Spud, have you seen the 12 inch high doll of me dressed as snow white?

Another rainy day in Seattle... Though everyone keeps telling us that this is "unusual" weather for a Northwest Pacific summer, the continual rain makes coffee, tea, and inside conversation much more pleasant and necessary.

This morning started with a quick pack up at Maggie's and then off to church at 9. We were slightly (and if you know me [Debbie] and my many panic-inducing fears, you know I'm understating this fact) derailed by the perceived loss of our beloved GPS system, now dubbed "Francois". But made it to Bethany Presbyterian only moderately behind schedule. We arrived in time to witness the communion service and sermon, which illuminated our conversation with Kimberlee on Friday.

Katie says that one of the highlights of our trip so far was participating in the communion service at Bethany Presbyterian Church in Seattle. Though communion and community are the subjects of our r

esearch, we will unfortunately be unable to participate in most of the communion practices of the communities we will meet.

After church, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of coffee delivered to us by a hungover barista at El Diablo Coffee Company, which is conveniently located directly across from the church.

Then it was a quick drive across town to drop off the parking pass loaned to us by our savior, Mia (who will hopefully become a fast new friend next time we are in Seattle and can align schedules).

And then... the road.

The drive to Portland was... you guessed it... rainy. But in only 3 hours we arrived at the gorgeous home of Mr. and Mrs. Edwards (the proud and hilarious parents of our own STh'er, Stephanie Edwards).

I'm pretty sure they served us the most delicious meal we will receive on our journey: BACON(they must have known I would be j

oining them) wrapped steak , rice, salad, strawberry shortcake, coffee, and wine, which of course, was only made more pleasurable by the presence of the famous "Unc" and some amazing stories about the sordid past of their favorite daughter.

("Unc", by the way, is Stephanie's great

-uncle. Among his many fields of expertise, he specializes in knitting the most comfortable and cozy sock-slippers for his niece and her acquaintances. Trust me, they are AMAZING!!! See Stephanie for details.)

After dinner, we stopped off at the Ginger House. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the current domicile of our very own Kevin and Bethany Dirksen, our favorites among the ginger community. As always, seeing a friendly face in a new environment is always such a joy. After a few laughs with the Dirksen family, we retired for the night, in Stephanie's bed (definitely the most comfortable bed I've slept in in weeks).

Tomorrow (today), Monday will be a day of driving as we leave the Portland area and head to Santa Rosa, California. Before the drive we will have a quick interview with Todd and Laura from Camp Collins. But you probably won't hear details until Wednesday as we will be far from the reach of the interwebs.

Until then... "embrace the strange." (our trip motto)