Moving Update: Notes from the Northwest

What does Bethany do during those long stretches when she's not blogging? Generally, she shuffles commas for money, writes, gets sinus infections, and reads books which she then fails to blog about.

Oh. And she moves across the country.

In May, my family and I moved from western Kentucky to Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula. (Finally, a legitimate excuse for being behind on all the things I'm usually behind on anyway!)

There was (and is) a lot of work to be done on the house and not enough space for everyone and all our boxes, so I spent two weeks (which quickly became three months) in Salem, Oregon with my wonderful grandmother.

A quick recap of things done and seen in Oregon:

Hanging out with family and learning how to gamble.

                          

                                       Birthday parties.

                                         Memorial Day.

Fourth of July.

                             Reader's Guide bookstore.

Salem Public Library.

Powell's Books. This photo is of my favorite room in Powell's. (And note those lovely wooden shelves.)

I’d been to Powell’s when I was younger, and it wasn’t as big as I remembered, but it’s still huge. You need the map. (In my imagination, Powell's was the size of Disneyland, except better because it was entirely books.)



There were quirky little things all over the store, especially in the Literature and Fiction section: handwritten notes with employee recommendations, search tips on alternate spellings of authors's names, mini-reviews, etc.

(See the size of this Graham Greene section?)

I wanted to get some photos that showed how large Powell’s is, but I was a little distracted.



English Country Dancing. That red blur is me.

Dancing that requires an understanding of left vs. right is generally not for me. But I loved English Country Dancing, though it took all of my focus to follow the instructions. I've gained a new respect for Elizabeth Bennet, who could converse and dance simultaneously.

Most of my things (read: books) are still in boxes, but I'm happy to be back "home" in Washington now. It's beautiful here: ocean, mountains, really tall evergreens. I can't get over how tall some of these trees are.

Here's a tree looming over our roof.

Or for scale: Here's my family and some of the trees at the Dungeness Recreation Area.














I'm slowly settling in, but I'm still missing a certain... Kentuckiness. Things are different here. Not better or worse, just different. I enjoy meeting new people and seeing new places (though I still spend far too much time in front of my computer screen), but I keep wishing someone would say y'all.