truesally's VirtualTourist Home Page

I grew up in the great Pacific Northwest on Whidbey Island, thinking I hated it. My small hometown was a Navy base (thus lots of friends coming & going), my family had lived there since they landed from Holland (so everyone knew my business from birth), and it seemed like a very long drive to anywhere interesting (meaning Seattle). My sites were set on moving to the big city as soon as my graduation cap hit the ground, but (thankfully) God had a better idea...

My parents agreed to pay for Washington State University, which is in Pullman - humorous directions for getting there are "Go east until you smell it and south until you step in it." Yikes. Now, I truly *LOVE* my college town but living there made me appreciate my home where there were beaches all around me plus evergreens & hills & a history I knew well. Pullman, being in eastern Washington, was mostly flat and allllll fields of grassy stuff, and the "beach" was the bank of the Snake River...

When I got married and we moved to Oregon, I was excited about being back where things looked more like the place I grew up but suddenly sad I wasn't considered a "Washingtonian" anymore...I realized this is where my heart is so when we had the chance to move up here to Vancouver, I was thrilled. Not only is this place in Washington but it has a small town feel, that same one I thought I hated. (Of course, having a big city nearby helps! Broadway shows don't head up here for us...). We've been here since 1997 and I'm still exploring my new hometown.

I am a wife of one, mother of two, and teacher of many. I've been a substitute in middle & high school for three years after having taught a few years in Oregon; now I teach English & electives at an alternative high school. I love my job, despite the occasional craziness involved with teenagers.

I'm also a volunteer extraordinaire - I design newsletters for PTA and Friends of the Library, help out with Make-A-Wish, teach youth group at my church, co-lead my daughter's Daisy Girl Scout troop, and occasionally tutor a neighbor kid. I've become pretty good at balancing - otherwise I wouldn't have time for all of my reading (two book groups) and movie-watching (annual Oscar party!).

We are members of OMSI (science museum in Portland), Portland Children's Museum, Oregon Zoo, Portland Art Museum, Oregon Historical Society and are subscribers to Oregon Symphony Kids Concerts & the Broadway series. Looks like I need to get my butt out into more Vancouver-based groups, eh? This great site has inspired me to check out more of my new hometown...Check back often!

I'm including this because (1) It might help you make suggestions for me in my travels and (2) I obsessively love making lists.

*My family & friends ~ I actually do enjoy being with them in most of my travels

*Books ~ seriously, I am the nerd who takes two books and half a dozen magazines on most trips, and I often seek out local libraries and/or bookstores...Favorite writers = Elizabeth Berg, Anna Quindlen, Kate Chopin, Anne Lamott, Philippa Gregory

*Movies ~ I will watch the ones that are decidedly not Oscar-worthy, but especially appreciate finding gems in the obscure (and frankly anything with Gael Garcia Bernal's name remotely attached to it will get at least one viewing from me...But I'm not obsessed...)

*Music ~ I like to think I'm not snobby but the last thing I would ever want to listen to is something associated with American Idol (partly because I often resist hype on principle)...Favorites are Beatles, Gershwin, Ray Charles, Natalie Merchant, George Strait, Fountains of Wayne, Mozart

*Shopping at Trader Joe's, Wild Oats, & Whole Foods ~ basically eating things that have ingredients I recognize as actual edible substances

*Container gardening ~ I enjoy the look of nature and flowers and such without too much hassle in dirt

*Rollercoasters ~ my biggest thrill lately was having my 7yo son ride California Screamin' with me four times

*Doing laundry ~ I sincerely adore the feeling of organization & completion with this chore (see my notes about the hotels in Asia)

*Pizza ~ even after eating it nearly every night in college, I still thrill at the aroma

*Chocolate ~ if I'm forced to be picky, I do prefer dark chocolate and some sort of creamy hazelnut or almond filling; but I'm not really picky

*Krispy Kreme ~ Bless you, Kremeworks, for venturing to our humble town (and thank you, God, for not punishing my thighs yet)

*Raspberry Lemon Drops & Chocolate Martinis ~ on a quest to find the best...but not in a weird, Hemingway-esque way

Again, the list-making thing:

*Too much heat ~ although heaven forbid, I'm certainly not going to complain when I am visiting another country...I just couldn't live in a place on or next to the sun

*Wet clothes ~ I refuse to ride anything that will soak me - who made this up as FUN? - and I'm not interested in skiing for this reason

*Stinky stuff ~ I don't know anyone who loves things that smell bad (okay, my beagle & basset hound did), but I really have extremely low tolerance

*Blissfully calculated ignorance ~ "I see stupid people"

*Condescension ~ not when water makes a fog on the window...See, I was condescending there - assuming you know less than you might; that's dumb & I hate it. Start smart and see where people land; go from there

*Waste ~ whether it's money, time, energy, food, resources, brain power - use it wisely! (Does this count?? haha)