widener

Most summers I do not take a vacation. Mainly because I end up working all summer and never bother to tell my bosses to give me time off. This summer I wanted to make sure I had some time for some R&R. Of all things to do I decided to visit my grandma who lives in Portland, Oregon. I know its not "normal" but my grandma is some what of an inspiration for me. She was a nurse in the Navy during WWII. While I decided to go to nursing school before I really knew much about her service I have since gotten to know a lot more about her time spent in the Navy. My grandma and I now have some common ground to talk about. She will tell me how different nursing is now-a-days. As a nurse back then she had to sharpen needles for reuse!! Today we would not even think of reusing a needle on the same person let alone on a different person. Below is a picture of me and my grandma at 3 in the morning before my flight back home. I realized I had not taken any pictures of me and my grandma together so this one was quite last minute.

I spent a lot of time just relaxing. Whenever I have visited my grandmother in the past my Dad would always plan tons of activities to do such as hiking and sight seeing. I really just wanted to relax and recovery from a summer full of working. I did go into downtown Portland a couple of times. I had some really good seafood at a oyster bar and went to this massive used book store called Powell's Books. Other than that I just hung out with my grandma.

My grandma and I went out to dinner and lunch a lot. One place that I enjoyed was The Bomber Restaurant (see picture below). It used to be a gas station but now it is just a diner. I would pass this restaurant the mornings I would go for a run. Other than running I did not do too much other physical activity.