Natalie Vartanian's Blog

Lounging in Lake Oswego and Love, Love, Love

The classic red barn, Lake Oswego, Oregon

Thursday, July 14 – Poop dumped, fridge stocked and water filled we made our way over to Lake Oswego, Oregon which is about 30 minutes outside of Portland. Sally’s friend, Thai, had mentioned that their house is more in the country and oh boy was it ever! Lake Oswego is gorgeous. Smells like trees, feels so serene and it’s only a half hour away from P-town … perfect! Our gracious hostess decided to have a BBQ and bring a bunch of us together; most were in the music scene, as well as on the invite list for the wedding that weekend. Of course their house was the perfect location for it since they also have a recording studio that they built adjacent to their loft apartment. Apparently John and Thai renovated the place themselves and it turned out to be the coolest spot ever. Another location where I could envision myself living there! We lounged, and lounged and lounged some more. I also got to see Kat’s house (Thai’s mom), who lives on the property as well, and talk to her at length. What a fascinating woman and super talented artist. Definitely a kindred spirit, her and Thai! The other person I met that night was Blake, who flew up from LA for the wedding as he was photographing the whole gala event. Small world because when I ask him WHERE in LA he lives, he says Highland Park! Two towns away from where I grew up in Pasadena. And he’s mostly Vegan, so we had MUCH to talk about… small world!


The fluffiest cat in the whole wide world


John and Thai's recording studio, adjacent to the loft

Friday, July 15 – We woke up to another gorgeous day in Lake Oswego and decided to go for a run around the neighborhood. In that mere thirty minutes, we ran by farms, llamas, horses and property where they were growing Christmas Trees. After a nice hot shower and some work, we headed back to Portland as I had a date with a friend I hadn’t seen in over two years and Sally had a date with her cousin and his boat! Casey who I met in Quincy spent a year in Montana working for the Conservation Corps and now lives in Longview, WA working for a ball team as head intern. He was the right person to hang with since he knew of a couple of cool spots to expose me to, one of them being a place he had not seen himself either. We stopped there first … an elementary school that was converted in to a hotel with restaurants and bars within … Kennedy School. SUCH A COOL PLACE! The company that bought and renovated the place is called McMenamins and they own a number of very interesting locations throughout Oregon. The second place we went o was in Hillsboro, middle of nowhere, but it was a big log cabin turned bar with live music playing nightly. So we got to enjoy a good light and dark beer mixture and listen to live bluegrass.


Sally and Coach joining me on a run


Horsie along our run in Lake Oswego


Llama along our run in Lake Oswego

Saturday, July 16 – We parked outside of Sally’s cousin’s place since they were going to puppy sit for us so that we didn’t have to worry about him being alone during the wedding. Plus this gave us a chance to take Sally’s old red Beamer convertible to the wedding. Only downside … RAIN. No top down for these ladies. Regardless of the rain, we got dolled up (a refreshing change from tank tops and shorts!) and made our way to Mount Hood. The wedding was held at the Mount Hood Resort in Oregon. The ceremony had the mountains in the back drop and the reception was amongst the golf course. What an event: flip book station, candy bar, photo booth, dessert table, appetizer station, separate dining tent, plenty of couches to lounge in and of course, the checkered dance floor with a disco ball that dropped in! Needless to say we partied ad had a great time dancing to 90s music most of the evening. And yes, I cried, a good deal at the ceremony and throughout the night since it was so apparent the brides were madly in love with each other and so extremely and grateful to have one another. So heart warming and inspiring.


Sally and I right before the wedding ceremony


The dessert table (or shall I say tables!)


The first dance as wife and wife!


Sally and I with the beautiful newlyweds

Sunday, July 17 – Sally and I slept in and took our time getting ready and checking on the RV before we left (thank you Cody and Sally for taking care of things like the oil and transmission fluid, etc). While the TLC session was going on with the RV, I went out to lunch with Blake in a nearby Vegetarian market and restaurant (literally less than a mile from Mary and Cody’s). So fun to talk with a fellow veggie and Los Angelite (even though he was from Florida originally). After lunch, we had Gelato, talked some more and eventually called it a quits as Sally and I didn’t want to hit the road too late in the day. Finally around 5pm or so, we were back on the road, driving through Washington until we got to Squag Lake Rest Stop (outside of Spokane) where we decided to call it a night and rest our heads for the evening. Funny thing about being on this trip is the conflicting emotions of inertia and A.D.D.! You start feeling comfortable where you are, loving the people you are meeting and dreading having to say good bye. Yet there is this other desire there, the one that inspired traveling in the first place, which yearns to drive through mountains and along rivers, which anticipates the next set of amazing people you’ll encounter and is pushing you to get back behind the wheel and go … anywhere, everywhere and NOW.


Sunset along the 82 in Washington

posted by Natalie Vartanian @ 10:51 PM