Our adventures east of Portland

Well, we finally made it east of downtown Portland (excluding the airport). After a crazy storm with lots of flooding and some snow, last Saturday turned out bright and beautiful. We took that as a sign to get out of the apartment and do some more exploring.

After a quick stop at Panera for yummy cinnamon bagels, we headed east to the Columbia River Gorge and Multnomah Falls - the second tallest year-round waterfall in the U.S. By the way, how lucky are we to have now seen the first (Yosemite Falls) and second tallest year-round waterfalls in the U.S.? I think that's pretty cool. Anyway, a 45-minute drive and we were at the falls. Now, once you are at the falls you can walk up to a cool bridge (see pics below) for a great view of the falls. You can also climb to the tippy-top of the waterfall if you are so inclined. Ben was so inclined. Did I mention that the waterfall is 620 feet high - which means 1 mile of switchbacks up the side of a cliff? And did I tell you that you actually climb higher than the waterfall and then go down some more switchbacks to get to it? Well, now you know. So after some complaining and really crummy hiking shoes, we got to the top. Ok, so it was pretty cool. There is a viewing deck at the top that actually hangs over the top of the falls so you can watch the water go over the edge and drop about 620 feet. Makes one a little dizzy.

Here are some pictures of the falls. I know I told you it was bright and beautiful that day, but the sun had already gone to the other side of the cliff by the time we got there so the pictures are a little dark.

Spontaneous waterfall on our way to the top - very pretty.

Ok, so here's the view from the top. We are literally standing over the top of the waterfall and watching the water fall. You can see the bridge and all the tiny people at the bottom!

A view of the gorge as we hiked up the side of a cliff.

Happy Thanksgiving

The Band Who

All I can say is WOW! Sunday night we went to see TRAVIS, with opener Maximo Park, at the Crystal Ballroom expecting to see a great show. The only thing was that it wasn't great...it was awesome! After seeing them many times (this being the fourth), I couldn't believe that they were better than the last time we saw them. With the addition of all their new material off The Boy with No Name (whose name is Clay - Fran's son), the set seemed to flow well - shifting from old to new. Not only did we have a front row view, but we enjoyed Fran's mustache and chest hair up close (see the pic). Andy rocked out in the middle of the crowd...literally in the crowd and on the floor. Dougie shook his hips the entire night and made all the ladies swoon. And Neil played the stoic drummer all too well. Set list included As You Are (my personal favorite), Battleships, Turn, All I Wanna Do is Rock, My Eyes, a sing-a-long version of Flowers in the Window, and the most appropriate song for Portland, Why Does It Always Rain on Me. The funny thing about this is even after seeing them four times, I still wanna see them again. Hopefully sooner than later.

Great Northern = Great Show!

Well it's about time Alli and I went out and dove head first into the Portland Music scene, so we began our month of music. After hearing so much about the bouncy floors at the Crystal Ballroom, we decided to go see some shows there. First up was Great Northern, a guy/girl rock band with a piano/synth flare, along with their opener, Robbers of High Street. Not only was the show great, but GN rocked out way more than they do on the CD, which was very satisfying since their music can tip-toe on the thin line of mellow pop. And yes...the floor does bounce. Up next, Travis on the 18th. Yipeee!

Look out knitting world - here I come!

I learned how to knit about two years ago. However, I was never very motivated to continue. Now that we are in the Pacific Northwest, I decided it was time to pick up knitting again. I really had not learned very much the first time, so I bought a book and 're-taught' myself how to knit from start to finish. Here is my first creation - a scarf for Ben.

The Portland Zoo

Ok, so we are running a little behind on the blog posts...

Two weekends ago Aaron, Christa, and Charlotte (check out their blog here) were back in Portland. It seems this summer we all traded lives when they moved back to Fresno and we moved to Portland. While they were here we joined them on a trip to the Oregon Zoo. The zoo is in Washington Park and is beautiful! It seems like the zoo has been built into the park rather than on top of the park. On top of that, the day was beautiful! We took tons of pictures, so enjoy!

The meercats in their little nest.

A hippo. He's so happy because he just ate his weight in twinkies - this guy is huge!

