White Salmon Weekend

All these years living in Oregon, yet we've never really spent much time exploring the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge.  Click here for photos from our long weekend in White Salmon. We toured Bonneville Dam (pictured above); hiked Natural Bridges, Coyote Wall and Catherine Creek; visited the Maryhill Art Museum, its replica of Stonehenge (pictured below) and a nearby winery called Waving Tree; and stumbled across Schreiner Farm, a cattle ranch near Lyle that doubles as a drive-through exotic animal park.  

We ended our trip in Hood River and hiked the Mosier Plateau Trail. From either side of the river, the views were great, though much of the weekend was unseasonably cool and cloudy, making Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams a bit hard to spot. 

Click here to see what the kids have been up to and how everyone celebrated the summer solstice - Jake and Elise took in a solstice parade in Minneapolis, Drew and Grace checked out the campus of Southern Oregon University in Ashland where they'll attend nursing school this Fall, and Emily and Coleman attended a family reunion in Trinity County, California.  

A Weekend of Roses and Dragons

 

It's Rose Festival Weekend in Portland, which means parades, fleet week, dragon boat racing and lots of sunshine.  Click here for photos from our weekend on and around the water, cheering on the Willamette Wave Riders, sailing and enjoying the festivities. 

 

Victoria by Land and Sea

Drew and Pat saw a lot of Victoria and the Strait of Juan De Fuca these past two weekends, as they competed with Team Jugo in the Oregon Offshore (Astoria to Victoria) then Swiftsure (Victoria to Neah Bay and back) sailing races. Jugo is the boat on the left below. 

Click here for photos from both race weekends, which in addition to sailing, involved lots of long walks to see the peacocks and Moss Lady in Beacon Hill Park (pictured below) and explore the city. 

Joshua Tree

We had a great long weekend in the desert exploring Joshua Tree National Park. Click here for photos. We hiked to FortyNine Palms Oasis (pictured below), Arch, Heart and Skull Rocks, Hidden Valley, Barker Dam and Wall Street Mill. 

We also drove up to Key View lookout (pictured below), which offered a view of the San Andreas Fault (the dark horizontal line running across the middle of the frame) and to the southern end of the park where the Mojave Desert transitions to the Colorado and the landscape shifts dramatically from Joshua Trees to the equally unusual Cholla Cactus. 

In addition to Joshua Tree NP, we checked out a few local attractions, including Pioneer Town, the World Famous Crochet Museum and a beautiful desert sculpture by Daniel Popper called, Transmission (pictured below). 

Oh... and that dust storm was pretty crazy! Thankfully the 30+ mph winds settled down after the first day of our trip. 

Cape Disappointment

We celebrated Pat's birthday weekend with a trip to the coast... Cape Disappointment State Park, on the Washington State side of the infamous Columbia Bar. Click here for photos. And click here for a mix of other recent photos - sailing, biking, hiking, fishing and just generally enjoying Spring. 

Signs of Spring and a Roadtrip

The cherry blossoms are blooming in Portland, and Jake is off to new adventures. The picture above was taken near Bozeman, Montana, about halfway into a road trip from Portland to Minneapolis, where Jake will be starting a new job. Drew kindly accompanied him on the first part of his journey, which earned him a souvenir t-shirt. 

Jake has officially become the first person in our family to have visited the state of North Dakota, where he got (safely) up close with some buffalo. Click here for more photos from the boys' trip and a few other recent activities, including a farewell dinner we had ahead of Jake's departure. 

We posted this album in a previous blog entry but added to it as winter transitioned into spring, so sharing it again. The weather has been typically all over the place, as it always is in March in Portland... wet, warm, wet. 

A final note of congratulations to Drew, who celebrated a birthday in March, and to Drew and Grace for being accepted into the Accelerated Nursing Program at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) - an opportunity that will take them to Ashland, Oregon for 14-months starting in September. 

Winter in Portland

It's been a mild start to winter in Portland. So much so, we barely needed coats for our recent hike along the Oregon Coast between Ecola State Park and Canon Beach. Click here for photos.

Portland did finally see its first snowfall this week... a few inches and colder temperatures, but we're already warming up.  This album includes photos from our winter adventures to date - skiing, urban hikes, water color painting class and just generally getting out and about.  

Last weekend was the annual Portland Winter Lights Festival, which is always lovely. Click here for photos from some of the festival installations. We also stopped by OMSI to see their amazing Exquisite Creatures exhibit. Click here for photos of Portland artist and naturalist, Chris Marley's amazing creations. 

Looking ahead to March, Fig is going all in for Conclave to win an academy award this year.