Portland Saturday Market

David and I went to the Portland Saturday Market this morning before the heavy rain showers hit the area. Allison, if you can believe it the weather this week has been worse than for the week you visited. We saw some really great things. David picked himself up a blown glass vase and I discovered a new and local artist that I am now going to share with you. She was displaying her "Fractal" artwork. Her artwork caught David and my eyes immediately. We both found pieces that we really liked. I picked up her business card and then David and I continued through to see the rest of the booths. On our way back to the car we swung back by her stand and I purchased the following piece of work:

"Black Thorn" by Sara McCormick

Check out her website Infinitecreature

Vancouver, British Columbia

Last Thursday I made the trek from Portland up to Vancouver, BC for a little get away and some continuing education units. The drive to the great white north was longer than I had first anticipated. It didn't that I had completely miscalculated how close to the border Seattle was, so much for midwesterners knowing their geography huh? Once I got into Vancouver I made my way to Stanley Park and the Vancouver Aquarium. The aquarium was one of my favorites things that I saw when I went to Vancouver with the UCSB Men's Basketball team a couple years ago. After touring the Aquarium I wandered through part of the park snapping pictures of the city skyline and Lions Gate Bridge.

After I meandered through the park I checked into my hotel and set off to find some dinner. I managed to come across this little Thai restaurant called "Thai Basil". This may have been the best Thai food I have ever had. It was absolutely delicious, so if you ever find yourself in Vancouver be sure to head to Thai Basil on the corner of Davies and Thurlow.

I began my seminar on Friday and it ran through Sunday beginning at 8am and ending at 5pm with a lunch break from 12-1pm. The seminar was very informative. I am looking forward to being able to utilize what I learned at work. On Friday night I headed down to English Bay with Mikey a Vancouver resident that I met to walk along the waterfront and to catch the sunset. Unfortunately, I did not take my camera with me, so no pictures.

I got up early on Monday morning to make sure that I got back to Portland in enough time to pick up David from the airport. I definitely gave myself enough time to get back with a few pit stops. David's flight was also a little delayed from San Francisco, so that helped out as well.

Out to the Coast with Allison

WIth the weather finally cooperating Allison and I headed out to the coast on Friday. Our first mission of the day however was getting a view of Mount Hood. Luckily the clouds had cleared enough to be able to see Mount Hood from the Rose Gardens at Washington Park.
We then hit the Sunset Highway (Hwy 26) and headed west for the coast. After a minor detour in the wrong direction we made it to Ecola State Park just north of Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock. It was a beautiful day to be on the coast. While we were eating lunch a Crow decided that he wanted to join us and kept eyeing my peanut butter sandwich.

We then made our way South down the 101 through Tillamook and onto the Three Capes Scenic Bypass where we stopped at Cape Meares to see the Lighthouse, ocean vistas, and the Octopus Tree.

As we headed along the Three Capes Scenic By-pass we stopped for dinner at the Pelican Pub in Pacific City. The restaurant sits right on the beach at Cape Kiwanda and is world famous for their micro-brewed beers. After dinner we kept heading South racing the slowly setting sun trying to get down to the Heceta Lighthouse before sunset. With a quick stop at Strawberry Hill wayside to get a glimpse of the Harbor seals lounging on the offshore rocks we finally made it to Heceta. Unfortunately, on this part of the coast the sun had begun setting behind the clouds and marine layer lurking off shore. We did manage to get a few pictures though.

Saturday morning Allison and I headed to Kenny and Zuke's downtown for a good breakfast before dropping Allison off at the airport. Breakfast was delicious, so thank you Brandon for the suggestion. It was great having Allison out for a visit and I enjoyed spending a week with a really great and incredible friend!

Multnomah Falls with Allison

After a rainy Wednesday that I had to go into work for a department meeting, a staff meeting, and a meeting with my soccer coach Allison and I headed out to Multnomah Falls for a morning hike. The day started out a little cloudy and cool as we started our hike to the top of the falls. The weather worked out well for us as there were not a lot of people there. As we started to descend back to the bottom the sun started to peak through the clouds and we got some great shots. The hike to the top may have only been a little over a mile but it was primarily uphill, so it made for a good workout.







