A Whirlwind

Last I was here we were getting ready to head to Oregon for a while. That was last Wednesday and between then and now we have done a million things. We've spent time in Downtown Portland, including Powell's books, Saturday Market, and Pioneer Square. We spent the majority of a day hiking at Eagle Creek, all the way to tunnel falls. This picture on the left is of my favorite waterfall on the hike and I think I can safely say that Alex was impressed. Overall we hiked about 12 miles. Needless to say we were pretty sore for the next few days. I just love places like that because they are so secluded and it's like you are alone with just the rocks and trees. Totally "hippie" of me I know, but it is so relaxing for me just knowing that I have a whole day I can spend wandering around in awe of the things around me. It's hard to find the time for that in other situations.

We also spent the weekend in Seattle and visiting St. Helens. We went to the EMP, and the Science Fiction Museum, We wandered around the Space Needle, and spent a little bit of time at Pike Place. I was hoping to find a replacement for a ring that I had purchased at Pike a few years earlier and recently lost, but the vendor was no longer there. Disappointing but still a fun time. This is a picture of us in front of the space needle. We took cool panoramic ones where you can see the whole space needle, but facebook wouldn't allow us to post them.


On the drive back from Seattle we stopped at Mt. St. Helens so that Alex could see it. It's sort of become a tradition for my dad and I to take people there when they come to visit. I think we have gone 3 summers in a row now. It's always fun to see such a powerful sight. We got there right as the visitor center was closing, so we just wandered around on the trail for a little while, but it was fairly cold so we didn't stay too long. All in all it was a great weekend trip. We got to stay in a sweet apartment in Seattle that belongs to my dad's cousin, and see the city which I hadn't had the opportunity to do in years.

Then we made the drive down to Eugene to visit my best friend from high school Allison. She's in summer classes at U of O so we went and spent a night catching up with her which was much needed. It's been too long since I've seen some of the people I grew up with. Looking at all of this it's amazing to me that we have done so much traveling and exploring of the Pacific Northwest in such a short time. Tonight we are having some family friends over for dinner and then heading up to our cabin on Mt. Hood to stay the night and most of the day tomorrow. Until today when Alex and I crashed for a several hour nap, it feels like we have barely stopped to breathe. I personally wouldn't have it any other way. We have done so many fun things, overall it's been a really great experience. I guess what I've really noticed this time around is that although a lot of things change over time a lot of them stay very much the same. And I guess that I personally find comfort in that more than I ever noticed before.

A few more days packed with fun and we will be on our way to another Continent. I've never been to another continent before unless you count Scotland when I was like 1, which I don't. The fun part will be getting our suitcases under the weight limit. We will see how it goes. Hope everyone is doing well, this still isn't real to either Alex or I, but I think that will be changing very shortly.