Fours hours, most of the way on Highway 5, my sister driving, arriving at three in the afternoon to a party already well underway just in time for the traditional buffet lunch. A treat, being back in the Pacific Northwest on Puget Sound, more crab and fresh salmon than an Oaklander will ever encounter, my cousin having set out the crab traps over the last two days and bringing in a really good catch.

Again, a good turn out, nice to see the cousins and the kids, although the kids are off into their own separate worlds just as we were at their age, but bringing back for us a life from long ago still holding sway with the rules and customs of those days. Or something like that. New noses to count, faces to imprint, names to recall.

Anyway, the idea developed to drive back to Portland. We usually stay over, but my sister's head was clear and her energy was up and I was up for being chauferred back and then be able to spend what would essentially be an extra day before returning to Oakland.

What to relate? A clear drive on Highway 5, home literally right at midnight, to bed soon after. Life in the fast lane, here in Portland.