The Oregon trail.

[Cargo in Portland, OR. I could spend all day—and all my monies—here.]

I never arrive in Oregon without a bang.

Last time, it was a paralyzing, violent, 24-hour bug. This time, it was an inadvertent day spent at Phoenix airport getting shnockered alone on Pacificos and margaritas while watching Boardwalk Empire on my phone. Later (and sober), in my rental car, I got lost in downtown Portland, called Rob sobbing, then got pulled over for not having my lights on. (Actually, the trip was sandwiched with wretched travels, as Hurricane Sandy cramped my return trip and made me stay a night in Charlotte. Then, at CLT the next day, I dropped my pizza slice in a salad bar container of creamed corn, and my flight to Richmond turned around halfway home because the landing gear wouldn’t retract.)

[My epic solo meal at Olympic Provisions in Portland, OR, after a day of wandering and shopping. They make their own salami and do an online salami of the month club. Mind-blowing.]

The universe apparently had the chaos trots, because during this entire madness, we were also struggling with the fact that Eli was back in Richmond, lost in our neighborhood during a storm, unable to be found, after escaping off the back of the deck. Talk about feeling helpless, when you’re stranded in Oregon and can’t get home to help find your bebe, with only Craigslist posts—“Grey cat found dead in road near intersection of…”—to make you want to jump out of your skin.

Thankfully, the little bugger was found, a block or so away, hiding in a yard getting bowls of fresh milk. Livin’ large.

Here are some iTelephone shots from the fun part of the trip (before we found out the bastard had been missing for days) on the off-chance you don’t already follow me on Instagram and missed them.

Reunited and it felt so good: splitting some pasta and wine at Nick’s Back Room in McMinnville. So cold and rainy every day.

[I padded around the Portland Japanese garden for awhile. It felt huge, much bigger than the little downtown block it lives on.]

[Hard-workin’ man.]

[Rob got a day off and we spent the rainy day tasting.]

But when he didn’t have the day off:

[The view from Lange Estate Winery, where I had a spectacular reunion with friends… and their fireplace.]

[On the way to Amity.]

[Just a random roadside view in the Dundee Hills. I just stood there, overcome, sort of tempted to cry. But that could have been the Argyle bubbles I’d just obliterated.]

[More tempting finds at Cargo.]

That doesn’t even really scratch the surface of all I saw and did… but you get the idea.

See you next time, Oregon. No, seriously.

-Carey