My Cousin Roni and her Husband, Gary

Last Saturday, Michael and I drove to east Portland to have lunch with my cousin, Roni, and her husband, Gary. It was only the second time that Roni and I had seen each other as adults, since I didn't have much contact with my father's family when I was growing up. Besides that, until recently, Roni and Gary were living in Montana and there hadn't really been much opportunity for us to visit one another. We have gotten to know each other a bit thanks to the miracle of Facebook :) and it has been wonderful to discover a kindred spirit in her: she has a background as a writer and she loves the outdoors, as I do.

Roni and her husband run marathons together, which I think is just about the most amazing thing. They love backpacking and are game for a day of snowshoeing with us--which is probably the only way we are ever going to get ours out of the package and onto the snow (seeing as they are now about 3 years old and have spent their entire lives hanging out in our garage).

It really was wonderful to see Roni and Gary and find out more things about each other . . . and now that they are planning to be in Oregon for awhile, I am looking forward to summer hikes and backpacking trips with them as well. :)