Yard Report

Ash and I have been bouncing back and forth between Portland and Stevenson, some weeks spending almost an equal amount of time in both. I've not been keeping as close an eye on the changes in the flora as I had been, but they have still been different every time I look. Here are things that have been blooming in the yard in the last month or so:

 I was told these red and yellow flowers are called Columbines. They have to be the most uniquely shaped wildflower Ive ever seen.

These purple flowers are EVERYWHERE out here. I think they are a highly invasive weedy vine. The flowers resemble something in the pea family. Luckily the bees and pollinators seem to like them.


There's a whole 'nother world of plant life in Portland, mostly every variety of rose you can imagine. They are in every yard, in every planter bed on the roadside... they grow like weeds out here without much care it would seem. Also see edible plants everywhere.. people love their veggie gardens out here and just the other day walking in a regular suburban neighborhood I passed a bed of artichokes and a bush full of ripe blueberries (they were soo good, I plucked a few to try) right by the sidewalk in front of someones house. You know those grassy easements between the street and sidewalk? Many Portlandians see those as perfect garden plots! Photos to come of the edible gardens of PDX.

At Last- The Seattle Conclusion

I know I've been seriously slacking in the blog department... getting a social life can do that to a person lol. But I've really hit the editing table hard and have finished up all the pics from Mom and I's Seattle trip.


 The drive up to Seattle was nice, but overcast unfortunately so we didn't get to see too many of the big mountains like we had hoped, Rainer was particularly playing hard to get. Luckily the drive back was more rewarding and we saw many things we had missed on the way up. Here are the pics from the drive to and fro:

CLICK HERE FOR PICS OF THE DRIVE

When we were up in the city we did quite a bit of walking around and seeing the vibrant energy of it all. Downtown was awesome, really huge buildings, many shops and restaurants, lots of street vendors... we had delicious fried mini doughnuts, mine topped with mango sauce and coconut and moms with chocolate and other yummy-ness. Like Portland, Seattle has a thriving food culture and bears wafting aromas in the air to prove it. There was much interesting public art and grand architecture to be seen on virtually every corner. Mom and I ended up driving out of the downtown at one point and eating at this Irish place with a great view of Mt. Rainer close by. It was a hip neighborhood and the outside patio let us appreciate the perfect weather. We also checked out a freshwater beach covered with more driftwood than I've ever seen, an old abandoned looking lighthouse, a busy fishing port with huge piles of nets, and a cool old but still functional railroad bridge. Also cant forget the space needle :)  Here's some pics of our travels around the city:

CLICK HERE FOR PICS OF THE CITY

One of the main focal points of our trip was the famous Pikes Place Market. It was everything I'd hoped for and more. I really wish I lived in Seattle just so I could frequent it. It was a smorgasbord of color, sound, and smell. There were vendors for everything edible and not, and most all of it was locally grown, made, or caught. I could have spend much more time there wandering around. It was larger than I'd anticipated and we missed a portion of it due to it getting too late in the day. We got to see the men throwing fish, street musicians, hand made arts and crafts, fresh raw seafood of every variety, exotic looking wild foraged mushrooms, beautiful huge bouquets of flowers more, types of produce than I've ever seen in one place, and shoulder to shoulder people, some local, some tourist like us. If you ever find yourself in the rainy city, make sure to go to Pikes Place:

CLICK HERE FOR PIKES PLACE PICS

The last photo album is the view from the top of the Bank of America tower. We had read that most people pay an arm and a leg to go up in the Space Needle, but for a fraction of the cost you could get twice as high in this behemoth of a skyscraper. The elevator ride up to the 73rd floor was a little unnerving for me but it was actually not as bad as I'd feared. We passed a starbucks on the 40th floor when transferring elevators and it made me chuckle to think of lattes being made in the sky. I'm so glad we went up there, it's the best view I've ever had from a building and the best in general second only to an airplane, speaking of which we saw one from the top and it looked really close lol. Also saw a pod of helipads on the roofs of some of the buildings downtown. I'm really happy with the photos I got up so high:

