Spring Visit from Ben, Aris and Stacie

With all but the shouting over until he is conferred his M.D. in May, Ben came for a two-week stay, his first trip to Portland in over a year. It was a fun and relaxing time...after this visit, we think Ben even likes where we are living!

One of the highlights was a road trip that Ben and dad took to Boise, ID. We took three days with stop-overs in Baker City, OR, an old west mining town in eastern Oregon. We stayed ay the Geyser Grand behind Ben...

It was our first exposure to eastern, OR and Ben's first time in Idaho. No trip to Boise is complete without a stop at the blue-turf of the Boise State Bronco's football team...

On the return trip, we drove through the John Day Fossil Beds and the Painted Hills, an archeological marvel with evidence of 70 million years of life...think about that...70 MILLION years!!! Besides the natural beauty ...

it was a near-spiritual experience leading us to ponder the grandeur of the universe. At a time when we are overpowered with talk about world economies and politics, it was useful AND earthshaking to contemplate the millions of years of our universe's existence and the small part of it we have experienced. This is a sacred place and I will return again. See more pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/stephenristau/BenDadRoadTrip409PDXToBoise?authkey=Gv1sRgCILdkebiwM22IA&feat=directlink

including one of Mt. Jefferson, another 11,000' peak, part of the cascade Range south of Mt. Hood. that emerges as we travel west.


A Trip to the Coast

No visit is complete without dipping your toes in the Pacific. Here were all are (Stacie's dipping her toes!) at Pacific City where we had lunch at the Pelican Pub and frolicked on the beach...

More pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/stephenristau/BoysVisitApril2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCKi4ydmevJHFrAE&feat=directlink.

Easter and the West Coast Egg Fight

We had a full table at Easter this year with Karl, Betsy, and Jack Cyr and Hannah Beach, Cheyenne's sister, joining our family.

No Easter celebration is complete without a hearty competition and this year's egg fight did not disappoint. The winner was first-time fighter (at least with eggs!) Hannah Beach. The Connecticut bunch thought she had an advantage because of her acclimation to the NW climate by moving to Seattle several months ago but that's a spurious argument...and full of crap! Congratulations Hannah...come back to defend your title next year!

Here are some more pics of the egg-fight competition and from a trip to the Pike Market, Space Needle and Music Museum in Seattle...
http://picasaweb.google.com/stephenristau/EasterApril2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCMTpsI2MztuFCw&feat=directlink