Oregon Trail

Greetings from the Honeymoon Trail

No jokes about blogging on our Bliss Trip. We are in bliss, and that includes Blogging.

The day after my wedding, I started work on an indie film Change Your Life. Not your typical honeymoon kick off, but we had a blast.

Then we took off Tuesday morning, reached the Oregon border by Wednesday morning, and got to Larry's sister's place by Wednesday evening. Here's our attempt at self-portrait above. The "Welcome to Oregon picture obscured by our silly blissful faces.

In two days of driving, I never got tired or bored. We watched the scenery, prayed out loud, laughed out loud, I read a book out loud. We pointed out interesting images along the highway (like the Indian restaurant next to the truck stop), listened to Eddie Izzard, and created our own soundtrack with our duelling iPods.

The only sketchy event was taking a lesser-traveled route from the 5 interstate to Eureka on the coast. Starting at dusk. We should have reconsidered when the yellow triangle said, "windy road, next 140 miles." It was gorgeous the first hour when there was light, more challenging the second hour when the sky went dark. And more so when the road lost its yellow stripe, and deer and opossums darted out in front of us. Fortunately the deer were a safe distance ahead. But Larry had to brake suddenly to miss the opossum, and eventually had to honk at it and yell, "okay guy, pick a lane!"

But there were wonderful moments on that road as well. Like listening to Enya and "Crown Him With Many Crowns" and "Funeral for A Friend." At one point Larry pulled off, and we got out to gaze at the star-glutted sky.

This is one thing I miss in a big city. The stars. The stars, the stars! The Milky Way and the planets and the constellations. It was so clear you could spot the satellites as they beeped and glided slowly across the sky. Gorgeous.

The next day we ate at a local omelette house and drove north along the Oregon Coast. You can roll the window down and breathe clean air.

I'm having a great time hanging out with Larry and his family: sister Dianna, brother-in-law Tony and nephew Joe. It's been fun bonding, learning more about Larry's dark past, and visiting his old haunts. Last night my new brother-in-law Tony and I discovered we both had Norwegian mothers, and fathers from Pittsburgh.

Today we went to Portland, Larry's home town. We saw the homes he grew up in, visited the Saturday market and Powell's Bookstore. Larry and I decided if we left LA, Portland would be the place to be. Powell's is according to the Lar, the biggest bookstore in the US. A full city block. You could spend all day there.

It's been nice just hanging and having no agenda.

I knew Larry was the right man for me, but I didn't expect things to be so different. But it is. You really do become one with another person. Of course that is going to take a lifetime to really play out, that thing of becoming one with someone. And of course yes, Larry's still a guy. He's going to annoy me, hurt me, upset me, as I will do to him. We've still got to live real life with jobs and bills and too-small apartments.

That all being said ... I really found a soul mate, a partner to go through life with. I spent my childhood unknown in my own family, so it's remarkable to have someone get me, love me, and cherish me. I feel a level of peace, contentment and joy that I never felt before.


Grow old along with me
the best is yet to be
God bless our love