We had a great time at the North West Bottled Water Association in Portland two weeks ago! It was so great to meet so many distributors that Jeff has worked with over the years and put some faces to the voices he's heard so many times before.
It was a small conference, with only about75 people in attendance, but by far one of the best we have ever attended. The education sessions were right on point and we learned a great deal about the issues they are facing as an industry and feel like that will only help us in our work with them in the future. The small attendance number meant that we could really get to know many of the attendees and gave us the opportunity to develop new relationships with potential customers. In the end, we were so glad that we were in the area and could make it happen!
I spent last week in GA with my mom and flew back into Portland this past Saturday. Jeff scooped me up from the airport and we went back to the RV park in Fairview, where he had spent the week, loaded up the RV and headed off on the 2.5 hour trip to the southwest corner of Washington. We loved all that we saw and did in Oregon and hope to come back and spend a few months one day down the road to see the rest of it.
After the craziness of the previous couple of weeks, we felt like we were due for some fun, so Jeff booked us a campsite in Long Beach, WA and fishing excursion on Sunday morning just down the road in Ilwaca. We jumped on a boat at 6 am with 6 other guests and headed out for some sea bass fishing!
After heading out the winding channel, we had to cross over the Columbia River Bar, which is well known as the most dangerous inlet in North America. It is here that all of the water flowing out of the 1242 mile long Columbia river, fights against the tides of the Pacific Ocean to finally head out to sea. Even though once out in the ocean the waves were only 2'-3', we had to cross through 10'-12' waves on the bar to get out.
Once we crossed the bar, the captain took us about 20 miles south and we dropped our lines just east of the fascinating Tillamook Island Lighthouse. It was by far the easiest (and coldest) fishing I've ever been a part of and we reached the boat's limit in less than two hours. We were back in the harbor around 11 am and took our haul down to a cannery to have the fish cleaned and vacuum packed. We are excited about having a freezer full of our fresh catch!
We passed a Maritime museum on the way up in neighboring Astoria, Oregon and Jeff wanted to make sure we made it there, so after a quick lunch, we headed down that way. We learned a lot about the fishing industry in this area and about the dangerous Columbia River Bar, which we learned is often called the Graveyard of the Pacific. It's home to some of the most dangerous sea conditions in the world, with more than 2,000 known ship wrecks having occurred there, and having just crossed it that very morning, was really interesting to learn about.
We have spent today catching up on work and getting all of our ducks in a row. Tomorrow, we'll head up towards Port Angeles for some distributor meetings on Thursday and then on to Anacortes on Friday, where I'm so excited to get to see my old Habitat For Humanity friend Bob Dvorak and his wife, and to get to experience the San Juan Islands over the holiday weekend!
Next week, we're aiming to get in as many meetings in as possible in Bellingham and Seattle before we head on into Idaho. . . although, considering our current proximity. . . Alaska is also up for discussion! ;-)