The last few months...

So......This is why I had been reluctant to start a blog in the first place. When I was in high school/early college I started a blog.  It was supposed to be enthralling.  It is somewhere out there, I think. I posted about ping pong and then tuna and that was clearly about all that was noteworthy in my life.  So I'm sure someone has stumbled upon it and wondered if maybe Tuna (known for being a sketch dish) had done me in.  Or perhaps they assumed I was like 85.6% (*this is based off no statistical data) of novice bloggers who start out naively optimistic and crash in a place between uninteresting and lazy.
So my sabbatical has been due to laziness because Oregon has been fantastic. Without further ado here are the past few months.

September: We went to Seattle to see a buddy.   Brent also impressed me with his navigation skills by finding Amy's old house without directions.  These old eyes saw something in Seattle that can never be unseen.  I will leave you with this bit of advice when you are driving on a lifted highway that comes surprisingly close to condo windows, its best not to peer inside. (I shudder)

October: We made a trip to central Oregon for a weekend. Brent had been told by a patient to check out Smith Rock State Park, so off we went.  Smith Rock is famous for rock climbing and it was amazing how many crazies were hanging from practically nothing.  I counted well over 60 people actively climbing.  So our journey to Smith rock was two fold, do some hiking and hopefully see river otters.  I love most things that are furry but otters are definitely towards the top of the animal kingdom in my not so humble opinion.  We had made the loop around Smith rock and could see our starting point without having glimpsed this majestic beast.  We were in the pits of despair, when all of a sudden we saw a pod (5-7) river otters swimming towards us.  They put on quite a show and caught a bountiful harvest of fish while we were watching. A few of them came to shore for a little extra razzmatazz.  Truly Amazing!

With our heads held high, we took the 30 minute drive to Bend aka (Rich Hippie Land).  Bend has been high on my travel list since I saw it ranked in the top 10 in the nation for outdoor enthusiasts. We caught Bend at a great time: in the middle of leaf change. What is pretty cool about Bend is that it is surrounded by 3 national forests. It's a ski town so some cool stuff rolls through, plenty of breweries, and a very quaint walkable downtown area.  For dinner we went to one of those breweries, 10 Barrel Brewing; it was idyllic with a nice outdoor wood fire.  I made a shocking discovery that there are some sour beers that are surprisingly good.

The DeSutters'

Nancy and Steve decided to spend Thanksgiving this year with us.  I suspect a large reason we gained this visit over the rest of the family was that while the DeSutters have ample grandchildren currently 12, they have only one fur baby, Maggie.  :)

Nancy and Steve definitely showed up ready for adventure.  Some of the highlights were as follows.

Brent took them to the Columbia Gorge, where winds were so high that everyone agreed it was to dangerous to continue. We showed them our favorite doughnut shop, Blue Star. While the marionberry compote with peanut butter remains my favorite, they seemed to be drawn to the old fashioned doughnuts.

We then did a progressive dining experience in one of the bigger food cart areas of Portland.

 Nancy helped me to prepare Thanksgiving dinner by making a delicious cranberry apple pie and yeast rolls.  Steve contributed his part by purchasing wine so no matter how poorly the dinner turned out it would automatically seem better.  He also served as high council when it came to carving of the Turkey. We also were able to go to our favorite brewery tour while they were in town (Widmer Bros Brewery).  

In summary, encouraging conversations, interesting food, and many sight seeing walks. 

Johnson's Trip Fall 2013

Marzi and Pop were able to trek to the great Northwest to visit us this last September.  We were able to have some insightful conversations and get to show them some of our favorite places.
The weather was very... Portland: aka rainy. So we had to adjust our plans some.  Marzi and Pop enjoyed the little neighborhood gardens in Southeast portland and the older style of architecture.

My Aunt JoAnn and her fiancé/now husband James flew in from Canada and were able to join us for a quick trip of a few of the falls in the Columbia Gorge.  James, who was once a chef, cooked the family a delicious dinner that made me seriously think about either A)getting cooking lessons or B) making more money to fund others cooking for me.

