Wedding (cow)Bells

What a wonderful weekend we had in Eastern Oregon celebrating Drew and Grace in the company of family, friends and the beautiful Wallowa Mountains. The wedding took place at the Liberty Grange in Joseph, OR, with all the twin siblings - Amelia, Ella, Jake and Emily - making up their wedding party.  

Grace's family has deep roots in Wallowa County, with her great-great-grandfather having started the general store, M Crow, in Lostine. M Crow continues to operate today as a restaurant and brewery, and it's where we gathered for a pre-wedding celebration with family and friends. 

We'll be adding more photos as they become available, but CLICK HERE to see how we spent the weekend - hiking, swimming, decorating, dancing, dining, enjoying friends and paying tribute to two lovely people who have already built a beautiful life together. We can't wait to see what comes next. 

 

 

Hitting Some Trails

We spent the final weekends of summer following several interesting trails. The Wildwood Follow the Crows Trail took us through downtown Portland in search of thirty crows designed by local artists to help promote Laika Studio's new film, Wildwood, which opens in October. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS.

Then there was the lovely maze trail through the sunflower fields at Topaz Farms on Sauvie Island, which Emily joined us for. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS.

Finally, Pat and I checked out the new HI-LO trail, which connects Hillsdale with Lake Oswego by combining 6.3 miles of SW Portland trails with a beautiful forest hike through Tyron Creek State Natural Area. Photos from our hike are in THIS ALBUM, which also includes some of the kids' summer adventures. 

We also joined Emily and Coleman at the annual PDX Soapbox Derby which follows a trail down through Mt. Tabor Park. One of this year's entries is pictured below and a few more photos are LINKED HERE. 

Wallowas

We are just back from a long weekend pre-wedding scouting trip to the Wallowas, checking out the venues where Drew and Grace will be holding their September wedding. Here's hoping the sunset on September 19th is even half as spectacular as the ones we saw this weekend. Click here for photos, which include pictures from our trip up the Wallowa Lake Tramway, hiking, rail-biking, kayaking and more. 

This was our first time visiting Joseph, OR, and we took the opportunity to checkout the nearby viewpoint for Hells Canyon (pictured below) while we were in the neighborhood... just 20 miles, but  a hour+ drive! 

We are 3-weeks away from wedding day! 

Vancouver Island

We spend the past week exploring Vancouver Island in British Columbia - from Victoria to Salt Springs Island to Campbell River. Click here for photos. Our week included lots of wildlife encounters, great hiking and kayaking; a whale watching tour where we spotted both orcas and humpbacks; and a great fireworks show in honor of Canada Day. We returned home through Vancouver and Bellingham. 

As for the rest of the family, click here to see how everyone is enjoying the summer so far.  Emily's summer started with her earning a masters degree in marriage and family counseling from Portland State. Photos from her graduation weekend are linked here. 

All Together at Otter Rocks

Drew and Grace hosted a bachelor/bachelorette camping weekend for friends on the Oregon Coast, and we got to join them for a lovely afternoon near Otter Rocks. Jake flew in for the occasion, so we were all together briefly... something not likely to happen again until their wedding in September!

Click here for photos of the kids and their friends enjoying the beach, plus our scenic explorations between Depoe Bay and Newport, which included a stop on the Newport fishing docks to watch a bunch of sea lions at play. 

Rose + Starlight Parade

Portland combined its annual Rose and Starlight Parades into a single event this year. Click here for photos. It was a beautiful night to enjoy a great show.

Chasing Dragons

It's Rose Festival Weekend, which means dragon boat racing. We spent Saturday on the waterfront cheering for Emily's team, the Willamette Wave Riders. The weather was a bit unsettled, but rain or shine, it was fun to watch the races. Click here for photos. 

Spring into Summer

 

We spent Memorial Day Weekend on the Oregon Coast exploring the Bayocean and Netarts Spits, along with points in between. Click on Bayocean, and it will link to a brief PBS documentary about the area's fascinating history.  Emily, Fig and I previously visited this same spot back in March - those photos are linked here. 

Because we hiked to the tip of Netarts Spit during low tide, our google location made it look like we were in the water - see dot below.  In fact, we were standing where the next photo down was taken looking out to Three Arch Cape and the town of Oceanside.  Netarts Spit is also known as Sand Dollar Spit. We found 10 on our 10 mile hike. 

