Portland: Northwest Regional Baha'i Conference (12/4-8)

As I mentioned in my last blog, two weekends ago (December 6-7) was the Northwest Regional Baha'i Conference in Portland, Oregon.  Over 2,600 Baha'is from 8 states treked out to the Portland Convention Center to participate in a pretty amazing event.

My trip started a bit earlier.  On Thursday evening I drove over to Idaho Falls to stay with some Baha'is there who offered their spare room for me to stay in.  Bob and Nancy are really nice folks and since they were driving to Portland they had offered me a spot in their car.  I spent the night in their hotel-like guest room and in the morning, bright and early, we were joined by Shelby, a local youth, and took off in the car on our way to Portland.

Nancy at Quiznos

Bob at the conference (kinda looks like my dad)

Shelby at the conference

We made really good time and by the time evening rolled around we were pulling in to the house I would be staying at in S.E. Portland.  Bob, Nancy and Shelby had arranged for a hotel room near the convention center, but my sister had helped me set up a sleeping arrangement so I crashed at the house.

Maziar Ostavar .. blast from the past

First night's lodgings

Most of the people hadn't arrived yet so I decided to go for a walk and get some food.  I hiked the 3 miles or so to the main road and found a Vietnamese restaurant to get some grub.  After Driggs it was a change of pace to be in a big city again. 

When I got back to the house some more folks were there, including several that I hadn't seen in a good 15 - 20 years or so.  In fact, the entire weekend would be spent reconnecting with people that I hadn't seen since my teens.  As one speaker said, "Never have I felt so much joy, while feeling so incredibly old".  It really was like a homecoming of sorts.

The first day I went to the convention and saw lots of familiar faces.  I won't get into the details of the conference itself except to say that it was quite a nice experience.  The focus was on the current status of the Baha'i Faith around the region and the world and what things were needed to happen from this point on.  Sort of a recap-and-regroup type of thing.  But it was fairly historical since conferences of this magnitude (41 around the world, each in a different region) hadn't been done before, especially on such short notice.

In any case, I took a ton of photographsof the event so I won't write too much and let the images do the talking.  Most of you will have no idea who any of these people are, with the exception of Chris Lay, who grew up with a lot of these folks back in the day.

My good friend Sydney who shares the same birthday as me!

Quddus.  Aside from the receding hairline, he looks the exact same.

Dempsey and Jim

Chris whom I've known since I was around 13 years old

David Hunt, an amazing musician, whom I once taught guitar...

My sister, Sydney and friends from Seattle

Elham up on stage with her "broom"

Mojdeh Sami from Bellingham

Another nice thing about the conference was spending some time with my sister.  The second night I ended up crashing in her spare bed at her hotel.  Very convenient and it was nice to chat with her.

View from my sister's room

The conference ended Sunday evening around 4:00 p.m. and the 3 of us from Eastern Idaho immediately got in the car and headed back.  Bob, who is very sensitive to caffeine, decided that he would load up on a bit of coffee and see how far he was able to drive.

Well, apparently he was able to drive pretty far because he made it all the way to 6:30 a.m. when we pulled in to their home in Idaho Falls.  There was a slight delay in Eastern Oregon due to the new snow-fall, but for the most part it was very smooth sailing.  I mostly slept the whole way.

After we got to their place we crashed for a while and then got up around noon.  I showered, changed, and then left for home.  But first I stopped and got some studded snow tires for my mom's car.  that made the drive back much easier, as the ground was coverd with snow.

In fact, pretty much since that weekend there has been a continual covering of snow here in Eastern Idaho.  It is supposed to stay this way until around May.  Not just a white Christmas, but a white Memorial Day as well. ;-)

View the full gallery here