After Multnomah we headed to the Vista House to check out the scenic views of the Columbia River Gorge.


































We finished our day by heading down to the McCormick and Schmicks at the Harborside for a delicious dinner and then seeing Cirque du Soleil "Kooza". The show was breathtaking, awe inspiring, and hilarious. I'm looking forward to seeing it again with David when he comes to visit in a little over a week!

Allison and Greg's adventure at the Oregon Zoo

Today Greg has a guest writer, Allison.
On our recent trip to the zoo, it was somewhat disappointing. We had either very active animals or sleepy animals, as you will see with our pictures. We arrived in the afternoon and started our adventure with the Pacific Shore. The sea lion and sea otter weren't very cooperative for pictures at first. The sea lions were fed while we were there, so we were able to see more of them on a later stop by the exhibit.

The Penguins were very entertaining in many ways. The Polar Bears on the other hand were enjoying a long afternoon nap. We checked back twice to see if they were going to be active, but all we received was a slight movement of the Polar bear pushing a plastic chair from his face or a slight eye opening to look at us and go I'm not getting up.


We continued our journey through the zoo to see one of nephew's favorite animals, the Tiger. The Tiger was very cooperative for pictures and barely moved. Unlike the Leopard and the Cougar, who kept pacing around in their area and won't stay still. We were even able to obtain a picture of us with the Tiger in the background with the help of a bystander.


We continued onto the Primates. The primates weren't very cooperative since they wanted to stay up at the top of the tree branches or kept their backs to us. The orangutans were enjoying a nice afternoon snack and enjoying their bamboo twigs. I was quite disappointed that they didn't have a Gorilla. Luckily, I had seen one at the small zoo in St. Paul last week.

From the Primates, we continued onto see the Africa exhibit. We stopped to see the elephants on our way. They were enjoying a nice afternoon snack and cooperative for my pictures not so much for Greg's. The Africa exhibit wasn't too exciting for us since the giraffe was inside and the hippos and rhino were sleeping or kept their back to us. The Zebras were also lazy, but at least willing to pose for pictures for us. The lions were quite playful, and Greg waited patiently for the male lion to climb to the highest point to get his perfect picture.



We ended our day with the most disappointing portion/most uneventful part of the zoo.....The Great Northwest. It was quite uneventful since we didn't see any animals except those that were in the barns or in aquariums. We did have fun playing find the animal in the aquarium. I think I beat Greg mostly because I was walking ahead of him. There was one that we couldn't find...kind of scary. We were able to find some interesting things in the exhibit though. They included the beautiful bald eagles and the cougar who was playing with another individual patty cake on the glass. The river otters were having some domestic violence in their den, which was quite interesting to watch. The wolves and elks on the other hand were enjoying their afternoon naps.

Overall, Greg and I were able to entertain ourselves throughout even with the occasional rain/hail shower in between the breaks of sun.

Allison and the Eugene Marathon

My friend Allison; from Undergrad who is finishing up Med school, came out to visit me this week. Our first adventure was her running the Eugene Marathon. This marks her seventh career marathon. She has a goal of running a marathon in all fifty states. Allison set a personal best time of 3 hours 36 minutes and 16 seconds and qualified for her second Boston Marathon. The weather was perfect with the starting temperature being in the mid 40's and the high only getting to the low 60's with intermittent sunshine. I got to see Allison at the start and then caught up with her at about mile 17 and was then there for the finish. Our friend Sara and her sister Katie also participated in the marathon.

Here are a few shots of the day:


Allison at mile 17


Allison rounding the Bowerman curve to the finish line


Sara heading to the finish of her first marathon in just over 4 hours


Allison after the marathon


Stretching and sharing the news


Allison and Bill Bowerman

Eugene Marathon