Washington Coast

So the weekend after spending over a week with the family in Mexico playing with Gray Whales, I headed off to the Washington Coast, to the the Long Beach Peninsula with a group of college friends.  Quite nice to get out and about in the NW and enjoy what it has to offer.

We stayed at a fun boutique hotel in Long Beach, which is a very small town.  Seems like we saw everything it had to offer, ate at all the restaurants, got to know some locals and even checked out some of the smaller towns nearby.  lots of oysters around, and we picked some up for appetizers.  We also grabbed some clams to toss into the batch of Paella we would whip up on the beach.

The Oregon/Washington coasts are long, flat beaches with cars driving on them, people wearing pants and fleeces pretty much year-round.  A far cry from the beaches in LA,but still a grand old time.

The Paella was one of the highlights, as well as biking around on beach cruisers, both on the beach, and on the path through the dunes.  We saw a Gray Whale skeleton, which made me feel right at home.

Enjoy the pictures!!  It's my last 6 weeks in Portland before taking off to travel the world again, a sort of bittersweet ending to my time in Portland.  Can't wait to go travel, and yet Portland's been a great city to live in, with great people, food and activities.

Happy Holidays!

Life is good out in Portland.  Just got back from a holiday get-together at an apartment building where 3 good friends from college live.  Third night in a row of wearing my Christmas sweater, enjoying the sweets that come in a cold holiday season and being festive.  We sang carols with a guitar and accordion and rocked the building.  Great times as always.  Pretty soon I'm headed out to Boston for a week with the family to enjoy Christmas and relax.  Looking forward to it.

Here's a few pictures from Peacock Lane in Portland:

Pumpking!

It's fall,  and that means pumpkin time out here in the NW!  Washington grows a ton of apples, and we have some here, but none super close by, so everyone heads out to Sauvie Island to pick their pumpkins, get lost in the corn maze, get muddy and drink some tasty apple cider.  Tis the season indeed!

Spend this afternoon with good friends, Shannon, Shannon and Eric living it up in the NW.  Pretty decent weather for a day when it was supposed to have thunderstorms.  Here are some pictures of the day's happenings.

Bout to enter the Maize!

That's right, I'm running the show with the pitchfork

Not a raindrop in site!

Little pumpkin motivation for me

Ain't it just a Corn-undrum?

Let's just say, we weren't the only ones with the pumpkin idea

My pumpkin awaiting my arrival

Mite orange out there

Eric and I capturing two 24 pound pumpkins

The crew with their pumpkins.  All crouching because I cut off our heads in the first picture

Chutney

Now that's a tasty tomato chutney!  Just like what I had back in NZ

1,2,3 large mason jars full!  Come over and feast with us!

Seattle wedding time

Last weekend I went up to Seattle for the wedding of my good friend and old Salzburg roommate, Price.  It was the perfect fall weekend up in Seattle weatherwise, super sunny in the day, high 70s and blue skies.  Although I'm a big Portland fan, and definitely choose that city over the northwestern city above us, Seattle definitely looked good.  People out and about enjoying themselves, sailing in the lakes, eating out and being happy. 

 Wedding party looking sharp

 Loads of sailboats out on Lake Union

 Pretty badass landmark which is easy to spot

Here are a few pictures.  The wedding was right on Lake Union, so that's where the photos are from, and of course, that's where the life preserver came from.  Don't just find those things lying around everywhere you know.  Got to give a little contrast to the suit.

Unfortunately at the wedding reception, I ate some salmon that would end up causing me a world of havoc and rip my stomach apart.  Yup, food poisoning.  Tasted great, and yet a few hours later, whoo-weee, had a rough couple of days.  But now back to being on top of the world and rocking it.  If the expression "whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" is true, I'm continuing to build an iron stomach that will be fortified against future food issues.  So I say... bring on India!

Dodgers!!!

I have a ticket stub from my 1st birthday at a Dodgers game. From growing up in LA, I will always been a Dodgers fan, and when I heard that the Dodgers were coming up to the Northwest to play the Seattle Mariners for the first time in 12 years, I rallied the troops and headed to Seattle to catch the series. And yes, that means I went to all 3 games.

It was amazing to watch the team for 3 straight games. It wasn't too much baseball. Kinda felt just right. Portland needs a team again. Definitely a great sport, and there's nothing finer than being outside, in warm weather, with good company, cheering (and jeering) over a game involving a bat and a ball.

While up in Seattle, I got to see a bunch of old friends. Some I hadn't seen in 5 years, others, I hadn't seen since I had arthritis and couldn't walk in Hawaii. Great times reconnecting and kicking back.

Here's some pictures of the highlights:

Game 3 in center field crew

 







Game 1 crew (Dodgers only loss of series)

 









Last year's Cy Young winning pitcher, Clayton Kershaw pitching to Ichiro Suzuki

Loving me some Dodger baseball!
 

 
View of downtown from Safeco Field

Here's some pics from snowboarding on Mt Hood a few weeks back, maybe a couple months back. Snowed the entire day up there, and we had 2 inches on the car when we left. Some nice powder up there to fly down the mountain with.


Summer is about to happen in Portland, so these seem way old. Last weekend, we broke 80 degrees. Then last night there was a bit of frost. And this weekend will again be pushing the 80s. This is how we start summer in the NW. At least we've have house barbeques 3 of the last 4 Sundays. Perfect time of the week to have good weather.

We've got a bit of a garden going out back now, with cucumbers, strawberries, raspberries and beets in right now, more to come soon!

Had a little bit of fun this past Saturday at a Kentucky Derby party. It being Cinco de Mayo, just made it even more fun. I didn't choose the right horse, but made up for it by wearing a suede sportscoat. Actually was a bit sunny out here in Portland. Group pics below: