Eagle Creek Hike WHOO HOO!!

On recommendation from my ASL teacher, Dan and I went on a hike through Eagle Creek Recreation area today. It is about 41 miles from the city, right off of I-84.

(side note: we stopped by the Friends of the Library used book sale on the way...I got a copy of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Dreams and a book of shorts stories by South Asian authors (including 2 of my favorite authors who write about India). Dan got a stack to add to his growing book collection. He tends to pick books about humanity and science and brainy things like that. Ask him if you want specific titles.)

OK!! On to the hike.

This leaf was a promise of many more to come...












Happy Hikers! (Dan's comment: don't we have eNOUGH of these pictures??)
















These guys were everywhere!! Very fuzzy and cute. Although some died and were being eaten by flies. But Dan thought perhaps these two were mates.









The bridges were beautiful..reminded me of Anne of Green Gables :)

















The cliffs are pretty steep, and the edges drop right off!













All-in-all a beautiful, enjoyable hike!! We went about 4 miles out and 4 back..just under 8 total. We kept a pretty good pace, about 3 1/2 hours round-trip...but that includes camera stopping time for me (I took about 60 pictures)












Next weekend is PUMPKIN WEEKEND! If the weather is not too gross we are going to a place called Sauvie Island to pick pumpkins and generally frolic in autumn goodness. Just have to make it through work this week...

PS!! Jackie I couldn't stop thinking of you last night at this vegetarian-friendly restaurant called The Farm Cafe. They have all locally grown/organic ingredients and I had the most delicious goat cheese salad: they took circles of goat cheese and dipped them in bread crumbs, then lightly fried them so they were warm on top of the greens and drizzled the whole thing with a caper vinagrette. Dan got these tofu cutlets braised with some kind of blackened crust and garlic roasted mashed potatoes with mushroom yumminess on the side. They ran out of the pumpkin ravioli before we got a table, but I had this primavera fetuchinni parmasan concoction that was very delicious as well. We had to wait just over an hour for a table..it is a really popular place and I can see why. People definitely go there to "dine." The ambiance is extremely romantic: it is an old farmhouse converted into a restaurant with a tiny bar and candles everywhere. It feels like all the tables are in little nooks and crannies. YOU WOULD LOVE IT!!!!

Portland Center Stage

Here is a link to about a million and one photos of Portland Center Stage.

The box office is mosly on pages 5,6, and 9

http://owencareyphoto.com/armoryinteriors

Enjoy!

Oregon Symphony!!

Yep! That's right!

Last Sunday night, I scored free tickets to the Oregon Symphony. My manager at PCS was handing out coupons, and boy am I glad I got one! The music was really beautiful, and Dan and I had a fun time exploring the Arlene Schnitzer Concert hall too--it is a beautiful old building, and we walked alllllll the way up to the top of the balcony to try out all the views. We were seated on the main floor right in the center, but next time we hope to sit in the first few rows of the balcony..I like being able to see all the instruments.

here are some goofy pictures of us...Dan even wore a tie!!!! (those who know him will be impressed by this). Note my brand new pillow chair, purchased care of birthday money and Dan!

Speaking of goofy pictures, we went grocery shopping at the cheaper "Shoppers food warehouse-like" store tonight, it is called Winco. But we forgot our handy grocery cart, so we were struggling to lug our groceries through the parking garage and safely up the 9 floors to our apartment. Let's just say I sent a melon and a can of mandarin oranges flying. All of a sudden, fortune smiled upon us in the form of an abandoned stolen Safeway shopping cart!! It was right at the bottom of the stairs in the parking garage and we loaded it up and made our way quickly up the 2 elevators and through the parking lot to our place. On the way back down, Dan says he was warned to "be careful" because we could get in "big trouble" if we were caught with the illicit cart. CRIMINALS!!

Nature and the City

About 2 weeks ago, we went to Tryon Creek State Park for an "art in nature" exhibit. Oreon artists created these masterpieces:

Lichen swaying in the breeze









3 gold bands on a tree representing the universal symbol Phi (supposedly it represents nature, philosophy, and about a million other things. Dan was inspired to read a book about it. not sure the title, but sounds pretty interesting!)












And my very favorite piece, this awesome bamboo creation. The first shot is wide, the second is a detail. I loved the symbolism and simplicity of this piece, and the way the artist used the natural materials to their advantage. I went to the Central Library to find out more about her work or other work like hers, and was surprised not to find very much. The reference librarian I asked told me to look up an artist named Andy Goldsworthy. What a cool guy!! He's scottish and he's done tons of work with nature and time and tides..uses nearly all natural materials and he creates his art in a way to ensure its temporary nature. Look him up, he's awesome!!













And now for the city...

A sculpture near our apartment that Dan says looks like the Sprint logo, but I think it is cool anyway:










Waterfall/fountain across the street from the Keller Auditorium on 3rd and Clay. On warm days, kids run and splash in the fountain and it is really pretty at night.









Taiko drummers at the "Under the Autumn Moon" festival last Saturday, Sept 30th. They looked soooo happy! The women were beaming. I wish I had a picture of the Shaolin monks to show you, but sadly we could barely see them ourselves because the crowd was so massive and the stage was so small!! They were pretty awesome, though. I also got a young Thai coconut and drank the juice and ate the meat. Very fun, but not as delicious as I might have hoped. We tried to check out a sushi demonstration, but the people watching were being so aggressively annoying I couldn't stand to stay in the tent very long.

