And now Dan's whole family has been here

Katie makes Oswalt number 3 to visit us. She only had one full day to be here, so we didn't have too much time, but it was good to see her. We saw an Irish-style band on the night she arrived and Dan showed her downtown while I was at work the next day. Then when Dan went to work, she and I hiked up Mt. Tabor and then went back downtown for dinner and what have you. While out, we had lively conversation on such topics as death, babies, and pimples (She and I should maybe apologize to anyone within an earshot of these discussions :) ). She said she wanted to come back to visit every so often, and I hope she does. If and when that happens, we will go on some real excursions.

Here are some possibilities for next time, or for other visitors (This is intended to entice you all to visit) :

A Jetboat Trip
Shanghai Tunnel Tour
Redbull Flugtag
Adult Soapbox Derby
The Aerial Tram
Wine Country
Tillamook Cheese
Mt. Hood Dinner Train
Pittock Mansion
Brewpub Hop

4th of July

For the 4th, we decided to go to a ball game. We made the mistake of not having dinner beforehand, and it ended up costing about $45 for each of us to have a chili dog and a couple of drinks. But it was a good game that ended with fireworks. AND a character they call "Harry Canary" (Pictured above) came out and danced! Well worth the money, right?

But we will be back to PGE park, because that's where Portland's soccer team, the Timbers, play.

Sterling!

Dan's dad came to visit too! As soon as he arrived, we were walking him up Mt. Tabor. Then Dan went to work, and Sterling and I hung out for the first day of his stay. We had lunch where I work, drove to where Dan and I lived before, and then to the St. John's Bridge (my favorite bridge in Portland- 1st picture above). Then we took the MAX lightrail downtown where we went to Powell's books (2nd pic), and Pioneer Courthouse Square (the 3rd).

On the 2nd day of the visit, it was his birthday. Dan told him that he would like to take him out to lunch to celebrate, and Sterling chose a German Restaurant to do so (The Rheinlander, picture 4). The highlight of the meal may have been when Sterling, holding a beer in his hand (a rare occasion) declared, "It's a good thing I'm not drinking!" He meant to say driving.

Then I drove us East of Portland down historic, scenic "Columbia River Highway" to go on a waterfall tour. Above in picture 5 are Dan & Sterling looking at the Bridal Veil falls, and the last two pictures are Multnomah Falls.

I worked on the last day of his visit, but I hear he and Dan went to a bad hot dog place for lunch, and Sterling, per his request, got to see a real-life hippie!

The New Apartment

So, about a month ago, we moved from North Portland to the Southeast, and I love it here. We were pretty lucky to find the apartment that we did. We found the Craigslist ad for it within 15 minutes or so of its being posted, and arranged to see it a couple of hours later, and we were the first to apply for it. Our landlord said that about 30 others were interested in applying later that day. We've talked to some of our neighbors in the same building, and all of them have lived here for multiple years, so that's a good sign.

Our place is a short walk from Mt. Tabor Park, which is a wooded area on top of an extinct volcanic cinder cone. So, it's a decent walk up hill, but the view is worth it. On one side you look over downtown (see 1st picture above), and on the other side there is a good view of Mt. Hood. I've jogged to the top a few times, Dan and I have played tennis in the park, and we walked to the top with both Dan's dad and sister when they came to visit.

So our apartment is right along one of the bus lines, which is convenient, but we've mostly been riding our bikes (we've spent less than 30$ on transportation costs this month!). We also have a little table out front, though we only use it occasionally when we go out there to read, eat or play cards.

I've done a little bit of gardening out front-- mostly herbs-- spearmint & lemon balm for tea, then we have liquorice plant, dill, and I believe oregano and thyme. You can see some of them hanging in front of our door.

After some visits to IKEA, Goodwill and some yard sales, we managed to furnish the place without spending much money, and it even looks presentable :).

Finally, as you will see in the last picture, we have a friendly cat visitor every so often at the new place. She belongs to the neighbor, and she likes to be very sneaky and wander in our apartment as if invited. We call her "Creep". In the picture, she is relaxing and looking out the door, making herself very at home.

Visit from Dan's Mom

Dan's mom was out here last weekend, and it was a really nice visit. We went to dinner when she got in on Friday- and since Friday was such a clear, nice day, she was able to see Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helen's before it got dark.

Then on Saturday we went to lunch where I work before driving out to the West coast. We had heard that whatever the weather in Portland is, to expect the opposite on the coast, and that held true for our trip. The first half of the drive out there was very scenic and sunny. It was chilly and gloomy after that, but still nice. Pacific Ocean water is painfully freezing even just to wade in. We threw the frisbee around, and Dan found a crab claw which he named Sherwin Williams and took home as a souvenir. Also- we visited Cannon Beach- where the rocks from the movie "The Goonies" are. On the drive back Jayne found a place off of Route 26 to buy birdhouses, and we went to a cafe.

