Update on Life

Hello everybody, It has been awhile since my last post, and a lot has happened in my life since then. To summarize the recent activities:

· May 14^th I left Portland to travel home and see Adrienne. It was nice to get a hug and kiss after 5 weeks apart. I really did miss her

· May 15^th We left Champaign to go to Italy to celebrate the near end of 12 years of college for Adrienne. The plan was to spend 6 nights in Rome, and 4 nights in Sorrento. See Adrienne’s blog for a recap of the vacation from her perspective (www.bjjchic.blogspot.com)

· May 26^th Back to reality. After getting back to Champaign, there were lots of little projects to complete around the house.

· June 1^st The house for sale sign was put in the front yard, and I again had to leave my beautiful wife to go back to the Pacific Northwest.

· June 14^th My five year anniversary. I spent the day on a wine tasting tour of the Willamette Valley near Portland. Adrienne spent the day at martial arts and then went for ice cream with our good friends Elizabeth and Bill.

So that is a little recap of the goings on in my life over the last month, which brings me to the June 21^st weekend. My first visitor to Portland was Adrienne’s dad. He was on the west coast for business, and decided to travel to Portland and hang out of the weekend.

It was interesting playing tour guide, in a city that I have only lived in for a brief time. It was also fun, because I got to show him my bachelor pad (I don’t think he was impressed), the areas of town where I think Adrienne and I might live, and my office. Greg got in on Saturday afternoon and then left on Monday morning. Here is a list of activities:

My office

My Apartment

The Pearl District and NW Portland (potential locations to live)

The Market Street pub for a beer (as usual good beer but terrible service)

Salty’s for Dinner (supposed to be the best seafood in Portland, but I thought it was only okay. The best part were the views of the Columbia.

Crema for breakfast (really good coffee and baked goods)

Multnomah Falls and Horsetail Falls (you can drive up and see them, we did hike to the bridge at Multnomah)

Bonneville Dam and fish hatchery (a very large hydro dam with a fish hatchery where you can view the fish in the fish ladder)

Timberline Lodge (at 6000 ft up on Mt Hood for lunch. It was great to sit and watch people skiing in June. All natural snow, as they get an average of 21’ at the lodge every year)

Bridgeport Ale House at Hawthorne (Just an all around good atmosphere on Hawthorne. The neighborhood that in my mind sold Adrienne and I on Portland)

June 28^th Weekend

HOT! HOT! HOT! That is what I can say for this weekend. The temperature this past weekend reached 99 on Saturday (a new record) and 92 on Sunday. I would normally stay inside and enjoy the cool house, but since I don’t have any airconditioning in my apartment, that really isn’t effective. So I went hiking with Jason (my office mate) and his soon to be wife Stacy. We went to Eagle Creek and hiked about 6 miles total. It is a really nice path, as it follows Eagle Creek. As you may have already guessed, there are waterfalls along this path as well. I don’t have any pictures of this hike, as the camera had a memory card issue and I forgot to bring my backup. A pretty big bummer since there are some spectacular views along this hike. At one point there is a little trail you can take which leads you down to the pool at the bottom of a water fall. Since it was really hot out, there were many people enjoying the cool water at this location and all along the eagle creek.

On a side note, the Hood Strawberries are finally in at the Farmers Market. They are ultra sweet, and really fragrant. I think I am going to pick my own berries this coming weekend if the weather is nice. Maybe I will make some Jam.