Tamanawas Falls and Mountains that Anchor

I own a glorious book called "60 Hikes in 60 Miles." Now, as I have discovered, not all the hikes are 60 miles or less from Portland, but I can't take much issue with that, as I have yet to be disappointed by any of the hikes I've done that come from this book. When I first bought it about 5 years ago I tabbed all the hikes I wanted to do. It has taken me 5 years to get to lots of them, and a lot of them I've done in the last year.

The Tamanawas Falls hike is one I've wanted to do for some time, but the drive was daunting. And now, I don't know why. I headed out and drove, not the recommended way. I think I prefer the way I went. You see, I had amazing views of Mt Hood scattered throughout my whole trip. I have really come to realize in the last year that this mountain is sort of an anchor for me. Recently a friend asked me if I had enough pictures of this wonder. My response was that if I could take a picture of Hood every day, I would. And that still wouldn't be enough.

I loved that I could take a turn on the road and voilà, there she is in all her glory. Hood looks so different depending on the angle, lighting, etc.

Once I got to the trail I came upon this fawn. Ignore the scary, glowy eyes!

The Cold Creek running by my lunching area.

Wild Columbine!

There was this pretty sizeable "rock slide" area. I lean more towards calling it a boulder slide area.

If you look in the center of the picture you can see a group of people. They are really small, hence the "rocks" are more like boulders.

Zoomed in on the trail.

This is me: really blurry. Couldn't get the picture right. I blame it on the sun, not on me.

A glimpse of the falls.

From the side. The mist was really powerful, and quite prolific.

The area above the falls.

I was sitting at the base of this cliff. It wasn't until later that I realized something dropping off that wall could have killed me. God must not have wanted me to die right then.

I'm a sucker for waterfalls. Really. I am.

If you look closely, but not too hard, you can see the rainbow that graced me with its presence my hike down from the side of the fall.

This is above the boulder slide area and I was really impressed with the stone.

You can see a previous footbridge that had washed down stream. Glad I wasn't on it when it tumbled.

I loved the jigsaw puzzle look of the tree trunk.

This was a tree that had toppled...roots with their rocks and all.

Crossing a footbridge.

Time for a little meditation on the trail?! That is what this rock configuration reminds me of. Must have seen something like it on a Zen book or something...picture worthy, nonetheless.

The drive headed home from the trail. I love all the trees and hills.

The mountain that anchors me. From just outside of Hood River. I fell in love with this area.

This was a tricky picture...don't worry, I did it pulled over to the side of the road.

I also had amazing views of Mt Adams. Like I said, I loved this area.

It was a wonderous day. Nice drive, nice hike, some amazing views and guests for dinner when I arrived home! A priceless picture to come...once I download!

Fun times at work!

We have fun at work. We really do! I love it. My co-worker and I are always trying to find new and exciting things to "enrich the lives" of our old folks, hence our Life Enrichment Coordinator titles (even though it is a mouthful, it is also an honor to try to accomodate). We are sort of a unique site in that we have a miniature horse that visits, yes, he walks right into the building. We also have had inumerable dogs, Ezme comes to visit and now we've have parrots and a llama.

Today, we had a llama visit. It was so much fun to see! And, of course have many photo ops of. His name is Smokey.

In the parking lot getting ready!

Tera is a student intern we have this summer who loves llamas, alpacas, etc and has always wanted to hug one, so she got too. I love this picture, absolutely love it!

The llama got on the bus, really!

This is him getting off the bus, backing off, mind you.

Smokey and me! He was so soft.

It was a great experience for our participants, and our staff.


Finally, a couple of weeks ago we had parrots that visited. This is Homie! It was also fun to see them. They just weren't quite as large as the llama.

Anyone want to join me at work?! We have loads of fun.

Keep Portland Weird (and Wonderful)

I love Portland. I know, I know. I've said it before. You can most definitely quote me. For. sure.

I had the pleasure of a nice walk after work today with Emily, one of my friends that I know through work. She is amazing and has AMAZING energy. We walked and walked and talked and talked. Then we dined. It was amazing. Just appetizers and then DESSERT! It was pretty much amazing, pretty much heaven in my mouth. We were on Hawthorne and went to the Bridgeport Ale House. For dessert we shared, and didn't finish it mind you, this little number...

Arborio Rice Pudding with cream, grilled pineapple and toasted coconut. Like I said, heaven.in. my.mouth.

