I left Seattle on Friday afternoon. Landed in Portland with just enough time to hit Powell's before meeting up with my teacher, his wife and the lovely Tara and Jason for dinner. Powell's is an amazing place. I wish I had 6 hours to blow in there. I literally could spend a day in there and probably not make it all the way through. On my next trip to Portland I am going to schedule time to spend at least a half day there... I better make some room on the credit card.

After Portland I drove to Mount Shasta. I couldn't find a hotel room for awhile but finally found one in the town of Shasta and spent the night... getting up this morning and driving the 8 hours to Paso Robles where I was fortunate enough to have a lovely dinner with Ms. Jenna (of Driste).

I'm still not 100% and can only hope that breathing in Southern California air will clear up the head. Unfortunately, The Daughter isn't so lucky and she has been given a diagnosis of Pertussis. *sigh* Last year on this day I asked if God ever gets tired of laughing... I think God has decided that my life should be one continual mixture of laughter and boundary pushing.

Pertussis.