Live from La Quinta Inn in friendly Newport, Oregon

So today marks Day Two in Newport, Oregon. I left Beaverton yesterday morning at around 7:30am, and got stuck with a train for 30 minutes at Farmington and Lombard. It just went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, for 30 minutes, and finally went back to where it started. Hmmm. How irritated do you think I was? Half an hour on the road and I was only 3 miles away from home? I stopped at a Starbucks on my way and ran into Tracey S. from high school, so that was nice. I think it's been about 4 years since I've seen her. We caught up briefly and I hit the road toward the beach. It was cloudy in Beaverton when I left but it didn't rain the entire trip, til I got to about Lincoln City, then I had some mist. I drove through a few clouds, actually, down past Depoe Bay, and it was all damp-air-ish and Oregon-beach-y. I like that. There's just something different about the beaches in Oregon.

I managed to get to the branch at around 10:45. It's a really nice branch - new building, very nicely decorated. The people are pretty nice, too, but I don't think they are that keen to the whole idea of float-staff, because most of them were trying to figure out exactly what my role was. To top it off, the receptionist's name is also Joyce, so that has made for some interesting phone calls.

I worked til 5pm and then found my hotel and checked in. It is nowhere near any beach (view-wise) but it's over that enormous bridge over Yaquina Bay, which is kind of cool. The room is fine (no real HBO... which means no Big Love... which means no going out on Friday night til I watch it...), the bed is very nice. Didn't do much of anything last night and got to bed at a reasonable hour. Here's a picture from the net of the bridge.
Wow. What a tiny picture.

Worked all day today, and left at around 5:30 after forgetting to do like 3 things... I'm not busy at all and I practically have to beat stuff to do out of one of the assistants (who frankly deserves to be beaten just for her attitude), so God knows why or how I forgot. I guess I am just not used to being bored out of my MIND at work...

So after work I turned north toward Lincoln City and went to the outlet mall. That drive between Newport and Lincoln City, boy. I don't know. Pretty brutal. Kind of a mountain (well, side of a mountain since it's coastal on the other side) road and all twisty and turny and bumpy and the car is being tossed all over hell and gone and the meth addicts in their big Toyota pickups are all up on your ass and shit, I was fairly stressed by the time I pulled in next to the Eddie Bauer. Pink sweater and green tshirt later and I headed over to the Coach store. I don't need another purse. I simply don't. Even bag-hag, totally-irrational-when-it-comes-to-purses me knows I don't need another one. But I will tell you this: if it wasn't for this BLASTED car payment situation I would have bought two. And ONE of them looked dangerously close to the Dooney I currently use. It's a sickness, definitely, but the good news is, I walked out with NOTHING.

There are some great photo ops between here and Lincoln City, and on my way UP I thought I would stop on my way BACK and take some pics for you, but by the time I hit the road it was nearly drizzly, and the lighting wasn't that great. So on my way out of town I promise to stop. Not just for you, you know, but for me too. So we can ALL enjoy them..