Green Homes Tour, Saturday, Sept 16th

Last Saturday, Dan and I had the opportunity to go on the Green Homes Tour, sponsored by a company here called the Environmental Building Center. We spent the whole day biking around the city, following our map to the most interesting houses we could find. Here is a sample of what we saw:

This house was tucked off the road with a beautiful garden, and it was small and very cozy. The homeowners are an older couple, and they build their house essentially in their daughter's family's backyard.









A beautiful flower in their garden:










The homeowners of this house are a pair of architects. They designed the house together, and it has a very modern feel to it. The two images are the actual house and a scale model of the house, which the homeowners have on display in the living room.
























Plenty of "green" toilet paper on hand!












These are "green town homes." When we walked inside, since we had to take our shoes off, I immediately felt warmth coming from the radient floors. They are sort of a concrete material, and underneath the floor they have hot-water pipes running through, naturally warming the whole house.









Dan and I after 20+ miles of biking around the city!!!

Part Three!!!!

Ok. I know I've been blogging all evening, but there were a few key photos that got left out of that last post due to technical difficulties...









Can you see me waving?! This is the rest of the bathroom with a nice big mirror.












The accent wall in the bedroom, further accented by the light Dan brought from Columbia. We each have a picture of us with our mom on top of our dresser. Very cute. Now the dresser...another dumpster find! Though it is missing a bottom drawer, we have really enjoyed it so far. Especially the free part.









Our beautiful, beautiful $30 desk..another Craig's list find. Also note the webcam--source of much enjoyment internet-phoning my parents. Oh!! Our good will grocery cart can be seen in the far left of the pic.









Our kitchen...in the corner is our new microwave, c/o Dan's sister Marisa and her husband Jason.













Our storage closet, which is really a sporting goods playground..tents balls frisbees yoga mats backpacks ... there is a t i n y little shelf where we keep linens ;)










Our first Portland rainy day..many more to come, but this one was beautiful!! The sun was shining behind the West Hills (background) and a gentle mist fell, giving the scene an other-worldy look.

Yay for Portland!

Our Apartment!

As requested by Jackie, here are a few photos of our new apartment:












Bookshelf: discovered in the dumpster area of our apartment building, disinfected, and promptly filled with our small arsenal of books that made the trip cross country. (If you look at the large image of this photo, please note the giraffe and dan's "fat fat" hawaii change holder)













Accent wall in the living room: note the fan from China c/o Paulette, the boomerang from goodwill, and 1/2 of the cutting board from Costa Rica c/o Mar. That bright spot is my Arizona liscense plate (I used to say I wanted to move there just so I could have the cool liscense plate, then Dan bought me one of the liscense plates, so we moved to Oregon instead). The folding table and chair set we bought for $50 from a huge warehouse-type furniture/everything store in SE Portland called City Liquidators.









This is our most recent addition: Futon from a friendly Craig's list merchant. It cost $130; not our best deal, but when we went to pick it up, we got to meet the family who had just recently bought it before they knew they were relocating East to...guess where...Maryland!!! It folds out to a full-sized bed, so we are now fully equipped to have visitors! First one here wins a special treat!!












Now we move to the bathroom where we have a world map shower curtain :) This helps when I am listening to NPR and have no idea where the country is they are discussing.

Next to the kitchen area...












Here in Portland, our recycling container is bigger than our trash. Note the beautiful flowers and sage celebrating our 2 yr anniversary ;)













Our fridge is already decorated with some pretty awesome stuff, but one thing we are lacking is MAGNETS!! If you have a cool magnet, send it to us! Right now we are holding everything up with tape which is not nearly as fun.













This is the product of Dan's imagination and his thriftiness. We crafted an enormous dry-erase calendar for about 1/10th the cost of one at Office Depot, and it is constantly full of cool stuff from our Portland papers.

From left: Hush Puppie, Oreo, Claire, and Marmot.

We're all waiting for you to come visit!!!!

First Few days in Portland

This is the first of 2 posts, the second of which will include the photo shoot I did of the new apartment.

We have kept so busy that I have neglected even my paper journal. I don't know how I'll ever catch up!! But my camera is so full that I need to put a few of those shots on the blog and see what you all think of my life in Portland!







Dan outside our apartment building in SW Portland

My job working in the box office is o.k. so far, I'm getting the hang of it and I've definitely met some cool people at Portland Center Stage. One really interesting thing is they are renovating the historic Portland Armory building I work in for a LEED Platinum rating. That is the highest certification a building can achieve as far as all the green-building/alternative energy stuff that Dan is into. It's very exciting, but it can be very loud and like a maze at times, because we are working in the building while it is still under construction.

Paulette (and dad) you'll be glad to know I press a different button for pee and poo because they have dual flush, rain-water recycling toilets. You can find out more about the theater company and the building project at www.pcs.org.


What follows are a few photos of one of the first bike rides Dan and I took through the city.















Beaver statue (OSU mascot)






















Biking over the Hawthorne Bridge.


The Hawthorne is one of 10 or 12 bridges that span the Willamette River (Wil-LAM-ette) in Portland. The Willamette divides the East and West sides of the city. The Columbia river is the northern boundary between Oregon and Washington State. I like the Hawthorne bridge a lot because it takes you to SE Hawthorne Boulevard, which is a really cool funky street with lots of shops and little restaurants and a fun, youthful vibe.

Cross Country Trip!

Although a bit belated, here are some notes and photos of our 3017 mile journey across the U.S.A.:












Nuffy wishing us safe travels














The St. Louis Arch














Baby Addison!

Hiking w/Mar and Jim in Rocky Mountain National Park:

A very scenic rest stop in Utah, not far from Salt Lake City on I-80

Picturesque cabin in the woods

WE MADE IT!!!! (note window markers ;))