner, shineyer, and quieter than Atlanta. The buildings had an art-nouveau flare, which was pretty neat!

The game was great... after the first quarter. It took a while for the offense to get churning. Kudos to Carolina for a stingy run defense! We were in a pocket of Seahawks fans, including these die-hards. Jim snapped this photo before they could appease the crowd control by putting their shirts back on...

The final: 12-7, Seahawks. Woot!

"Friend"

"Friend" is a flexible word. There are Facebook friends, good friends, childhood friends, BFFs, boyfriends, former friends, frenemies... In fact, some people consider the colloquial english use of the term a little loose and would put many of those people into the "acquaintance" category. It was pointed out to me a few days ago that I tend to call lots of people my friends, even when we are not actively involved in each other's lives - and that got me thinking.
I had just hung out with a couple of friends who I hadn't seen in a while. Ok, in several years - but I still consider them my friends. How can I call people "friends" when our lives have diverged significantly since high school? I don't even really know anything about their lives any more.
I realized that it has something to do with how I think of them; I would go out of my way to give them a hand if it were needed. Ah-ha. So Friend isn't a title I hand out based on how much I know about you. It's based on my actions. When I say "they are my friend," what I really mean is that I am a friend to them (at least most of the time I try!). 
I think this puts friendship in the same category as a bunch of those other great things in life - love, grace, peace... We like to believe that they're just phenomena or emotions that occur when conditions are right. It really isn't so! It's how we choose to live with people on an everyday basis. 
So to the person who told me recently that they did not have many friends, my question is: how many people are you a friend to?

Atlanta, GA

It turns out that there is a great stopping point about 2 hours in the easterly direction from Auburn. Atlanta. Home to CNN, Coke, and (the weekend we were there) Dragon Con. We stayed at the Sheraton and were continuously amused by the stream of other-worldly characters heading in and out of the front door. Star Wars, Star Trek (including Shatner himself), pokemon, battlestar galactica, Wesley from Princess Bride, elves, dwarves, fairies, pirates... Everyone was welcome. Endless entertainment.
We skipped the chaos and did the World of Coke tour (Jim's sister works for Coke and got us a deal) our first evening.

Our second day started at CNN for the network tour. We were a little sad that nothing was on air while we were there, but it was still pretty cool!

We wandered from CNN across the freeway to the MLK memorial. The national park was dedicated not only to the Rev., but also to Ghandi and the rest of those who practiced nonviolent protest in the name of social justice. It was inspiring, and really got me thinking again about civic and social responsibility.

the Eternal flame

 Before heading out of the beautiful state of GA, we made a stop at Stone Mountain. We hiked up the giant granite massif and saw the Confederate leaders carved on the side. We were pretty beat by the time we climbed in the car and followed the thunder storms back to Charleston...