From the top of Diamond Head

Susan with Diamond Head in the background

If It's March in Portland, You Have to Vacation in Hawaii- March 2011

One of the first things I noticed after moving to Portland is that the school winter vacation falls in March and half of the city goes to Hawaii (or Mexico or some other place that has sun!) You see, by March, we haven't seen the sun in 5 months, and we're starting to get just a little cranky (especially since the prospects of future sun aren't very "bright"- maybe in July!) Now as a counterpoint to you cocky east-coasters, we are mowing our lawns, have daffodils, crocuses and iris in bloom, and the fruit trees and flowering bushes are about the explode- you are still hoping the snow will be gone in June : > )

Now that our friends Jay and Toni are living in on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu...

(Toni took a job at the VA there and loves the sun!), we finally became real Portlanders and vacationed there last week (we avoided the tsunami by 3 days although after seeing the devastation in Japan, I don't even want to joke about that- our prayers are with everyone there).

Although it wasn't as sunny as Hawaii usually is, it was MUCH sunnier than Portland in March and we had a fun, relaxing time. We enjoyed...

hiking Diamond Head...

visiting the botanical gardens...

seeing the giant sea turtles...

touring the Dole Pineapple Plantation...

"bumping into" Courteney Cox filming an episode of Cougar Town...

touring the north coast of Oahu away from the maddening crowds of Waikiki...

and the east coast of Oahu...

meeting Flipper...

catching rainbows...

and sunsets...

and finally seeing the infamous "light at the end of the tunnel!"

Hawaii has it all... but it's not Portland, the city we love.

Silver Falls- why did it take us so long to get here? February 6, 2011

South Falls

So it's your birthday, the Super Bowl is today and your team is not in it after being expected to win the whole damn thing- what do you do? Get out of town and go to the most glorious string of ten waterfalls anywhere on earth. I'm serious, this state park is a must-see...over and over again. Why it took us four years to get here after riding by it (see Petal Pedal post) and driving through the surrounding area, I'll never know... but as we say in Oregon...we got here as soon as we could!

With the water flowing at its peak, we saw more than 10 waterfalls (some recede and disappear in the summer) and the verdant green of the rain forest brightened our spirits and the day (despite the fact that the NE Patriots weren't in the Super Bowl).

Twin Falls

Drake Falls

Double Falls

Who Knows Falls

North Falls

Back to the Snow- January and February 2011

Nothing brings us back to our first days in Oregon more than snowshoeing on Mt. Hood. Fortunately, we have gone twice already this year on a new trail- Twin Lakes- just southeast of the mountain- great track with views, cardio workout, and not a lot of people. Take a look at these pics...

Tess on the trail...

Risty sporting the new hat...

friends Dan and Diane relaxing in the sun...

Mt. Hood overlooking lower Twin Lake...

Golf in January? Bandon Dunes Works Three Years in A Row

Back on the east coast, I usually pack away the clubs in November until April or May but for the past three years, friends and I have golfed the Bandon Dunes (southern Oregon coast) courses in later January. The price is right ($75 per round instead of $300+ in prime time) and the courses are annually ranked in the top 10 public courses in the world.

It's about a five hour drive from Portland to Bandon. We had the extra treat of a sweet sunset going over the Coos Bay Bridge...

This year, Mark Young

and I golfed Bandon Dunes, Old MacDonald (new course opened this year) and Pacific Dunes. We had sun and temps in the 50-60 range and awesome views.

And I broke 100 every time!

And On Occasion, Mother Nature Takes Over- January 2011

A couple of weeks after we spent Christmas in Zig Zag, OR in the Mt. Hood Forest (see previous post), the warm rains hit the mountainside melting the snowpack and swelling the rivers. The Sandy River decided to jump it banks about 100 yards in Zig Zag just down the street from David and Mark's cabin and took out the Lolo Pass Road...see live footage(video1 and video2) and a few pictures from the damage, clean-up and rebuilding the road when we visited a week later.