A Visit to Portland, Oregon

Friday afternoon, November, 24 we landed at PDX (Portland International Airport) to spend an extended weekend with our daughter Elisa, son-in-law Aaron, and granddaughters Diana (18), Macy and Zoe (15). We last visited with them back in summer of 2022 on our return trip from Washington so we had a lot of catching up to do.

We were picked up by the hotel shuttle and spent our first night at a Best Western near the airport. Elisa came to pick us up for dinner at their house and we hung out for the evening. The next day she picked us up at 11:00 AM and we moved to an AirBnB in their neighborhood. The "Casita" is a converted single garage with all the comforts of home. It has a wonderful fenced in patio area with a hot tub we looked forward to using. The Casita is beautifully appointed and cozy. We will spend the next three days here within walking distance to Elisa and Aaron's home around the corner.

Saturday we visited Aaron's business, Black Wolf Protection Group. Black Wolf is an elite-tier private security provider located in Portland, OR. They're proudly veteran & minority owned and operated. Our son-in law, Aaron is the one on the left side of the photo. He and his partner Nate started the company in 2017.

Their mission is to provide the purest, most comprehensive security services while creating and maintaining a true career pathway for those who share a passion for protecting the community. They're promoting a new standard for experience and capability in the private security industry. Dedication to service, ingrained in them by the military, is their guiding principle.

Saturday evening we got up to date on all the Edgington family news. Elisa is getting ready to start a new job managing two Veterinarian offices. Diana is working at a bowling alley in town when not at her high school senior year studies. She is interested in forensic anthropology but thinking about taking off the year after high school to work and enjoy a break from studies. The twins are sophomores at the same STEM high school with their older sister. Macy is leaning towards studying dental hygiene and Zoe is interested in the mortuary sciences. All of them are out of school right now because of a Portland teachers strike...which means more time to spend with the whole family while we're here.

Sunday morning we all relaxed. I made coffee and then enjoyed the hot tub with my wife. It's chilly outside but the hot tub was 101ºF so we just soaked and read for about an hour. We walked over to Elisa and Aaron's later to run some errands together, hang out with the family and later all seven of us went out to a restaurant called Stanford's for a wonderful dinner. The evening ended with Mimi and the twins enjoying the hot tub at our AirBnB while Elisa and I "binged" watched three episodes of Reacher, season 1.

We had a great time just hanging out and sharing life with Edgingtons and their three dogs. All in all, it was a low key visit with no sightseeing or busy activities; it was very laid back and relaxing.