Silver Falls

John came home from Argentina and stopped by for a visit so we decided to explore Silver Falls State Park, which is the most popular state park in Oregon!

There are 10 waterfalls in the park. We saw 7 of them.

This one was our favorite.

The trail goes behind the falls several times. Fun!

It's always fun to hike and having John with us just made it especially enjoyable!

I keep trying to take a picture that does justice to the amazing moss that is everywhere! I know it eventually kills the tree but I just am fascinated by how it looks. It's like the trees have beards!

And if you've been hiking with an especially close friend you can always share toilet time!!!! I don't think I have any friends that are this 'close'!

"Lake????? Oswego"

This is how Lake Oswego looked when we moved in.

This is Lake Oswego today.

Why you ask? It seems that there is a sewer pipe under the lake. There were concerns that it would start having problems so a new high tech pipe was put under the water to replace the aging one. They did as much as they could with the pipe submerged but for the final connections to the sewer system they needed better access so they have drained the lake. In March they'll start filling the lake again. I feel sorry for the people in the beautiful homes along the lake shore. They now have a mud flat for a view instead of a lake. I'm sure they'd all agree that a few months without the lake is preferable to problems with a leaking sewer. I don't even want to think about that!

Lake Oswego Saturday Market

Each Saturday across the street from our apartment complex Lake Oswego holds a farmer's market! We love it!

Beautiful flowers!

Wonderful produce!
I'm not sure, but I don't think John is eating a raw brussel sprout!
And an amazing variety of mushrooms! It's a nice way to spend Saturday morning.

Portland Zoo

After stuffing ourselves at Voodoo Doughnuts & selling a few used books at Powells, we decided to check out the Portland Zoo. It is a great zoo! I highly recommend it!

Hippos......

Lions.....

Feeding the Lorikeets....

George's favorites......(inside family joke)

Still fun to visit the zoo with our 'not so little' boys!

Voodoo Doughnuts

Have you heard of Voodoo Doughnuts? It's been featured on several TV food shows so we decided to have breakfast there on Saturday morning. The line went down the street and part way around the block....we waited for almost an hour before we even got in.

Can you tell how excited Scott was to wait??

The inside is pretty crazy looking!

And the doughnuts are even crazier! If I said the name of this one to my mother she'd wash my mouth out with soap! It has peanut butter and chocolate chips and Oreos and it is glazed and large!

This is their signature doughnut...the Voodoo Doughnut! It is filled with raspberry jelly and is pierced with a pretzel.

And how about this little sugar buster....glazed and then topped with fruit loops and Capt. Crunch???

Right across the street is my favorite Portland sign!

I think Voodoo Doughnuts fits right in!

University of Portland Women's Soccer

Scott's friend Halley plays soccer for the University of Portland. They are #3 in the nation this year! Friday night they played #6 Texas A&M and beat them 1-0! Halley scored the winning goal! I felt like a real Oregonian sitting in the rain in my rain jacket and rain pants watching soccer on wet slushy field! Such a fun night! We enjoy soccer and these women are really entertaining and skillful and fast....loved it!

And the goal scoring star....Halley!

Cannon Beach Hike

Matt and Scott came to visit us this weekend! On Friday the boys and I headed to the Oregon Coast. It was raining but that is normal for Oregon. We went to Cannon Beach and hiked a mile and a half through a beautiful forrest to a picturesque beach.

It was wet but oh so beautiful!

Matt found this little hide out!

Mussels anyone?

Or maybe some of these?

We opted for Clam chowder in Cannon beach....the best clam chowder I've ever had, I should add!!! We'll definitely be back to the Wayfarer Inn!

Mirror Lake

On Labor Day we decided to go on a hike near Mt. Hood. First we went to a beautiful little lake called "Mirror Lake'. Then we went up to "Tom, Dick and Harry Mountain", so named because of the three peaks, not because every, Tom, Dick and Harry hikes this trail! Although I will tell you that we had plenty of company on the trail! I was amazed at the number of people hiking with their dogs. Oregon is very dog friendly. Good thing the dogs are friendly too as few people seem to use a leash! The lake was sort of a public swimming pool for a whole range of dog types and sizes.

I'm pointing to "Tom, Dick and Harry Mountain." We made it to the peak on the top on the far right. The other two peaks are off limits as they are home to endangered Peregrine Falcons.

Love the trail markers and the beautiful view! Oregon is so green!

Here we are on the top. Mount Hood is directly behind us under all those clouds! We could actually see Mount St. Helen's but I forgot to take a picture of her.

A majestic looking raven was close to us. I'm sure he was hunting for the cute little chipmunks. The little guys enjoyed pretzels and all kinds of human food but didn't stay around on the top of the rocks for too long. Probably good planning or they might have been a tasty meal for one of the raptors!

I tried to get a decent picture of the little chipmunk so that I could remember how stuffed his cheeks were. He must love pretzels and M&Ms and crackers and all kinds of human junk food! I couldn't capture him with my camera. I'm guessing he uses the same speedy techniques to avoid being dinner for the raven or the Peregrine Falcons.

Typical landscape we passed on the hike!

After the hike we went to Timberline Lodge. It is one of the lodges built by the WPA in 1937 and dedicated by President Roosevelt. Only a few peaks in Oregon are at a higher elevation than this lodge....it sits at 6000 ft. The summit of Mount Hood is only 3 miles away!

The clouds just blew in and out all afternoon so the view of the summit changed constantly. Beautiful!

After a good dinner in the little town of Government Camp we headed home. George was so happy that there was no traffic. He was worried about driving home on Labor Day evening and thought we'd be fighting traffic all the way but we were lucky. Another perfect Oregon adventure!

Puerto Rico Islanders

Last night we drove into Portland to watch one of Scott's former soccer teammates play professional soccer. His team, the Puerto Rico Islanders, played the Portland Timbers.

Here is Logan's fan club....Mom & Dad, sister, brother, Grandma, aunt, cousin, and friends!

And here is the player himself....Logan! He and Scott played soccer together for 7 years.

Logan went to Barcelona with us a few years ago. A highlight of that trip was attending a Barca, Barcelona's famous professional soccer club, game. The Timber fans were almost as enthusiastic as the Barca fans! They didn't light off fireworks like the crazier fans in Spain but there was a lot of smoke when Portland scored!

We've known the Emory family since Matt & Erica were in 2nd grade; Johnny & Brian 3 years olds and Scott & Logan 1 year olds. Can't even begin to count the number of soccer games we've watched together! It was fun to get together with them once again!

And didn't the sky look amazing!