CLICK HERE FOR PICS FROM THE TOP

An addition to the Pride post

I'd almost forgotten about all the video clips I took of the pride parade in Portland. I've made a little video montage to music, feel free to turn it up and have a good time! :

Pride Parade Video
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A Prideful Intermission

Being overwhelmed with the amount of photo editing involved with Mom and I's Seattle trip, I took a few days off and got involved with some of Portland's community activities. The first being a marvelous event called the World Naked Bike Ride. It originally started as a political statement against the overuse of fossil fuels and an awareness of the vulnerability of bicyclists. It has kept it's message but has taken on more of a quirky party/celebratory tradition aspect over the years.  If you are interested in finding out more about it and seeing photos or videos, simply google "WNBR Portland 2011" and you will get a good idea how amazing it was.

The other even was Portland Pride. It was incredible. It was the largest pride celebration I've ever attended. There were sooo many people! The parade was 2 hours long and there were more floats/ marching groups than I could count. Every aspect of the city came out to participate including over 15 churches of different denominations, the city council/ government, the police and sheriff's departments, major corporate retailers, small grassroots charity organizations, marching bands, choruses, and more. It was so vibrant, colorful, and energetic.... you could tell everyone in the crowd was having an amazing time. After the parade everyone filtered down to the waterfront park into a fenced area that contained all the food and merch vendors, as well as 2 separate stages featuring dancers, singers, and comedians. Not once did I see any protesters, which was pretty mind blowing in and of itself. I took lots of photos of the proceedings, if you want to get a taste of this slice of Portland culture, feel free to check out the pics:

PDX Pride 2011- CLICK FOR PICS!!

Seattle Trip- Arboretum and Japanese Garden

Mom and I got lucky and scored one of the most beautiful days I'd experienced up here so far. Clear blue sky, warm sun, and cool breeze. We decided to make the most of it by taking a trip to the Arboretum, a huge free park planted with countless flowers, trees, grasses, and shrubs. We walked a big loop around it but could have spend another whole day taking all the little side trails that ran through it. Towards the back was another attraction we wanted to see, a classical Japanese garden. It wasn't very large but it's intensely manicured perfection was a sight to behold. I could go on and on about all the colors and textures and scents we experienced exploring around that day, but it would pale in comparison to actually seeing it:

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PICS
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Catherine Creek Hike and Driving East

After Mom got all settled in our first item on the agenda was a hike. I chose Catherine Creek in WA for several reasons. Firstly was the difficulty level, various sections are 1- 3 pies, the 3 pie part is an incline that sucks, ask mom lol. The effort would pay off with a view of the east end of the gorge and a slew of native blooming wildflowers. She did really well, I personally think it makes the sense of accomplishment greater when you finally do reach the top if you had to work a bit to get there. I think/ hope she agreed lol. She really got into it, even found herself a hiking stick! She had been asking about the frequency of snake sightings... We've ever only seen 2 and they were together on a completely different trail in OR.. Leave it to the most snake phobic person I know to almost step on the only known one in WA! It was a little garter snake but by her reaction you would have thought it was the worlds largest rattler! Once she spotted it she was off and running faster than I've ever seen her move. I felt really bad for her in the situation but I think it's comical it retrospect (she probably wouldn't agree lol). When we made it to the top we found ourselves a place to sit and take in the view, sun, and breeze. The wind was blowing the tall grasses all around and I was inspired to make a crop circle while Mom laughed at me.