Mount St. Helens

Best hike to date was the Lower Creek Trail at Mount St. Helens.  It was one breathtaking view after another.  I told Brent that I'm going to have to look up more synonyms for beautiful, gorgeous, and amazing, since I completely overused them for 6 miles.  The drive out two Mount St. Helens was around two hours, which sounds long, but you go through some stunning scenery to get there.

This was the first bridge of the hike.

 Alpine Strawberries

 Huckleberries (we thought they were blueberries...)

Pretty awesome view from the start/end point!

Hipsters don't have swimming suites

   On our way to church this morning, Cate and I noticed a fence going up around our nearby park. After a quick web search, we learned of "The Big Float." For 3 years now, this event has been put on to promote use of the Willamette river (runs N-S through Portland, pronounced Will-am-et) for swimming. The event started, like most PDX events, with a parade. Hundreds of people lead by a drumline marched down the riverfront from the main event to a beach area under Marquam Bridge (Portland has a lot of bridges, they are all named, and they are fiercely loved) from where they would float back to the park. Luckily for us, this route runs right in front of our building.

View from our porch

   Once the floating started, and the sun came out, we had to go down to the water to check it out... here are some of my favorite shots.

 

Out on a barge was a band playing some great stuff like "Honky Tonk Woman" and "Pencil Thin Mustache." It was a very "Portland" Sunday.

Not Texas Hot!

I think Texans have quite a lot of pride on their ability to withstand hot temperatures.  I would consider myself a little weak in Texas standards.  I clearly remember a permanently marked line on our thermostat when I was growing up that was aligned at 90 degrees (I'm sure Marzi would claim it was lower).  We were not suppose to touch that thermostat on fear of death.  However, I always remember pushing the dial so it would barely touch the permanent marker line on the side of life giving cool air.  I remember our poor dog would choose to dig a hole under a bush and lay in it than to come inside.
Fast forward to living in Portland,  I have finally had the opportunity to scoff at others for being temperature pansies.
We recently had a heat wave.  I was unaware that we were having a heatwave till all the small talk went to heat safety. i.e. Drinking lots of water, Staying inside, buying an air conditioner, buying a fan, Bringing pets inside, etc
Fearing the worse I went to weather.com to see what we were in for.  92..WHAT! 92 is nothing!  92 is what we sit through in Texas for 4 hour long graduation.
Brent and I had great fun watching everyone buy up fans and window units.
To be fair,  since Portland does not encounter a lot of hot days, buildings and people are not really ready for it.  Luckily our apt does have an ac wall unit but I did miss my central air at night.
In Conclusion,
Thank you Texas if it wasn't for you I wouldn't appreciate these cool summer days quite so much!

Random pictures:

We have used the Trimet a few times to get over to the Northwest side of Portland.  It is quite comical to watch peoples reactions when a Trimet official actually comes to collect tickets.

Brent and I have been loving all the interesting food carts.  We had the Betty (challah bread, gruyere cheese, bread and butter pickles, white pepper, sea salt, peanut butter).  Really reminded me of my grandfather's pickle and peanut butter sandwiches.

Oh Tiffany...

I have never had the fascination that some women seem to have with Tiffany's.  I tend to wear athletic clothes far more often than I should.  This lack of interest in Tiffanys seems to have arrived chiefly from never receiving anything from said jeweler.  Last week,  I was schlepping about the apartment while Brent was at work when there was a knock at the door.  I opened the door to find a package, there was no return address, it was just addressed to us.  I opened the package and there in all its glory was a tiffany's blue box.

My air caught in my chest and I immediately contradicted the idea that I was immune to such an iconic symbol.  I harnessed all my self will and did not open the box.  Instead this new discovery illuminated my lack of personal grooming since leaving my job and moving to Oregon.  In my jobless state I had stopped fixing my hair and wearing make-up.  So I spent the next few hours trying to give some semblance of  being kept. 

Brent FINALLY arrived home, surprised by my transformation, he coyly acted as if he hadn't purchased me anything.  Turns out he was not being coy.  It was a pen for him for graduation.  How very thoughtful! Sigh 

This taught me two things.  Im far more girly than I try to let on and I really need to get out of athletic clothes every so often.