Hanna and I just returned from Connecticut last night, where we enjoyed a brief overnight stay in Storrs so Hanna could deliver a conference paper on late 18th & early 19th century English travel narratives of Ireland, and then yesterday had lunch with friends. If only travel were less expensive, we’d do it more often!

Meanwhile, here are some photos from the wedding leg of our west coast trip.

We were in Hayward, California, to participate in the wedding of Chloe’s parents: now Diana and Collin Thormoto.

The night before the wedding, we held the rehearsal on the back patio of Collin’s parents’ home.

We had to calm down nervous Pastor Dan, who was thrown off-guard by the super-organized bride and groom.

Hanna, one of the three wedding attendants, got to practice her paces on the arm of Collin’s brother David.

The wedding was on a Monday in Tilden Park at the Brazilian Room. Despite being September, the afternoon was brutally hot and we had to keep everyone as cool as possible before the ceremony!

The wedding had a bunch of awesome nerdy touches, from the TARDIS cake topper and Sting cake knife to the Star Wars processional music and Lord of the Rings-themed reception tables. You can see lots of beautiful photographs by the professional photographer here.

The wedding “cake” was actually a tower of cupcakes catered by James and the Giant Cupcake, brought in and arranged by these to enthusiastic women (one of whom was wearing a cupcake on her head!).

While not officially part of the wedding party, I was asked to help out and invited to sit at the head table (Bag End) with my own most fabulous spouse. The skirt I wore was sewn for the occasion by my colleague Andrea, who moonlights as a costumier.

(If you squint you can see our bridesmaids gifts — gorgeous silver necklaces!)

Less than a week after this extravaganza, Hanna and I got to celebrate our own first anniversary while the newly minted wife and husband were off on their honeymoon on Kauai. We silently wished them many happy returns of the day — and then snuggled up under the comforter and fell back asleep!

Next up, redwoods and ocean views … we take in a bit of the Oregon Coast before catching our flight back to Boston.

Leaving Portland, we drove down past Mt. Hood and through the Warm Springs reservation, home of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, to the city of Bend in central Oregon.

In 1984 my maternal grandparents retired to Bend, where we visited them throughout my childhood. This past May, my grandmother passed away there, and Tumelo Creek in the photograph above is where my grandfather, mother, and aunt, scattered her ashes.

We also visited the public library where my grandma volunteered for many years. She was responsible for selecting and mailing books to far-flung readers who were unable to visit the library in person very often (or at all). In ranching territory, this was not an insignificant group of people! She developed correspondence relationships with many of them, and was particularly proud of her ability to introduce her readers to new authors, occasionally sneaking in something they professed disinterest for. I remember one man, particularly, who refused to read women authors — until my grandmother got him hooked on the mystery writer P.D. James!

We stayed at the hotel we nearly always stayed in when I was a child, but to which I hadn’t been in over a decade: The Bend Riverside Inn & Suites. My mother had given us some money from her inheritance from my grandmother so we splurged on two nights in literally riverside accommodation on the Deschutes.

We ate well, lunching with my grandpa at the Victorian Cafe and discovering a coffee favorite of the trip, thump coffee.

thump had wooden shingles for customers to draw on, which they then hung up in the rafters — great decor! Hanna and I each contributed one to the collection.

We left Bend after a two-night stay and drove south to Ashland. Hanna had never been to Crater Lake, so we took a detour and drove through the park. It was incredibly foggy, but there were still amazing views!

The incoming clouds, portending fog at higher elevations.

Ashland — as long-time readers of this blog may remember — is the town near where the Oregon Extension program is located (about which I wrote my thesis). We actually stayed at the Greensprings Inn, twenty miles up in the mountains.

It was gloriously dark and quiet. We would have stayed longer, but we had a wedding to attend!

The next morning we had breakfast at the Greenleaf and merged back onto the I-5.