It’s 2012 officially.

And so far, things are off to a good start. Of course, when you go vacationing to an awesome place with some of your best friends, you tend to have a good time. That has been the case for this New Year as well.

Just like NYE 2011, Kelly and I spent time on the Oregon coast with our friends Kevin and Stacy. This year, Chris and Corie visited with us as well and we all had a really nice dinner at the Saffron Salmon in Newport.

On New Years day, we woke up late (not surprising) and went back down to the waterfront area for a nice little lunch at Local Ocean, then on to a whale watching boat in which we actually saw 4 of the elusive humped-back critters. They are super difficult to get caught on film, but I did get a few shots of their spouts nonetheless.

As we’re getting ready to go back out again for dinner, I have been reflecting on the upcoming year and my previous post in which I laid out my resolutions.

I feel like i need to amend that list and add “go to the coast” more often. It quite simply is awesome. Looking at the view just from our rental condo, if I showed you a picture (which i am) you might be hard pressed to say that I wasn’t in Hawaii or something. Absolutely stunning, and to think its only an hour away from our house.

I also would add to the list to “vacation with friends more” because that always makes things more interesting. It’s fun to experience things with your closest friends.

I am sure I got a automated traffic camera ticket on my way out of Phoenix. I literally got one a week living in Phoenix, it is ridiculous. I just remember being blinded by a flash in the wee hours of the morning as I left town – sure it wasn’t God trying to tell me something.

The drive to Palm Desert/Palm Springs wasn’t nearly as boring as it had been in past trips. I think this is mostly because it was done entirely in the dark. But, sunrise over the Coachella Valley sure was nice.

Rain from the mega storm hovering over California first hit me past Palm Desert, near the wind farms. That was pretty much the last time I saw blue skies until I reached Oregon.

LA wasn’t nearly as impressive (from a skyline perspective) as I thought it would be. In fact, the downtown area was downright puny. Stopped in Burbank to visit with my friend Gary.

Rolled into Westley, California sometime around 6pm on Friday. It was dark, I was tired and hungry, and had a cat who had peed on herself in her crate so it was time to call it a day. After washing her blanket I turned in.

Alarm was set for 5am, but i woke up instead to my cat bitchin at me. We got on the road and started the long drive to Redding, which I never thought i’d get to.

Somewhere around Willows I get framed for a ticket (yeah, I said it) by California Highway Patrol. I must be the only person in this WORLD who has gotten a speeding ticket from “behind” a cop. I followed this guy 5-10 car lengths for at least 30 miles. He slowed down and switched lanes after coming up on a semi, waited for me to go ahead, then immediately pulled me over. It was the most ridiculous thing I have ever witnessed.

Finally made it to Redding and got my snow chains. The weather looked bad there (very gloomy, rainy, icy). Fortunately, I didn’t need the chains and the mountain drive through Mount Shasta National Park took a few hours. Once I made it out I was in Oregon.

Beautiful drive through Southern Oregon made me realize how blessed I was to get this job and have this opportunity to move here. Arrived in Salem around 4pm in the afternoon on Saturday and got about half of my stuff moved in.

Now, time to get some sleep!

In 3 days, I’m moving to Salem, Oregon.

My journey to the Pacific Northwest has been years in the making. Even before I got laid off from High Tech Institute, a job I worked at work 7 years, I was actively looking for positions in Seattle. Then, after I got laid off, I was interviewing, mostly by phone, for jobs in Portland and Seattle. It became obvious to me that finding a job up there was going to be hard – things like not having an address in either state, or knowing anyone who lived there. Of course, it didn’t help that companies for the most part were not hiring at this time and the economy had just gone to shit. We were also saddled with a mortgage and a house which we couldn’t get equal value for.

So my dreams of moving had to wait. It turns out that in the grand scheme of things, they wouldn’t have to wait long, and that what came next would put me in the best position to finally close a 10 year chapter of living in Arizona and the southwest.

I was incredibly fortunate to find a job at a great advertising agency in Tempe called Off Madison Ave. I had known about these guys from my work at High Tech, and immediately developed many great personal and professional friendships. The job was incredibly challenging – something that High Tech didn’t prepare me for. Whereas the client side of marketing was a more laid back, political exercise (in my experience) the agency side is a frantic, deadline oriented world where shifting gears daily and spontaneous creativity is the norm. Over the past year and a half, I developed a lot of different types of skills – organization, project management, leadership and training. But what was probably most important, were the friendships. It was one friendship in particular that has gotten me packing my car for a cross country trip on Friday.

