The Columbia River Gorge is straight up magic. A few weekends ago, we took a hike through the woods, completely unsure of how the weather would cooperate with our scenic vista hike. It turned out to be a fog-filled journey that obscured most of the views at the top, but it’s hard to find anything…
eagle creek trail.
We had the pleasure of hosting some friends from home for a little portion of their Oregon vacation. We squeezed in a day of Portland sights and eats (brunch at Irving St. Kitchen, book browsing at Powell’s, a stroll across the Tilikum Crossing bridge, a hike in Forest Park, and dinner at Verde Cocina) before…
munra point.
This may be the first occurrence of a hike so amazing that I did it two weekends in a row.
around mount hood.
Whenever anyone comes to visit us in Portland, my first instinct is to take them to the Columbia River Gorge. So when Laura was in town last weekend, we did just that. We started with breakfast at Sweedeedee in Portland (get there right when it opens or wait in line forever) before heading to the…
dog mountain.
At long last, we’ve crossed Dog Mountain off our hiking to-do list. We’ve put this hike off for a year now, as we’ve been training for some sort of endurance event pretty much since moving to Portland, and therefore, couldn’t afford to spend a day hiking one of the steepest trails in the Gorge. This…
five years.
It’s been 5 years, 4 apartments, 3 cities, 2 states, and 1 broken bone since we got married. (For those of you wondering why Eric is sporting such a stylish sling in these photos, it’s because he broke his collarbone last weekend. Yikes, indeed.) We celebrated our fifth anniversary over the weekend with a picnic…
oneonta gorge.
I think it’s safe to say that summer is here. Generally, Oregonians claim that summer starts on July 5, but my intense sock tan and constant sweat stream (I paint a beautiful picture, yes?) tell me that summer came early this year. And that means it’s time to spend lots of time in the Columbia…
beacon rock.
Hey, hey, Washington. Once again, we remembered that we live just across the river from another state, and ventured into Washington for a hike at Beacon Rock in the Columbia River Gorge. And guys, this trail is an engineering marvel. Look at this thing. As soon as you get started on the Beacon Rock hike,…
mccall point trail.
After the winter-that-wasn’t, spring came early around here. The giant tree outside our window transformed from bare to flowered, to completely green, seemingly overnight. I went for a run in Forest Park this week and was shocked by all the color. Everything is green. Flowers are blooming everywhere. The sun is shining. The weather is…
eagle creek trail.
This hike was straight up incredible. We attempted to do the Eagle Creek Trail hike in the Columbia River Gorge on a beautiful day back in February, but it was so crowded that we opted for a hike in Washington, instead. This time, we got to the trail early enough to beat the crowds, thanks…
coyote wall.
This weekend was the most beautiful weekend in the history of Februaries. And while I’m completely jealous of all the snow my old Kentucky home is getting this week, I’m trying to accept 60-something degree temperatures and abundant sunshine in this winter-that-wasn’t here in Portland. We started this weekend’s adventure as we start many Ringer…
dry creek falls.
I think we might be experiencing the mildest, sunniest, happiest winter in the history of Portland. While I’d love some snow and real winter weather, I’m not going to complain about 65 degree days in the sun. (Naturally, as I am actually writing about this wonderful weather, it’s been raining for three days straight.) The…
elowah falls.
In recent weeks, Portland has been doing this kind of frustrating thing where it is completely glorious and sunny all week long, and then the sky lets loose on the weekends and drops all the rain. This was the case on our trip to Elowah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge. Since it was raining,…
angel’s rest.
If things have seemed a little quiet on the blog for the past few weeks, it’s because we’ve been relaxing, taking that 2-week Christmas vacay that was instilled in us through 17 years of schooling (I’ll never stop wanting it). I’ve been reading books (4 1/2 down, 2 1/2 to go), finally jumping on that…
a bunch of waterfalls.
The day started with donuts, as all the best days do. We met our hiking buddies for the day, Dana and Emma, at Pip’s Original in Northeast Portland. I could write a whole post raving about this place, but I’ll save that for another time. But basically, I love these tiny, made-to-order donuts. And I…