Friend Farewells

Oregon will always be my home for a few reasons. 1) I was born and raised here. 2) All of my family lives here (with the exception of Ashley and Jared, but they're moving back asap) 3) and my best friends are here.
However, the third reason is becoming less of a stronghold. Right after their wedding Stephanie and Keith moved down to Corvallis. Not too far away, but not convenient. Sean is staying in Montana this year. Brent is going to Costa Rica until December or January. And the toughest one: Lydia might get a job and move to Walla Walla.
It sounds like it's going to be a great job. She had a successful interview. I just wish she wouldn't have to live four hours away. While it wasn't what I was looking forward to, our friendship can certainly handle another distance. At least this time it is less than 1,000 miles.
This weekend Brent had a going-away, weekend-long, boating trip on Lake Billy-Chinook. It was so much fun and Brent's friends from his paramedic program were really great people. Mark was home from Belgium so he was able to come, fortunately. We camped out at Cove Palisades camp ground. It was pretty posh and too comfortable to be camping, but it had a great view of Mt. Jefferson and perfect for our trip. Lydia, Cat, and I drove up on Friday and joined everyone else on the boat in the afternoon. We were certainly exceeding the boat's capacity with nine adults on the boat. I went intertubing and unfortunately got two massive bruises on each buttcheek when I decided to sit in the tube rather than lay on my stomach. The next day I got up with the early crowd and headed down to the lake at 8:30 for the clear, wake-free water. From then until noon, I had managed to try wake boarding and knee boarding, though neither were a success. However, I was successful at somehow managing to lose my brand new Sigg waterbottle overboard. I had heard a thunk and thought it hand fallen into a cubby on the boat or under the seat, but I do believe it hopped out and is now floating on the lake. After a full day of boating, we were all wiped out and sun-burnt. Each night we'd walk out to the edge of the canyon and watch the sunset behind the mountains.
It was such a great trip! I hadn't been on a lake since the last time Brent took me boating summer after senior year of high school. I love being in the water. In fact, the best part of all the water sports is when I fall in (minus the possibility of losing ones shorts, the one time thunder thighs do come in handy). I even would jump in when the boat would stop for changing of riders.
This weekend was a wonderful last hurrah of summer!