After we hiked back to the car we set out for Goldendale with plans to see the Marryhill Art Museam and the wind turbine fields. Before going too much further we stopped at a the only place to eat in miles, a cute neighborhood mom n pop place that served Americana on a plate. Yummy Americana shaped like the most beautiful lemon pie you've ever seen. I though pie was quite appropriate beings that mom had gotten her first taste of our hiking pie rating system:

Bellies full we hopped back in the car and proceeded East. Mom got to see the awesome topography changes as you leave the Gorge. Tall green mountains giving way to large sloping grass covered and arid hills. The sky gets bigger and bigger as do the views. You feel like you can see forever when you look towards the horizon. It all looks rather fake and is truly hard to grasp the scope of.  We arrived at the museum, took a look around the beautiful property and sculpture garden, admired the peacock/peahens and saw what we could of the exhibits before it closed. From there we proceeded to drive north into Goldendale where we got our first view of Mt. Rainier and Mom marveled at the huge white spinning wind turbines. I enjoyed watching her go on and on about how huge they were. We ate at dairy queen in Goldendale which is about the only thing there is to do in that town, then back home we drove only stopping to eat mexican food in Hood River.
We did see by far the most spectacular sunset that evening. Mom's visit was off to a nice start.



CLICK HERE FOR PICS
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Almost a month

Wow, I've really been slacking in the blog department.. Sorry! Lots of things have been happening around here, mainly revolving around the preparations for Mom's visit and the week that she was here, but more on that later. First I want to share with you a photo of a sunset that I too here recently, it was a pretty nice one:

Ash has been busy workin' hard but during one of her days off (I had to work) she decided to go on a solo hike of Falls Creek. She wrote a blog and took photos. Here is her experience:

"On a day that I had off I decided to find a hike. Sadly Kris could not attend. I settled on a hike just up the road from our house in Carson in the Gifford Pichot National Forest Area. Lower Falls Creek Falls is about 3.4 miles round trip and is rated easy. I would give this hike 3 1/2 pies. Originally I thought I would only give it two but there were some obstacles. The trail is not one of the more maintained trails in this forest system. There were a couple of trees that were downed and I had to crawl under them. It's fitting because it seems I cannot go into the forest without bringing back all the dirt. I started the hike and it was mostly flat. A little creek flowed along the trail and the sounds of the water gently flowing over the rocks was tranquil. As I looked around I noticed some Ponderosa Pines and dense fern ground cover. Ironically, the sun at 8am over this setting reminded me of places in Florida. As a result I thought about family for the entire trip. I continued to walk along the trail and crossed a small cable suspension bridge. Precarious but I forged forward. At this point the trail began to ascend. I was the only one on the trail and in some places it was quiet. I could hear myself breathing and hear the wind as it brushed through the trees. The further along the trail I hiked, the louder the water became. It was a slow build. Halfway through it sounded like static. I had read a little about the trail before going on it and had read that the reward for this hike was  3 tier 250 foot waterfall. I continued to walk contemplating that this fall would probably only be marginally different from other falls hikes I have done in the same area. I was wrong. At times on the trail, I felt so alone that I could have been the only one around for miles. I was comforted by the isolation. Trekking forward the creek became more like rapids and the water was rushing in volumes. I hiked to the sounds of dull roar and I appreciated the white noise because I was unable to think. I was unable to think about how much I missed my family or how I wished Kris were with me. I was unable to think about how I was a little cold from the shaded trail and how I really wanted to get to the end so I could turn around and go back. I just kept walking until the white noise turned into  what sounded like a rock concert. I rounded a corner and caught a glimpse of the falls and I had to grasp my chest because it took my breath away. I stood there for a moment almost afraid that I wouldn't be able to handle getting close. A few hundred yards more and I arrived at the mouth of the beast. The only other person was a photographer and his dog. I stood behind him on large moss covered rocks and he didn't even notice I was there. The sound of the water was so loud and powerful it was reverberating through my chest and the forest floor beneath my feet. I craned my neck so I could gaze on the expanse of how tall 250 feet really is. The water was falling fast and hard and it was plentiful. I sat eye level with the falls and ate an apple. The noise was intense and it drowned out even the sounds of my eating. Shortly after my snack I headed back and was left awe stricken all the way to the car. I couldn't wait to go home and tell Kris about it and I hope to take her on it soon. The pictures do the trail no justice as with most places here, but the images are forever ingrained in my mind and I know if you hike it the images will be with you forever too."


CLICK HERE FOR THE PICS

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