May 31 - June 4, 2013
Moorestown, NJ
Mom and I went to New Jersey to visit the family and plant Granny's garden. As a surprise Jason and Joyce decided to tag along so that Granny could meet JT. We had planned to meet Granny at Perkins for our usual arrival breakfast. Mom and I entered first. Jason, Joyce and JT followed. Granny's reaction was great. We were greeted lovingly as always and then Granny said "And there's Jason…. THERE'S JASON!" She was completely surprised, making the trip a success. The long weekend provided a nice break from my Grand Jury Duty.
June 24 - 26, 2013
Las Vegas, NV
Mom and I went to Las Vegas the last three days to look for wedding dresses. Ben proposed a couple weeks ago and we are insane enough to be attempted to get married in three short months. As everyone knows weddings are constant in Vegas so it seemed like a logical place to find a dress in a hurry. We experienced great success. The third shop we visited had the perfect dress and promised they could deliver it in six weeks. We're trusting them to do just that and will return to Vegas in August to have it altered and fitted.
August 6 - 9, 2013
Las Vegas, NV
Mom and I returned to Vegas this week to pick up my wedding dress. We went straight to the bridal shop from the airport for the initial fitting. The dress looked and fit great but I wanted to change a few details and the neck-line. The store promised it would be altered and ready in less than 48 hours. It was perfect in only 36.
September 21 - 30, 2013
Portland, OR & Maui, HI
Ben and I spent the last ten days in Portland and Maui for our honeymoon. The Portland portion is worth mentioning because we got there via a helicopter that left the Creswell airport and landed on a Smart Park on First and Davis. We then rode the elevator down to street level, our pilot flagged down a cab and sent us on our way a few blocks to the Paramount Hotel. We spent two nights in the city and then proceeded to OGG where we had a blast scuba diving, boogie boarding and enjoying all that is Hawaii.
Our view of the Portland sign as we came in for landing on the smart park.
Sunset on the way home from Little Makena Beach.
Sunset from the Grand Wailea's main pool.
October 1 - 5, 2013
Toronto and Niagara Falls, Canada
Ben and I were home for 20 hours to close on the sale of his house before departing to Toronto. Ben was giving a talk at a conference. I decided to tag along. He had one free day before the conference began so we decided to rent a car and visit Niagara Falls. The falls were gorgeous as one would expect. The volume of water that passes over the falls is the type of thing that must be seen in person to fully appreciate. It's an experience that excites all of one's senses. The roar of the water is nearly deafening. The mist not only physically soaks you but also creates magical rainbows for the eyes to enjoy. The damp air smells like a fresh fall day. This experience confirmed for me that a visit to Niagara Falls is worthy of its bucket list status.
Niagara Falls in all its splendor. 
The Toronto skyline from Toronto Island at midday.
One of many canals on Toronto Island.
Gorgeous fall colors on Toronto Island.
The Toronto skyline from Toronto Island shortly after dark.
October 25 - 29, 2013
Napa, Sacramento and San Francisco, CA
Ben and I attended the "Shamble" wedding in Napa this weekend. Sunday after the wedding we drove up to Sacramento to have brunch with the Smiths. We then hustled back to SFO for my return flight to Eugene. After three cancelled flights I realized I should just stay in San Fran with Ben for three more days as he was speaking at the Samsung Developers conference. I enjoyed meeting many of Ben's colleagues from throughout his career.
November 3 - 7, 2013
Sydney, Australia
I went hoop hunting in Sydney this weekend. Ben had a meeting in LA and I decided to do a hoop hunt and mileage run before meeting up with him in San Francisco for the Stanford vs Oregon game. The hunt was a great success. I also managed to work in a nice long exploration of Manly into my visit.
The Sydney Opera House pictured from Sydney Harbor.
November 7 - 10, 2013
San Francisco and Los Angeles, CA
Ben and I met at the SFO airport where I flew in from Sydney and he from LAX. When he landed he told me we needed to go back to LA on the weekend to meet with a company called Oculus that was recruiting him.
From the airport we went to Palo Alto to meet Joel and Micah for lunch. We had a nice time over burgers. I was tired from my flight even though I had four business class seats to myself. After lunch I snuck in a nap back at the hotel. Ben and I then proceeded to the game where we met up with Mikey. The Ducks played poorly and lost.
Our view at a frustrating football game. During halftime (pictured) John Elway's jersey was retired.
Ben was on-site at Disney on Friday. I took him to the campus then caught up on sleep and work. For dinner we hit up a fun Mexican place and then strolled around downtown Palo Alto. Saturday we were up early to go to LA to meet with Brendan, the CEO of Oculus. We spent seven hours with the guy. He was thoroughly enjoyable and the company was definitely interesting. In the end we decided it wasn't the right fit for us.
November 21 - 25, 2013
Moorestown, NJ
This week Mom and I went to NJ to visit Granny and help her get set up for Christmas. We got a significant amount of stuff purchased and wrapped in our short visit and as always enjoyed the time with the family.
December 6 - 16, 2013
Rome, Italy
This weekend I went to Rome for 48 hours to try and capture my elusive Colosseum hoop shot. I got some decent pictures but unfortunately the trees still had more foliage on them than I would have liked. It looks like Ben and I may have one more trip to Rome in our future.
A hoop near the Colosseum in Rome.
The next week Ben and I spent at Disney World in Orlando. Highlights included the usual suspects of all four parks and outlet shopping (where we found $35 Joe's Jeans that actually fit Ben, that was amazing). Trying to decide what this woman had in her pants was also memorable.
What's going on here?
December 19, 2013
Seattle, WA
Ben and I spent today in Seattle seeing Matty D. The visit was good and the lunch at Din Tai Fung was worth the price of admission.
December 26- January 2, 2013
Moorestown, NJ and New York City, NY
We spent this week with the family in NJ for Christmas. Ben and went to NYC for a night in the middle of the week to see Ilsa. The weather was terrible in the city but we still managed to have some fun. The highlight for me was visiting a Lego exhibition on day two.
January 27 - February 1, 2014
Moorestown, NJ
This week I went to NJ to help Judy with her treatments. While the circumstances were significantly less than desirable I had a very nice time with Granny, Judy and Ben. I learned all kinds of fun family history from Granny and I'll never, as long as I live, forget her machine gun joke.
March 16 - 21, 2014
Cincinnati, OH
This week Ben and I went to Cincinnati for a client meeting. The trip was rather uneventful. The one not work related activity was a visit to the Air Force Museum. I had been there once on my road trip through Ohio but Ben had not. The four hangers of all things plane related were equally cool the second time around.
Just a few of the hundreds of planes at the Air Force Museum.
