 |
| Playground adjacent to our apartment with two great kids, Alps in background. |
In a nutshell the move went like this. We set aside two weeks to pack which wasn't enough time. Matt arrived a few days before scheduled departure and saved us. Things were going smoothly but not moving along fast enough for our deadline. Son-in-law Matt surveyed the boxes, organized, boxed & crated paintings, picked up the U haul truck and Zoe in Santa Rosa and immediately started loading the truck. Zoe & I continued packing. Then all in a whirlwind, the truck was full, all 26' of it, we had our last party at Drovers Close , said adieu to our wondeful friends, and were off early on Monday morning.
Matt & Zoe drove straight through in the truck from TSR to Portland in 16 hours. We left a little later after a thorough survey of the house to be sure we were not leaving anything behind. We drove the BMW, also tightly packed, as far ar Roseburg where we overnighted with new friends, Lory &Paul Utz.
Tuesday was unloading day at Premiere Storage of Hillsboro, OR. Matt and two friends plus Steve, Zoe and I spent most of the day unloading a 26' truck into a 20' storage unit. I don't think we could fit a toothpick in at the moment.
Then the Portland adventure begins. We met on Wednesday morning with a friend of a friend from Sea Ranch. Sharon Albert's friend is a long time resident of Portland, has an important job with Tazo Tea, and is being transferred to Lausanne. This coincidence was our reason for meeting.
At the Tazo headquarters he served us looking a very special pot of tea the leaves of which had arrived from China the previous day. We talked about Lausanne and learned that his apartment-to-be is very close to ours. We also learned that upon retirement some years from now he intends to return to Portland and so would like to rent out his charming, meticulously cared for 1919 Victorian/Craftsman home. Since his timing meshed with our return from Lausanne to Portland we went to see the house and immediately fell in love. This will probably be our landing place when we return to the US in the fall.
 |
| Front garden of our house with Tern & Auke |
That afternoon we spent several hours with a realtor at gorgeous new condos in the upscale Pearl area, downtown, and in the south waterfront. I think city living will be quite a change for us but the walkability of the area is very enticing.
The remainder of the week was spent celebrating Steve's birthday, exploring hangars, visiting the OHSU fitness facility, consolidating and repacking for the trip to Switzerland, having meals with friends, getting a haircut and putting the last few items in the storage unit.
from Lausanne:
We made it! We are finally back here. The entire trip went well. We are off to sleep and will deal with unpacking tomorrow.
Goodnight.
Anita