Click here for photos from a variety of other Spring adventures - camping trips and birthday celebrations; hiking, biking and kayaking; turkey hunting, wildlife sightings and more. And click here to see photos of Drew, Pat and Team Jugo competing in this year's Oregon Off Shore Race where they achieved a 3rd place finish, their best to date. 

Finally, here's a link to my growing collection of watercolor paintings, including some made by the kids and friends who have joined me in taking classes with watercolor artist, Peter O'Brien. 

Toronto

Spent a great long weekend in Toronto with Jake and Elise, a first visit for all of us. We explored the Toronto Islands, the Distillery District, Kensington Market neighborhood and visited the Art Gallery of Ontario.  We also took a day trip to Niagara Falls.  

Click here for photos, which include some I took from the top of the CN Tower as part of a conference I was attending. 

Cannon Beach Valentine

We spent Valentine's/President's Day weekend in Cannon Beach, enjoying unseasonal, but really  nice weather. Click here for photos.  

The previous weekend, temperatures were also unseasonably mild for the annual Portland Winter Lights Festival.  Click here from photos from that outing. 

The forecast for this coming week calls for a chance of snow... we'll believe it when we see it!

Episode 41

Our week on the Big Island really ended with a bang! We were at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park when Episode 41 of the ongoing Kīlauea summit eruption began.  It turned out to be an 8+ hour event with fountains from both the north and south vents peaking at 1,500 feet, a new record since the current eruption cycle began back in December of 2024. 

Tephra from the eruption was reported as far as 16 miles away. We viewed the eruption from about 2 miles away (at Volcano House inside the National Park) where it fell from the sky like light hail. We also found Pele's Hair all over our rental car, which we had to wash away with a make-shift bucket in the form of a traffic cone. Watching the eruption was amazing and well worth dealing with a little rain in the form of rock fragments... the tephra was surprising delicate, but also messy with some sharp edges.  

We watched the show until just after sunset, when the views got even better thanks to the glow of lava. More than 14 million cubic yards of lava were erupted over the course of the day, covering 85% of the crater floor. 

Speaking of sunsets, there were many lovely ones over the course of the week. Click here for photos.  We also saw whales playing just off shore nearly every day - lots of tail slaps and a few full  breaches, which proved hard to catch on film, but the big splash pictured below came just after a breach. 

We'll be adding some of Pat's underwater photos soon.  

Holiday Festivities and Flu

It was all going so well... everyone together, the matching PJs, the family gift exchange, long walks, good food and games,  Then the day at the coast... then three down with the flu and our holiday festivities were curtailed. But happy holidays anyway! Click here for photos from our Escape Room adventure, craft classes, river and beach walks, Hanukkah with the Salsburg-Romeros (our 15th anniversary), and more.  

Coastal Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Drew, Grace and Fig in Bandon, on Oregon's south coast. Click here for photos. The first day of our visit was blustery, but the rest of the weekend was unusually mild and dry for late November. 

Meanwhile in Portland, Emily and Coleman were busy getting ready for Christmas, and Jake and Elise were dodging snowstorms in Iowa and Minnesota.

Fall Fun

 

Sharing some highlights from September and October... including my trip to Minneapolis to visit Jake; Jake's trip to Denver where he got to spend some time with Arthur, Sarah and Nathan; Emily's time in Bend for a counseling workshop; and the start of nursing school for Drew and Grace in Ashland. Click here for more photos. 

 

Long Walks and Long Necks

This weekend we finished walking the 30+ mile Wildwood Trail through Portland's Forest Park and enjoyed a lovely harvest dinner/squash party at Emily's house. Click here for hiking photos. Day 1, we walked 18 miles from Newberry Road to Fire Lane 3, then returned to Fire Lane 3 on Day 2, walking the final 14 miles to the Washington Park Veteran's Memorial/Zoo. Thankfully, the days were not consecutive, but two weeks apart. 

Here are photos from the harvest dinner Emily and Coleman hosted, which featured squash lovingly grown by Emily and served many ways, all delicious. 

For our off weekend in between hiking the Wildwood Trail, we visited Ashland, Oregon, to see Drew and Grace in their new home. Photos from Ashland. We hiked around Lithia Park and Mount Ashland, saw the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, and got to see the campus of Southern Oregon University where Drew and Grace will soon start their accelerated nursing program.

Meanwhile up north, Jake got to do some volunteer beekeeping to cap off the summer, enjoyed some time with Elise's family and hosted Emily for a visit. Click here for photos.