Oregon's Best Fast Food- In Our Freezer!

Mmmmm . . . if you are lucky enough to have eaten at a Chick-fil-a, your mouth is probably watering right now. Jenny and I each worked there for many years- me for five and she for three. We met there, fell in love there, and even got engaged there- yes, in the kitchen (how romantic . . .) Anyway, I remember once at work I got a phone call from someone in Las Vegas asking where we were located. It took a little explaining before she realized we were six hours away, but she persisted by asking if we could FedEx it. No can do . . .

Well, Jenny and I now find ourselves in a similar situation. The nearest Chick-fil-a is hundreds of miles away and we are left with no way to feed our addiction . . . NOT! We cleverly planned ahead and brought 200 nuggets and a whole bunch of breakfast biscuits with us, all securely packed with dry ice to maintain freshness! My friends at school who just moved here from the South are seriously jealous, but I am a sharing man. It's a pretty cool feeling to sit down to some Chick-fil-a knowing that we are very likely the only people in the entire state of Oregon that are eating it for dinner.

So, for those of you who are within driving distance, don't take CFA for granted- you never know when you might lose it. And don't forget to keep up to date with their promotions on their website- they often give away free meals if you just keep your eyes posted!

Cannon Beach

On Labor Day we went to Cannon Beach. It is only about 1 hour away from where we live. It was beautiful and unexpectedly warm. People were actually out in the ocean swimming! Some people were riding beautiful horses along the ocean shore. This picture is Andrew contemplating the meaning of life as he strolls down the beach.




On the way to the beach the drive is fabulous!! You have never seen so many beautiful green trees in your life. The landscape here in Oregon is unbeatable. When we were driving we saw a sign for a restaurant called "Joe's" that serves clam chowder, an indulgence Andrew rarely receives because Jenny hates fish in any type or form. When we got to Cannon Beach we just happened by chance to take the right exit and park directly next to "Joe's". After our walk on the beach we decided to give the seafood (yuck!) restaurant a try. Andrew did get his clam chowder but Jenny got chicken. This picture is the booth we sat at while we ate. Pretty cool view huh?!

Our baby!!

Can you tell we are first timers at this parenting thing! We're SO proud. This ultrasound picture was taken at 13 weeks. Isn't he/she cute! Okay, maybe not cute, but at least human and living! At one point during the ultrasound the baby decided to stand on its head so they couldn't see what they were looking for. Luckily, it moved back to a suitable position and the doc said everything looked great! In the bottom picture you can see a black spot in the baby's abdomen. That is the stomach filled with amniotic fluid. At this point you can't tell the gender, but in about a month we will find out! How exciting!

White Coat Ceremony

Today was a great milestone for the Rudolph family- the Pacific University School of Pharmacy White Coat Ceremony. Most people don't even know that the Doctor of Pharmacy degree exists, but you better learn! It's the wave of the future!


This ceremony involved a symbolic coating of all 96 incoming students in the Class of 2011. This is required before classes start because we will be working in nearby pharmacies starting in about two weeks. Following the coating we all took a pledge not to kill anyone or break anyone's trust- good stuff.


Jenny has made fun of this idea since she heard about it, but she softened up as she learned what a proud moment it would be. And so it was . . .

And here's the happy couple . . .

Cody Vacation

Our vacation this summer took us to Cody, Wyoming. My dad and his family are from northwest Wyoming, so it was great to visit many of them and get a primer on the family history. Rather than post pictures of historical documents, I decided to share a few samples of some of the more ocularly spectacular portions of our trip. Cody is located just about 50 miles outside of Yellowstone's east gate. This is the Lower Falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
Even though Cody is gateway to the east side of Yellowstone, we drove the long way and entered by the northeast gate. Going from Cody, this requires you to drive over Dead Indian Pass. This is the route taken by Chief Joseph in his effort to escape the U.S. Cavalry. My dad will tell you this is the most spectacular view in the world, and I could not disagree. Pictures, obviously, cannot do it justice. It would take eight or nine put together in a panoramic to even capture the size of the view, but nothing can compare to cresting the pass actually seeing it.


Down the other side of the pass you don't travel far before coming in sight of Index Peak. No, we didn't have time to summit it, but the view looking up is still inspiring.
Jenny's favorite part was her attempt to make a snow angel the first week of July. This is quite a novelty enjoyed by those who venture to the mountains in the summer.
I have been in a lot of outhouses in my day, but this is by far the world's cleanest. It is much cleaner than my bathroom at home- and it smells better too! Either it was brand new or the campground manager is Giselle from Enchanted. We were only passing through, but it was so nice that I wanted to stick around and give it another go! I hope you all have the opportunity someday to come across an outhouse such as this . . .