SATURDAY, I cut over from Portland over Route 26 to the Oregon coast, which I wanted to drive down. Went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. That was pretty neat --- they had these observation decks above the factory, where you could look down and watch the workers --- a huge operation, all these huge chunks of cheese sliced into blocks, packaged, etc.... Sampled some cheese (the "squeaky cheese" was kinda fun)....Then, as I drove down the Oregon coast, I happened upon the U.S.'s largest Sitka spruce tree ---- a circumference of 56 feet (I did the math, and it means around 18 feet in diameter, right?), over 750 years old. I'm ashamed to admit this, but the first thing the luthier in me thought was, wow, how many guitar tops could this tree make????? Not very politically, environmentally correct, huh? Shame on me. My bad.

Saturday night I landed in Coos Bay, ate a wonderful dinner there ("Cedar Grill"), and SUNDAY morning left at 8 a.m. Drove all day, cutting over from Coos Bay on 42 back to 5. Went down 5 back home. Got back in San Jose around 7 p.m. Sunday. That was a LOT of driving that day --- I hadn't expected it would take me that long that day.

CONCLUSION: All in all, I am really, really, really glad I took this trip. I had a much better time than I expected at the convention, I had a great time touring Seattle and Portland, I didn't get lost as often as I expected to (just give me a map and I'm fine). I really got to know Seattle pretty well --- I liked it a LOT better than Portland --- I think Seattle is laid out a lot better than Portland --- Portland's streets don't make a lot of sense, and it's not a very pretty city, compared to Seattle. My car did wonderfully --- very smooth, dependable ride, no problems whatsoever -- except for lots of bugs who met their demise on my car windshield and grill. Oregon was HOT (95-100), but Seattle was cooler (88 or so). I'm glad I drove, too; I loved the freedom of being able to stop off anywhere and anytime the spirit moved me!!!!

A couple of interesting, weird things. I never could get used to the fact that in Oregon they don't let you pump your own gas, and they have no sales tax. The gas was way cheaper in Oregon than it is here or in Seattle. It was only around $1.89 in Oregon, whereas in Seattle it was around $2.35 or above.

Anyway, the two weeks was just the right length of time to be away and on the road. I was missing building Patrick's guitar! Now I'm ready to get back to it . . . . .