Christmas 2013

Julie, Juri and Zoe visited us this Christmas, flying up from sunny (and dry) California to green (and not so dry) Oregon. With the goal of exposing Zoe to some snow, we drove from the airport towards Mt. Hood via Multnomah Falls:

Multnomah Falls was - as usual - a breathtaking sight (second highest year-round water fall in the nation!) and very, very wet.
And yes, we did hike up all the way to the top!











The weather cleared up on our way to Mt. Hood, giving us a beautiful view as we drove closer.

Higher up the mountain we enjoyed remarkably sunny weather and stopped at the Nordic Ski center to build a snow man:

Monday the 23rd had less pleasant weather, so we passed the time mostly indoors playing board games (Forbidden Island, Bohnanza, Ticket to Ride) and then heading out for our by now well established pre-Christmas dinner tradition at VQ:

The weather was much better on Christmas eve, so we decided on a trip to Oregon's coast: Neskowin.

Back home:

Everyone's excited and the big unwrapping starts:

And, after a Fondue dinner, tinkering with all the new toys continues late into the evening...

Good times...

Thanksgiving 2013

Billy and Rod were kind enough to - once again! - invite us to their Thanksgiving dinner at the coast this year: good times!

Billy and Terry were cooking a formidable feast inside, while the rest of us hung out outside:
(Carol, Rod & Bill)

Rod carving the bird:


After eating more than we (I?) should have, we took advantage of the phenomenally good weather (sunny, warm, no wind) and went for a sunset walk:



And we even had the opportunity to - for the very first time - see a green flash when the sun set! Very exciting! (Though unfortunately, I was not able to capture it with a camera...)

(More or less) random cell phone photos

I was digging through my camera uploads and found a few photos that I had wanted to share for a while now. So here goes:

Our very first tomato this summer (well, ever, really).

We got a lot more out of that plant after we figured out that you have to let it dry out a LOT before the tomatoes turn red. Newbie gardeners at work ;).


George got another dental this months, and just like the last times, it took a very long time before the anesthesia wore off. To keep him from hurting himself, we put him into Pepper's kennel for a while (no, he was not amused). Pepper kept him company most of the time. Look at those huge eyes!

 



Random yummy food: Homemade zucchini/sunflower seed bread with seasonal veggies fresh from the market:

And lastly, two photos from our most recent trip to the coast (Bayocean pensinsula). Happy hubby and happy puppy :).

Trek in the Park

As we just recently learned, Atomic Arts (http://www.atomic-arts.org/) reenacts each year a Star Trek episode (free of charge, just for the fun of it!). This is their fifth and final year AND they are showing 'Trouble with Tribbles' - so we couldn't miss that, of course!
Located in Cathedral Park in Portland, we found ourselves among probably a few thousand people strong audience. Fans,supporters and sponsors had chipped in to make more than 1500 Tribbles, which added a lot of fun to the episode!

As in every Star Trek episode, a brawl scene has to be part of the story:

Here come the Tribbles burying Captain Kirk (Spock is to the left):

And here's the entire cast:

We were even able to bring Pepper along, who was very well behaved throughout the show!

Long weekend, Part 2

After Sunday's brief hike in Forest Park, we set out for a longer hike up north in Washington State: Ape Canyon in the south eastern part of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.

As we started hiking fairly early (~8:30 am) and given that it was a Monday, we had the trail pretty much to ourselves (we came across just one other hiker in the first 2 hours) and enjoyed the piece and quiet as well as a lot of spectacular views of Mount St. Helen and its surroundings.
Pepper was a bit of a straggler at first. However, after removing his harness, it became obvious that he was just playing us: without the harness, Pepper suddenly had all the energy of the world to explore his new surroundings...


Good times!

Long weekend - Part I

We had grand plans for this weekend: after living in Oregon for more than 5 years, we would finally cross the eastern Cascades and visit the edge of the high desert (a.k.a. Bend) for some fun hiking, sightseeing and camping. Alas, the weather had different plans for us: due to flash flood warnings we decided to pass on Bend. Very sad.

Hence, I joined Rob and Kristen on a Windsurfing trip to Hood River on Saturday instead:


The wind was not as good as we had hoped, but we had fun nevertheless, of course.

On Sunday we had planned to drive north to Washington to hike along the Ape Canyon (not too far from Mt. St. Helens), but the weather front that caused trouble in Bend extended all the way up north. We are hoping for better weather tomorrow.
Today we explored parts of Portland's Forest Park instead - a nice warm up hike of 4.3 miles in preparation for tomorrow.



Wild life in Forest Park is typically on the small side...

Tomorrow: Ape canyon...hopefully...keep your fingers crossed!

Neskowyn walk on the beach

Neskowyn is a tiny coastal village with a beautiful beach. We spent a long weekend there last Summer. This past weekend we returned with Billy and Maggy, not without saying 'hi' to Rod and Sailor, though.

At the beach we noticed the very different preferences of Maggy (water!) and Pepper (sand!).

Though it was cloudy in the beginning, it soon became a beautiful day with blue sky.


Maggy taking a brief break from running in and out of the water:



Maggy hunting seagulls:


Happy dogs after a long walk at the beach.