The Rose Festival is going on in Portland right now, so after returning from the coast we went to a parade that was part of the celebration. We found a spot on a wall looking down onto the street. Before the parade there was a 5k run that came through, which was more fun than the parade, because of the costumes many of the runners wore. The night before we had noticed that our roommates had bought goofy WWF wrestler masks, and we thought it was funny but didn't really question it. We watched the 5k run and figured out what the masks were for, as they went running by us.

Picture Descriptions
*These are also not my pictures
1. View of Mt. Hood on a clear day from just outside of downtown Portland
2. Mt. St. Helen's
3. Cannon Beach rocks, you might recognize from "The Goonies"
4. Picture from the 2007 Rose Festival Starlight Parade

My next blog entry will be pictures of the house and neighborhood where we currently live as well as the apartment we are moving into later this month! Yes, we signed a lease today, and I'm really excited about it, but right now I have to go to work. Later!

I got a job!

After two or three weeks of job hunting (and going a little crazy doing so) I got a job at McMenamins Kennedy School, which is actually a hotel.

McMenamins are popular out here-- they have hotels, restaurants, pubs, theaters, breweries, wineries, and distilleries (and often, all of those things are together at one location.) They host a lot of live music. They are known for buying historic properties (especially properties that are at risk of being demolished because no one is willing to buy them) to house their operations.

So, the Kennedy School is an old elementary school- what used to be the auditorium is now the theater with tables and couches so you can eat/drink while watching your movie; the hotel rooms are in old classrooms (the original chalkboards are still on the walls); the brewery is in the former girls locker room; there's also a restaurant with a courtyard, a hot soaking pool, 5 bars- including "detention bar" which is a tiny cigar and whiskey bar, rooms to rent out for events- including what used to be the library and gym. People have weddings and receptions there too.

As for other McMenamins locations, there are lots of them, but to name a few- one is where an old poor farm used to be, and another in an old saloon that was originally run by a couple of Polish immigrants. The Mission theater where Dan and I went to a bluegrass show, used to be a church- the list goes on. Go to the website and look around-- pretty neat. They also have some really nice gardens and artwork on the properties. McMenamins.com

All-in-all, I like the job- I mean there were wine tastings at both our orientation and first department meeting. I eat free cheeseburgers and use the soaking pool. I like the people I work with, and I don't watch the clock. I'm a receptionist at the front desk, and eventually I want to be involved in music booking or event coordination for the company.

Picture Descriptions:
* These are not my pictures-- most are from the McMenamins website
1. Kennedy School Front
2. Kennedy School 102 degree soaking pool
3. Kennedy School theater (former auditorium)
4. Kennedy School restaurant
5. Kennedy School restaurant courtyard (I don't know these people)
6. Kennedy School "detention" cigar and whiskey bar

The Oregon Trail Day 3

Day 3- 750 miles up lots of hills and against the wind, which ruined the good gas mileage we were getting. Boo. But day 3 was really good for scenery. We went from Ogden, Utah to Portland via Boise and the Columbia River Gorge.

Utah in the morning was beautiful- snowy mountains, sunshine, the great salt lake. A tumbleweed got stuck in the grill of my car! Boise wasn't all that exciting looking, so we just kept driving. Then we got to the Idaho/Oregon border where we saw the OreIda headquarters... which makes sense, but I never really thought about the name.

Oregon was super pretty the whole way through. Of the 10 states we were in, that is the only one we could really say that about. It had desert-like area in the East, then we came to a huge overlook (the picture on the title of this blog) before driving at a steep grade down for a long time (this area is called dead man's pass or something, and they have these little drives that go straight up- this is in the event that a truck's (or car's, I guess) breaks go out-- that way they can drive straight up rather than off the side of a mountain.), then there were grape farms, then we eventually hit forest, then we hit the Columbia River Gorge, which was awesome, and our pictures don't really do it justice. We saw waterfalls, and a dam and mossy cliffs. The weather in Oregon changed every few minutes during the drive here, and that hasn't really changed since getting to Portland. On the trip it went from being sunny to snowing and hailing a little before reverting back to being sunny. This time of year in Portland, it's common for half of the day to be rainy and the other half perfect.

We drove into Portland while it was still light out. We found the neighborhood we lived in and were pleased at how nice it was-lots of trees and other plants, nice little houses. Then we came to a house that, unlike the other houses, had no grass, but did have pirate flags in the windows- our new home. We met our roommates, unpacked some stuff, went out for hot wings and got lost driving around downtown.

We had little to no car trouble on the way out here, no fender benders, decent weather. We didn't lose anything, get anything stolen, get kidnapped, or get too lost at any point. We didn't even want to kill each other after spending 3 days in a car together.

Picture Descriptions:
Please enlarge the scenic ones! Especially the panoramic one!
These are grouped by subject, but not chronological.
1. Oregon is really pretty.
2.-7. The area of and around the giant overlook/ "dead man's pass"
8.-10. Columbia River Gorge, inc. the dam
11. The last leg of the trip
12.-18. Welcome to Portland!, inc. partial skyline, the convention center, the first public transit spotting(!), the basketball stadium
19.-24. Idaho
25. There's a tumbleweed in my grill!