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.  

Hiking up until now!

There is no shortage of awesome hiking here in Oregon! We've gone east and west so far and it has been fantastic. Saturday we took the last weekend before work starts up to get out to the coast. After an hour and a half of some amazing driving through the Oregon Coast Range we made it to Cannon Beach and Ecola State Park. Think massive trees, cliffs and awesome beaches.

Tree Hugger

Abandoned light house in the Pacific

We picked and ate dozens of Salmonberries. Delicious.

People surfing... in Oregon

The majority of our hiking, however, has been to the East in the Columbia Gorge and the Cascades. Mt. Hood is still covered in snow and it is quite cold and windy up there. 

The Gorge has some of the coolest waterfalls. Some of which are a pretty good hike to get to, others... maybe a little more difficult. 

Our most recent hike, after a short work day, was to the lower Oneonta falls. The trail was described as more of a wade up a creek than a trail... not joking. Also, wade may have been the wrong word. The first obstacle, after crossing the creek was a massive log jam.

Seriously: this was the trail... no support, some logs moved a bit but...

We made it to the other side

It gets a bit deep... still the trail

You can see part of the falls, but sadly the camera had to be left behind...

It got deep... and really cold. 

We had steam coming off of us as we got out and were sort of numb. But the falls were totally worth it. Next time, waterproof bag for a camera so we can get a shot... also, we'll go on a sunny day when its warmer than 65 out. 

Maggie

I'm happy to report the new digs are acceptable.  My chief complaint is that the humans won't allow me to sit on the porch all day and try to patrol the passer-bys.  I have to say this city has clearly been unaccustomed to my level of cuteness because all the humans feel the need to meet me.  These portlandians also don't seem to know how to gauge weight, if I have to hear one more time that I must weigh 3 lbs I'm going to have to really lick someone's hand really good. I also dislike the way my humans try to drag me down our apartment stairs; I much prefer the elevator.  They seem really dense about the subject so I have just decided to go limp as soon as we get near the elevator.  Portland shop owners seem to have figured out that I'm in need of treats but haven't discovered that I require more than one treat. Thats all for now I think I heard one of the humans moving towards the kitchen.

Feast your eyes....

LOOK AWAY... most humans can not bear this level of cuteness and resort to having children instead of yorkies. 

2 Weeks

So Cate and I have been in Portland (PDX) for about 2 weeks and it has been AWESOME! Aside from the aforementioned people-watching, we've kept ourselves busy with some other activities. First off, the move-in was a real fun day. The maintenance guys lent us a moving dolly and saved my back from a few years of physical therapy. It took us a few days, but we finally unboxed and feel like we live here now.
  The DMV: So, in order to get an Oregon license, you are required to take a written test at the DMV. Cate and I found ourselves studying for a driver's test for the first time in years. The DMV trip took about 90 minutes including wait time, maybe the most efficient DMV I've seen. After passing with identical scores and getting our swanky paper temp license, cate and I are officially Oregonians.
Some rules of the road:
  To avoid collisions: Turn Quickly and Break quickly
  If you see a blind person crossing the road, pull up to the intersection so they can hear your engine
  In Oregon, you must submit to a blood, breath or urine test if suspected of drunk driving
  When entering a curve, reduce speed; when exiting a curve, speed up
Some seem obvious, just understand that it has been a while for us.
   The Farmer's market: You can buy beer... cheaply... and very delicious. That's all, just thought that was awesome

  Powell's Books: This place is huge. Tons of rooms of all kinds of books (new, used, many editions). We found a childhood favorite of mine.

Only in Portland...

So the big charm of Portland to many folks is the unique people.  Brent and I are constantly being mesmerized by just this.  Some of the more interesting sitings are as follows
1. Man who cycles around with an amp blaring that has been attached to the front of his bike.
2. Man who wears skin colored very very small jean shorts to run in, Brent and I double took on that one.
3. The bajillion people who talk to themselves...quite loudly.
4. Clothing, Clothing, Clothing (this one deserves its own post so i won't go into detail)
5. This one is difficult to describe but there is a guy who while he cycles grabs onto lamp posts and turns around them for a few minutes at a time.
6. The crazy fascination this city has with dragon boat racing.
7.  All the ways cyclists transport their children.  (i will have to get some photos of this)

Okay off to adventure some more!