Category Archives: Oregon

Back. Relaxed. Rested… Well, In Theory

I’m back.

Yes, the family and I, with my Aussie parents in tow, just recently returned from the Oregon vacation to end all Oregon vacations. We saw ancient Lava flows, floated on the crisp blue waters of a crater lake, explored marble caves (in the middle of nowhere) and hugged a few giant redwoods. We gathered junior ranger badges, maps, amazing beach rocks and (unintentionally) sand. We stayed in modern condos, rustic cabins, ancient chalets and a house with a great location that took us on a 1960’s decor time warp.

And, of course, now I have about a quadrillion photos to edit. It’s the curse of the photographer. I’ll be back with more blog posts soon that share our adventures.

I’ll also share a few things that happened in the week before we left, including two fun photo shoots and a very special concert experience (it was a busy week).

Tomorrow I head back to work and prepare for the start of school next week. While I don’t feel rested, I do feel as though I had a great vacation. Now if only I could find a way to take some vacation to recover from my vacation.

Back with more of this soon…

Summer in Oregon: Lavender Daze Festival

A couple of weekends ago I dragged my family of boys to the Hood River Lavender Daze festival.

It’s easy to be festivaled-out by the middle of Summer here in Portland. By the time we reach August it feel like we’ve already had a street fair in every major neighborhood and festivals celebrating everything from Beer to Blues to Tulips. And just when you think there can’t be anything more to be festive about, you’ll see an advertisement for the Portland Pirate Festival or the Naked Bike Ride.

Not that we’ve attended many festivals this year. The age of my children and my husband’s aversion to crowds means we spend more time being festive in our own backyard than in some hot tent-covered gathering of like-minded individuals. While I might make it to the Zombie Walk one day (probably not), for now I’m mostly content enjoying our own little corner of the city…with one exception.

The Lavender Festival had been on my radar for a while and, this year, I was determined to make it happen. So we set off on a beautiful, sunny, hot Saturday morning to take a road trip through the Gorge to Hood River.

I can quite honestly say that the Lavender Festival is the most relaxed Summer event that I’ve attended in a while. It helps that as soon as you exit the car, you are hit in the face with the most amazing scent of Lavender. The flower is known for it’s relaxing properties and, if I didn’t fully believe it before, I do now. I have never felt more calm and collected after an hour long drive. It’s like I couldn’t even hear the children bickering. anymore Or maybe they weren’t fighting at all. That’s the answer – fill my house and car with Lavender and the fighting will stop. I think I’m onto something.

Did I mention that it was sunny? VERY sunny. Which meant a lot of very bright photographs. Not that I was deterred. I took three or four (or 50).

One day I’ll go back and take a photo of this scene without the people, and the tents and the cars.

We quickly grabbed some lunch after we arrived – amazing wood fired pizza. I started with the cherry and sausage and we all shared the blueberry and lavender pizza for dessert. When in Rome…

Apparently bees REALLY like lavender. It took a lot of courage for the boys to walk (gently) through the lavender fields. Thankfully, no stings.

But lots of direct overhead sunlight.

After lunch I managed to avoid buying anything while we checked out some of the vendors. The boys picked up some free “divination rocks” – cast-off pieces of blown glass courtesy of a very talented glass artist. Then I talked them out of needing a “Lavender Wand” after explaining that it was decorative and not magical. P.S. We’d just come off a week of Magic camp.

Then it was time for some more frolicking through fields of flowers.

Until Samuel declared it was too hot and we took a time out in the shade.

And then picked a bunch to take home.

After about two hours of lavender overload, we headed home – stopping on the way to buy some fruit and enjoy an apple cider slushie (for the kids) and some harder cider (for the adults).

This is also where we took a few crazy photos by the red wall.

And then we headed home. The car smelled incredible and both boys fell asleep. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Wordless Wednesday: The Red Wall Where Things Got a Little Crazy

 

Thomas took this one – a little blurry but I love it.

He took this one too.

and then things started going in a strange direction.

Kei took this one – thanks, Kei?

Visiting Old Friends at the Oregon Zoo

It was a 75 degree Sunday, Kei was playing golf and had to get the kids out of the house. We arrived at 9am when the gates opened and stayed for 4.5 hours, saying hello to every single animal. We’ve had a zoo membership for about 5 years and so now some of the animals are like old friends. It felt good to be back.

Thomas put himself in charge of the map which only resulted in a few arguments.

As we walked around, I posted on Facebook about how grateful I am that our stroller days are behind us. We now have so much more freedom to relax and take our time without having to find ramps or stop for endless potty and feeding breaks (although we had a couple).

I am also grateful that I can stop and take a photograph without the fear that one my kids will run off while my back is turned for 30 seconds

We arrived just as the bears were being served breakfast.

This is the crowd that we had to navigate for a glimpse.

A favorite from the day. Goats are pretty cool – and able to stand still for a long time.

A quick stop to climb some statues.

It amuses me that his fingers are in the Lion’s nostrils. Looks uncomfortable.

Another favorite.

A tip for managers of Zoos around the world – if you want kids to read about animals, put the information on some sort of screen. Printed signs were ignored but if there was a screen around, we stopped Every. Single. Time.

Crickets and Scorpion lollipops. YUM!

This is the first time that we’ve been through the bird walk in a while. Samuel’s verdict? “It smells really bad in there.”

Overall, a wonderful, relaxing, sunny day at the zoo. I’m sure we’ll be back soon.

 

A Thousand Shades of Green: Hiking the Salmon River Trail

On the second (and last) day of our mini vacation to Mt Hood, we decided to hike the Salmon River trail. (You can read about our day one hike up to Mirror Lake here).

This hike came highly recommended as a great option for families with small children and it didn’t disappoint. The trail was mostly flat and free of treacherous drop offs, so the kids were able to run ahead until I felt the need to call them closer out of fear that they might dive into the frigid water. They’d return for about three minutes and then run off again. It gave me time to relax and enjoy the scenery and, of course, take a few photographs.

The walk itself can best be described as looking like a scene out of Jurassic Park with about a thousand different shades of green. A light rain was falling when we first first set out on our hike but the sun started to appear on the way back which changed the scene so much that I joked to Kei about walking it again just to retake the photos. OK, I was only half joking.

Recently, Samuel has been telling me that he sees a faces and objects in trees, clouds and other elements of nature. He told me this one looked like a face. Should I be worried?

But I’ll admit that I can see the monkey hanging from the tree in this one.

And then he made a face of his own in an apple…

We stopped for a quick snack.

After which the boys sang me a song in Japanese (I bribed them with my Luna Bar).

We then took a few minutes to skip some rocks. Kei took this next photo of me. It’s not the most flattering and shows my poor rock-skipping skills, but I suppose it’s proof that was there.

Side note to the people who left their trash in a fire pit (including an old pair of socks): NOT COOL. I can only assume you’re not Oregonian because an Oregonian would never do anything so thoughtless and disgusting. We carried out as much of the trash as we could but I am not your mother. Rant over.

Finally, after a little more exploring, we headed back to the car and then home to Portland.

We only left for two days, but it really felt like an escape and it was just what we needed.