I’ll be leaving quite a few great friends behind, but I know we’ll stay in touch. Whether it is my good buddies Andrew and Eric who worked with me those long seven years at HTI, or my friends Cori, Holly, Ruben, Amy, Chris and others at the agency who shared so many of the good and occasional “tough” times. I’ll especially miss my creative family (Cori and Holly) who actively sought my perspective on so many different projects, and who tolerated my random farting noises (made by mouth, i swear) and demands of going out to lunch daily.

What i won’t miss is the 100 degree days, or the bad allergies. I won’t cry over speed cameras every mile on the interstate or the joy of living in a “red state” where its perfectly legal to walk around with AK47s – in public. And surely, I won’t long for 12-14 hour days and sleepless nights (although I know my new gig will present new challenges as well).

Some say the grass isn’t always greener, but I can say that after visiting both Oregon and Arizona, it truly is. When I moved to Arizona I was in awe of the mountains, and cactus and well, the mexican food. With Oregon I’ll be in awe of the climate, and trees and natural beauty of forests, rivers and wineries. It will be different, but “different” is what I need right now, so I am looking forward to this change.

Over the next few days I’ll begin my journey in earnest. First up is an 18 hour drive from Phoenix to Salem which will take me through California. I’ll post pictures, videos and recaps of the trip. Check back if you’d like to see.

Are you traveling to the Pacific Northwest / Seattle area for a vacation? If so, you owe it to yourself to hop on the ferry to Bainbridge Island and take a short scenic drive to the Bloedel Reserve. My wife and I had a fantastic time there this past weekend and I wanted to share some details about our trip.

First, I must say that I was skeptical about the Reserve. Admittedly, I didn’t know what it was, how long we’d be there or what we’d do once we got there. I guess I figured i’d see an old house and some pretty manicured lawns. Well, I did see those things and much more, including sprawling meadows, a Japanese garden, a very cool reflection pool, several waterfalls, the largest weeping willow tree you’ve ever seen as well as deer.

First, some details as to what the Reserve is all about.

The Bloedel Reserve is a 150 acre garden created by Prentice and Virginia Bloedel. They were conservationists who loved the style of Japanese gardens but wanted to bring to them a western flair. Although there is a definite Japanese inspiration, in the form of the choice of trees, flowers and even water features, there are many different styles at play all throughout the reserve. Sometimes you will feel like you are in a meadow, others in a rain forest.

Meadow Entrance to the Bloedel Reserve

When you first start on the path you will find yourself in a meadow. It is actually very easy to find your way around – simply stick to the well defined path. Before long, the bright and open meadow is swallowed up by a dense forest. There are huge trees, covered with moss, as well as all types of interesting plants. I often took photos looking directly up into the tree canopy (which incidentally was very high up) to catch rays of sunlight creeping through the leaves. I figure that the temperature inside of the forested area was about 10 degrees or more cooler than out in the meadowy section.

Forest Canopy inside the Bloedel Reserve

One really cool thing I should mention about the Bloedel Reserve is that visiting is by reservation only, and they only allow a certain number of people in at a time. Why is that cool? Privacy! You can walk these trails, take pictures and normally not see another soul. The seclusion was really amazing – you felt as if you were discovering all of these really cool hidden gems (streams, lakes, ancient looking trees, etc).

Eventually if you follow the trail, you’ll come to a bridge and a boardwalk. The bridge crosses over a stream, although it was heavily concealed under plant growth. The boardwalk actually crosses over wetlands and was put into place so you could experience the different types of plants that grow in a more swampy condition without disturbing anything.

Boardwalk through The Bloedel Reserve WetLands

Shortly after the boardwalk area through the wetlands you will enter a vast, open meadow with a pond and a gigantic weeping willow tree (pictured at top of this post and below). It might sound silly but this was a breathtaking moment for me. Up until then, I’d been walking on trails in the deep woods. I likened it to the part in Goonies where the kids had been traveling through dank, dark passages only to find themselves in a giant cavern with a pirate ship and gold. It just wasn’t the type of thing I was expecting to see as I rounded a corner – very cool.

Weeping Willow, Pond and Mansion at Bloedel Reserve

Here is where I am going to stop. I don’t want to spoil everything about the Bloedel Reserve. Suffice it to say, this wasn’t the end of the spectacular sights. My wife and I even saw 2 deer walking freely, which was a real treat. I posted some pictures of other sights from the Bloedel Reserve on my link blog if you’re interested in seeing more.

Have you been to The Bloedel Reserve? Let me know what your favorite part was!