Summer 2014

It was a long and hot summer.  Even today, in late October it's about 75 degrees out. Still seems like summer! I guess that's what I get for planting those himalayan poppies, which rely on cooler temps and lots of rain. We ended up getting the driest summer on record and they didn't grow. At least I bought us some good traveling weather.

I spent way more time at the coast this summer than I think I ever have.... To be honest I'm not crazy about the coast, the smell really bothers me and it's usually cold and the mist is all sticky and it sticks to your hair. But I've been so antsy to get out of the house and it's only an hour away, and they have stuff to entertain tourists, so I just ended up going there quite a bit. Pictured below is Newport Oregon.

Spent some time up at Mount St Helens. And managed to miss all the excitement too. A few weeks after visiting there was a report that the volcano is starting to act up again, after about ten years of inactivity. 

You may be wondering about the graffitied building that Laura is looking at in the graphic above. That's the UofO EMU (student union building). They are rebuilding it and this was taken right before they started demolition. They invited everyone to come and draw on it before they tore it down. We didn't participate in the tagging; and to be honest, we didn't even know about it, and when we showed up to art class that week we were shocked to find it that way.  

Most of these pictures are of Enchanted Forest, a fun little amusement park up by Salem, Oregon. It's an entertaining little place to visit every so often. They've got a couple of roller coasters, and a few other little rides. Everything within the park was made by hand by the owner. Apparently he's a pretty artistic guy. Not wanting to disturb the forest that it's build within, they had to drag all the materials for building it in themselves without any big machinery. It's a nice place and considering it was all done by hand it's pretty impressive. 

Portland

Be warned, this is almost like an obnoxious instagram post.

Zoi and I went to Portland last week. Other than the parking ticket it was actually a really cheap trip. We did and saw a lot, and I think it ended up being under $30. The only thing was the parking, but with a little practice I bet I could become a saavy portland-parker and not have to pay very much, if only I knew where the good parking lots were.

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We were going to try Apizza Scholls, but it was closed. But Zoi, with her quick Google-thumbs, found another pizza place that had much higher ratings, was in the same neighborhood, and was way cheaper. 

Portland Aerial Tram: $4

Pyro Pizza: $7

Japanese Garden: $7.50

Hot Chocolate: $2.50
Zoi, I think we spent more at Olive Garden a few weeks ago than we did on this trip. Go us!!

According to Yahoo! News, Stumptown Coffee Roasters was voted to have one of best cups of hot chocolate in the nation. So of course we had to go there first. It was very yummy- and they drew a little leaf in our drinks. Shmancy!

We got rained on while we were at the Japanese Garden, but it decided to start raining right when we sat down in a covered hut/barn thing. After sitting around for a while we decided to brave the rain- and just as we stepped out the rain stopped. So that worked out.

Between the two of us, we took almost a thousand pictures. It was hard to narrow them down to just these, because there were a lot of good ones.
Also, I want more pizza.

Going on a trip!

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Summer

You don't realize how green the valley is until you leave it and come back. Even the air has a green quality. Coming back is mesmerizing. Your eyes are not used to all the green and you are are surrounded by walls of trees and everything smells so good. Summer in the valley is a time of frogs, beautiful sunsets, double rainbows, strawberries, and the smell of trees and grass and bbq...