Vacation! All I Ever Wanted...

Ello Baykahs-
I'm writing you feeling totally RELAXED....really!! I'm fresh off one week in Oregon. We took our family vacation this week and drove to Oregon...it was only 17 hours of driving each way.

*FULL DISCLOSURE: I have an INTENSE fear of flying, and given the recent plane issues around the world I just couldn't do it...SO, we decided to drive.

I'm really glad we DID drive, because it made it feel like a REAL vacation. We stopped in Reno as our place to sleep each way. And the girls had a blast in the arcades the casinos they have there (Vegas doesn't really cater to families like Reno does). We also had a chance to eat at some cute places and visit a cupcake shop called BATCH that I have been following for quite awhile.

*FULL DISCLOSURE: Batch is a really cute place, and their cupcakes were quite delicious. However, it was a little weird to see one of their cupcakes DIPPED IN BUTTERSCOTCH....and that's all I'm gonna say about THAT (except it was delicious).

Our destination was Oregon because that is my home state, and we wanted to go and wish my Grammy a VERY HAPPY 90th birthday. She turns 90 on August 29.

We stayed in my old room in her basement where I lived while I went to my first year of college at Portland Community College (long story short I commuted two hours every day to go to school). It was so amazing to be in that room...20 years later...surrounded by a few of my high school memories. The girls had a blast looking at my prom picture and my high school graduation tassel. They also enjoyed playing outside unsupervised and not locking doors. They blew bubbles. They rolled around in GRASS.

They went to a REAL farmer's market.

My hometown of McMinnville, Oregon, has changed a LOT from when I was there 20 years ago.

It has turned into a wine mecca which has really invigorated the downtown. There are restaurants and little shops, and cool places to just stop and relax and eat on a rooftop. It has really become a place where time stands still for just a bit...I seriously watched a woman place her freshly baked bread from her bakery INTO A RED WAGON and roll it down the street to distribute to the restaurants to make their sandwiches with. SERIOUSLY...a RED WAGON.

McMinnville wasn't like that when I was growing up...or maybe it was, but I was just too young to see it. I remember just wanting to leave...all I wanted to do was go to California. It was ALL I thought about...bigger and better..and FASTER. And here I am sitting in Las Vegas...

I don't know if I miss the Northwest or I just miss my family. My grandmother is there...my dad is there...my sister...my aunts and uncles...most of my cousins....I really miss all of them. I was lucky enough to spend a day with my dad at the beach while we were there. He had a really tough year, and it was very hard being in Vegas while he was in a hospital bed. But, he pulled through...and I was SO happy to be with him even if it was just for a couple of hours.

The beach is where I feel most at home in Oregon. The girls?? Not so much. Abbi isn't a fan of the sand, so she spent a lot of time on the dock. BUT Lucy did have a blast making the sand castle that she has been talking about making for about a year...complete with feathers found on the sand (which I don't have a picture of simply because the ocean got to it first).

We spent three entire days in Oregon. It was relaxing. It was inspiring. It made me want to BAKE....so, I think I'm ready to go back to work...and maybe bake a few new things to feed to Las Vegas. I plan to test bake some new stuff over the next month to see if I can add to our menu for FALL and WINTER because THAT is prime EATING SEASON!!

I get back in my kitchen this afternoon...I'm actually excited to be back to work....which is pretty stupid considering I have been BITCHING about working for the past six months. But honestly? I'm at my BEST in the kitchen....

So...VACATION IS OVAH. I am rested. I am relaxed. I am READY to undo those two things.


Laytah