~

While we were eating we noticed a group of 3 guys across the street with arms full of lavender. They were going door-to-door, store-to-store, handing out this amazing smelling lavender. Only in Portland.

Emily wanted to head over to get some. I told her to go for it, dodging oncoming, rush hour traffic. She passed. I said that I hoped they would come across the street. Soon enough, they did! Sweet! So, we went out to gather our goods. It was seriously armfuls of lavender and it smelled amazing.

~

I tried, unsuccessfully to capture these good-deed-doers, but to no avail. Hence, the backside of one of them....with a much smaller arm full because they'd passed out so much already.

Emily showing off her lavender!

It was a grand evening. And, thankfully we walked back to our cars and walked off some of that amazing rice pudding, but we vowed to go back to devour more another day.

Lots 'o Sugar and a Little Bit o' Music

Months ago I was talking to Danielle and Garret. Garret is a big baker and wanted to hit up some small(er) bakeries in Portland. In the course of our conversation we decided it would be fun to do a bakery crawl. Our take on a Pub Crawl. After compiling a list of about 7 bakeries we ventured out this morning. Our first stop was Bob's Red Mill. One of my favorite places to stock up on gluten-free goodness.

Notice in the picture how bright eyed we are.

There is a huge wheel at Bob's and we had to "document" (my words) our adventure. Apparently, with my eyes closed.
Many goodies were got at Bob's. We then headed to Marsee Baking Company in Sellwood.
~
Notice now that Garret is looking a little jittery, post lots of coffee and the beginning surges of sugar in the bloodstream.

Our third, and what would be our final bakery stop was Sweet Pea Bakery. We had to hit this place up so I could endulge in some gluten-free goodness. I planned it in such a way that Danielle and Garret would do the majority of eating, and I'd only partake a little bit. It was worth it though!

~

This was one end of the display case at Sweet Pea. Probably my favorite bakery of the day.

Here are some yummy (according to D & G) donuts. I took their word for it. And, I can wholly vouch for the amazing, gluten-free, Almond Poppyseed Muffin. I can also vouch for the g-f chocolate chip cookie that I got for a later time. It was yummy too!

By the time we finished at Sweet Pea, Garret had sort of gone into sugar/caffeine shock. He had to take a walk around the block before heading to an oasis of real food. Hence, a Danielle and Stephanie self-portrait.

After consuming real food Garret needed to take a quick nap before they headed out to the beach. My couch was a perfect place for his sugar coma to pass.

~

Notice, he looks sort of deliriously happy...

Then, downright stoned and in a zone...

Then, he tried to hide from the world...

All while my dear Ezme is trying to figure out what the heck is going on...

It was a fun-filled morning with lots of laughter and goodies.

~

After they left I was hit by the post-sugar slump and decided to nap it off myself. Once I got up and moving my ambition was to head to Rose City Park with some friends from work to enjoy a lovely evening with some fun music.

The Lewi Longmire & the Left-Coast Roasters took the stage in a great, sunny, Portland summer evening!

The crew that let me tag along!

Les, Katrina, me, Cindy, Megan!

A grand day!

Shakespeare in the Park

Portland is big on culture. It's one of the reasons I love this city so. Earlier in the week Megan asked me if I'd like to join her, along with some folks she knows from church at a Shakespeare in the Park event on top of Mt. Tabor. Sounded fun to me. I said yes. As Megan so aptly stated, "Have you ever seen a Shakespeare play from the top of a volcano? I can now cross that off my bucket list, thank you very much Mt. Tabor and the Portland Actors Ensemble!"

We attended PAE's performance of Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Not one of my favorite Shakespeare works, but the experience was very enjoyable. After work, up the mountain we went. This was the view of downtown PDX, officially hijacked from Megan's FaceBook page.

The group setting up the "staging area."
The audience...

...we slanted up hill the whole performance...

...definitely not the most comfortable way to sit.


At intermission Megan headed off to get some more pictures. I love Mt Hood, so of course I also had to hijack this photo.

During the performance.

The set also posed as the gift shop during intermission.

We had wondered how they were going to perform a whole play without mic's or electricity. The answer: project voices and Coleman Lanterns. Genuis. Though it was a bit interesting inhaling propane and hearing the buzz through the second act.

Thanks to Megan's bug spray I also stayed bite free from all thos pesky little mosquitoes.

Another great night enjoying Portland and all she has to offer. Thanks for the invite, Megan!