Recap: work trip to Washington and Oregon

Hey y’all! If you read my most recent post, you’ll know that I was travelling in the United States for work. I recently returned from a week in Washington and Oregon and I had such a good time! The week was extremely productive and I’m returning to work reinvigorated and full of new ideas.

Our first stop was Seattle, Washington. We ended up on a somewhat creative route down, taking a total of two ferries and travelling through some small towns I had not previously heard of, but we arrived without too much trouble.

While in Seattle, we visited two universities, University of Washington Seattle and University of Washington Bothell. We toured both campuses and, while my heart still lies with UVic, I have to admit that they were stunning. Our team was blown away by their creative use of space and innovative programming and we left with new ideas to apply to our programs.

View from the Coho ferry to Washington

UW Seattle

They had a reading room straight out of Harry Potter! Very jealous.

Of course, we also had some free time while in Seattle and were able to see some of the sights. We did the classic touristy things, meandering through Pike Place Market and eating Top Pot donuts (so good!).

I dined at a conveyer-belt sushi restaurant for the first time. Whoever thought to put sushi portions on a conveyer belt is a marketing genius. Perhaps the highlight of Seattle for me was staying at a pineapple-themed hotel that had complimentary coffee, tea, and cupcakes at all times in the lobby. Pretty hard to beat that!

Top Pot donuts!

Conveyer belt sushi. I’m apparently all about the food.

After a few nights in Seattle, we continued to Corvallis, Oregon. I had never been to Oregon before, so another first for me! We were here for only one night, just long enough to do a site visit to Oregon State University and pound out some work at a local Starbucks. Again, we learned so much from the staff here and I’m glad we made the drive!

The OSU campus

We rounded out our trip with a 1.5 day conference in Portland. The conference was attended by student and professional staff working in orientation, transition and retention in post-secondary institutions in the west of Canada and the United States.

The conference featured a number of educational sessions with simultaneous presentations allowing participants to pick and choose topics most suited to them. Our team presented during an educational session on our orientation volunteer program.

While the turnout wasn’t great, presenting at a professional conference was yet another first for me and something I’m glad to have done. The educational sessions themselves were fantastic learning opportunities, but my favourite part of the conference was meeting my peers also working in orientation. Shout out to the Washington State crew – go Cougs!

Our team at the start of the conference

While the conference kept us pretty busy, we did have some time to see Portland both before and after. We spent some time walking around the city and, of course, dined at one of Portland’s many food trucks.

We also caught a basketball game at Portland State University, where we cheered on the PSU Vikings (strange coincidence) who battled the Sacramento State Hornets, but unfortunately ended up losing their final game of the season.

Halftime at the game

All in all, it was a great week but, as always, it’s good to return home and start the inevitable catch up that follows time away!