Ok, I know this is horribly blurry, but it's a bald eagle! So cool.

In the lorikeet exhibit, you can get a cup of sugar water and they will sit on your hand and drink from the cup. It's pretty crazy.

Here's an elephant...

...and here's me eating an elephant ear. By the way, my eyes are closed because of the yummy cinnamon and sugar fried goodness.

The zoo's amphitheater.

The zoo from above.

And here's us enjoying the zoo!

Two for the Price of One

Although we had already set up house, we thought that we were still missing something. Our fish didn't (or should we say couldn't) make the move up to Oregon, so today we went to go find some new ones. While recording our (SV's) first album with Jared and Lazz, I was introduced to the wonderful world of fresh water African cichlids. Jared had many different species and swore up and down that they (even though they are highly aggressive and take more time to maintain) were the best and most beautiful fresh water fish to keep. So today we added three new members to the Porter family (an electric blue cichlid, an electric yellow cichlid, and a red zebra cichlid). The funny thing we didn't realize about the tank was that we wouldn't be the only ones enjoying the fish. Yes...Autumn loves them too! Sad to say, this is our new kitty's drug. She has already spent hours in front of the tank trying to find out what those colorful little things are. I just hope that our cat doesn't go through withdrawals if one of the fish dies.



Mmm...fish.

A little local flavor

After a minor 'snafu' with our new computer (including sending it back to Apple and getting a brand new one), we are back online.

Well, now that we are 'Portlanders', it is time to do what the locals do...

A couple of weekends ago, we rode the Max (for the first time, hooray public transportation!) from Beaverton to downtown Portland to visit the Portland Saturday Market. And what a market it is! I have never seen so many pop-up tents. I was expecting more of a farmer's market (I guess I could have read the website a little better), but this was the buying and selling of all things handmade. While it was not what we were expecting, it was very cool. We found some really neat items, along with some very strange items. Here is a picture of the Skidmore Fountain and the front of the market - this picture does not do that market justice - it's huge!

The next weekend I had to work. 'Aw, too bad' you say? Nope! I had to attend the Portland Timbers soccer game in downtown Portland. During halftime I went onto the field to present a check from First Tech to a nonprofit organization we support. Bummer, I know. I also had to take 8 other people with me. So...Ben, two friends from his work, Uncle John, Aunt Alexis, Joanna, Hillary, and Daniel (Hillary's beau) joined me for an awesome soccer game. We had tons of fun and got to see Timber Jim (who pumps up the crowd with a chain saw) and the infamous Timber Army! Needless to say, Ben was in heaven.

Here are some pictures of the game and the Timber Army.

The Timbers kicking butt in the quarter-finals before losing in the semi-finals. Oh well, not a bad season.

The Timber Army going crazy.

Ben wearing his Timber pride scarf.

Can you see me?

Labor Day Weekend

With a whole 3 days all to ourselves, we had to do some exploring around our new home besides just laying around and relaxing. We decided to visit a different area on the coast - we had gone to Lincoln City and Newport on our trip here in February. This time we just took the 26 (the freeway closest to us) and headed west.

We first stopped at Camp 18 (at the 18 mile marker on the road) to eat some highly recommended cinnamon rolls - actually, we only ate one cinnamon roll since it was the size of a dinner plate!

The breakfast was ok. but the cinnamon roll was smeared in butter and awesome!

We also made a rare discovery - the mythical Oregonian elephant. Only those who are worthy can see it. Can you see it?

So, with some yummy food in our tummies, we headed out to the beach. Beach, you say? I thought beaches didn't exist in Oregon and it was all rocks and water. Yes, we found beaches in Cannon Beach and Seaside.

We also found Haystack rock - the third largest monolith in the world (and the backdrop to Goonies).

Here is a cool picture of a washed up jellyfish:

Here are some other neat pictures that we took:



The rest of Saturday and Sunday we just took it easy and hung out. Then on Monday we went to Uncle John & Aunt Alexis' for a Labor Day BBQ. After some yummy food and great company (thanks guys!) they took us out to the nation's largest dahlia farm - with over 350 varieties! Here are some beautiful pictures for you to enjoy.