Look who’s back after whirlwind trip

Well it’s been over a month since my last column and I suppose I have some explaining to do.
I could just chalk it all up to laziness but that wouldn’t be entirely accurate, so I’ll begin from the beginning.
July was incredibly busy, possibly the busiest month I’ve had in my entire life, full of work, opportunity, adventure, loss and indeed some well-deserved lounging about. I work in a field I never thought in a thousand years I would work in, let alone enjoy; but my time as a law clerk this summer has opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities and discovery.
I’ve had the opportunity to work at two highly rated law firms that specialize in personal injury and some other civil litigation fields. What an exhilarating experience it has been to be handed work that carries very real consequences.
For the first two weeks of July, as I worked, my wife and kids spent some family time in Michigan with my in-laws, having the time of their lives at my grandfather-in-law’s cabin on Bois Blanc island in Lake Huron.
This trip also happened to coincide with the final days and hours of my wife’s beloved maternal grandfather, Bob, an incredibly gifted poet and dedicated family man. I am incredibly grateful that she and my children got to spend some time with him as the ancient atoms that comprised his remarkable life continued on their journey and rejoined the cosmos for their next adventure.
After their return I took a short time off work and drove back to Price to enjoy my favorite time of year in that part of the world. After spending one short night back in their beds I whisked the kids out of Oregon for an overnight drive to Grandpa and Grandma’s house where we spent a week in the Castle Valley, going on walks, swimming at the wave pool, visiting my daughter’s best friends at the USU Eastern Dinosaur Museum (she once vowed to marry the Allosaurus, an arrangement I can really get behind!), going to Pioneer days in my hometown of Wellington, and wrapping it all up by eating our fill in Washington Park during International Days.
My old friend Hunter King even offered me a unique milk/yogurt soft drink that tasted very good but carried some other… rather immediate consequences to the untraveled stomach.
If I haven’t said it before I will say it now, I love the Castle Valley. Everyone who lives there are strong, inventive, and increasingly active in their communities. Helper is undoubtably home to one of the richest collectives of artists and dreamers in this entire country and I was very disappointed to have to leave before the arts festival happening soon, almost as bummed as I was to miss the Greek Festival which happened the week before I arrived.
Once we returned to Oregon we have spent our time exploring the state we now call home, wandering the coast near Tillamook, where we toured the cheese factory and gorged ourselves with ice cream and cheese samples.
We looked out from fogged lined cliffs in ancient forests down 1,000 foot drops into ocean bays full of migrating whales and walked along beaches with sand so fine we are still picking it out of our ears. So, again I offer my most sincere apologies, I promise to be more committed to my duties of annoying, provoking and hopefully entertaining you in the future.