Lover of this life

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Willamette River Clean-Up

On a chilly day in October, Erica and I signed up for the Willamette River Clean-up through the Willamette River Keeper Organization. It was our first time and we weren't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be an awesome experience! Thanks Stephen for seeing us off and taking these pics!

Here we are, about to leave Willamette Park in our journey across the river to a small island that was full of trash! It was an eye opening experience.

It was a windy day! We made it though!

We were part of a large group at our location. There were several large groups of people along the 187 mile stretch of the river.

Erica with her first bag-o-trash of many.

I found a huge metal pipe and thought I had found the largest piece of garbage on the island. Boy was I wrong!

There was a group of guys who were wading in the shallow water and found this pile of garbage. Really? a push mower? How does somebody decide this is an acceptable thing to throw in the river?

There were a few unexpected finds, like this wilted rose....

I also found this little guy growing in a downed tree.

We are about to head back with our garbage, and while it doesn't look like a lot, it was and we felt super excited about it!

Canoeing in the city....Portland is awesome!

Here's what our group collected from the island. It was a lot!

We went to the after party and won raffle gifts! I won a $50 gift certificate for the clymb.com! Hooray! Let the good karma begin!

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Dad comes to Portland!

Rather than having my Dad visit for my surgery, I asked him to come up when I was feeling better so we could spend more time together. I'm so glad I made this request because we had a wonderful time hanging out!

We had a great trip to Silver Falls.

We also managed to stop and see Angie jump horses in Wilsonville. I made a new friend.

I talked Dad into drinking wheat grass shots and also eating tons of other super healthy foods. He was a great sport.

French pastries from Saint Honore Boulangerie.

Freaking delicious!

...... and now we're in line for VooDoo donuts.... yeah, we ate a lot...

I ate 1/3 of mine and gave the rest away to a hungry mouth.

Waterfront photo

And Dinner at Saburos. This is my favorite place to eat sushi in Portland. The dish above (Spicy Tuna Salad) is so good I can't even tell you how good it is. Sadly, this was my last sushi meal with fish or any type of meat. It was a good one though!

We took a gorge tour. It was fun!

Was pleasantly surprised to see this rock formation on the Columbia. I live in such a beautiful part of the world! Thanks for coming out DAD!!!!

running a river

I had a quick trip to Hood River last summer and was lucky enough to tag along with some kayakers! I was in the big boat, and even flipped it, but had a blast!!!

This is what a beginner looks like....

This is what the pro's look like....

Hood River/White Salmon is a beautiful area. Would be wonderful to have a cabin there some day......

pac city year 3

This last July we had our 3rd annual stay at the Pacific City Beach house. Pacific City never gets old. It is beautiful and my favorite place on the Oregon Coast. I always take a ton of photos to document the family fun. Here are a some (several) of those photos!