Hiking Multnomah Falls

Yesterday, Sarah and I woke up at 6:30AM to begin our day's adventures. Our friend Todd (who works at OHSU and has a wife who goes to Liberti) picked us up and proceeded to show us new parts of Portland. First, we went to a Cafe for a delicious breakfast burrito. We attended Imago Dei church, home of Don Miller who wrote Blue Like Jazz. Amazingly, we saw three different friends who live in Portland! It was like the only people we know here (besides the Kornelis family that we're staying with) were there. We felt pretty cool walking in with Todd, then having Josh, then Nate come up and say hello to us. Talk about feeling welcomed!

But I digress from our adventures. After church, we drove out to the famed Multnomah Falls, where we hiked the 6 mile trail in about 2.5 hours. The second largest falls in the US are pretty "touristy", but the surrounding trails were much less people-filled. Along the trail, we happened upon several other gorgeous scenes:





See the rest of our pictures here.

After our hiking, we needed some serious chow. We had lunch at about 3:30 at an Italian place whose name escapes me. For dessert, we went to Papa Haydens. Unbelieveable selection of desserts! Since I'm in the Pacific Northwest, I thought it would be an appropriate time to try my first Baked Alaska. It was decent, but I'll go for the angle food cake, ice cream, and berries next time around.

Todd dropped us back at our house, and we thought we'd take a quick nap. Three 1/2 hours later, we woke up! Obviously, our bodies were trying to tell us something. I finished my work for Walden and Sarah planned out her new route to the hospital. She finished her outpatient rotation on Friday, and started her inpatient family medicine rotation today. What a day!

Free slurpees!

Today is July 11, which means it's 7-11, which means that 7-11 is giving away free slurpees all day today!!!

This is Portland.

Portland is the bus driver thanking you for riding his bus.
Portland is passing a 4oz bag of teriyaki beef jerky on sale for $7.99 at Whole Foods.
Portland is 20 people waiting outside for Powells Books to open.
Portland is the cashier telling you to "stay cool" when the day's high is 80. Fahrenheit.
Portland is the woman riding a streetcar commenting on another woman's book.
Portland is looking around the full bus and realizing there are only two minorities on it.
Portland is feeling like a social misfit for not carrying around a cup of coffee before 10AM.
Portland is seeing six long bicycle racks outside the health clinic. All of them stuffed with bikes.
Portland is purchasing a book for $14.95...and only paying $14.95 for it.--tax included.
Portland is the man saying that he thinks the sun is good for two things: growing a garden and warming the earth. And since he doesn't have a garden and is hot, he'd rather it rain every day.

This is Portland.


(note: all of these occurred in the last 16 hours)

How to fake political interest

For those of you out there who are just fed up with the political process, this video has the answer for you:


Today Now!: How To Pretend You Care About The Election

Live from the west coast

We're in Portland! Sarah and I arrived safely on Sunday in a day that lasted 27 hours for us. Our new friend Jill picked us up from the airport, and we enjoyed a pizza with our housemates, the Kornelis'--Ken, Jill, and Anne Marie. Visiting Philadelphians will certainly notice how many trees are here! Given, we're living in Lake Oswego, a suburb of the city, but still--there is way more green here than Philadelphia. Using the power of Google Maps, I typed in Portland and Philadelphia, zoomed in, and captured a screen shot of the two cities. Here are the results:


The first two things I noticed? 1=green color. 2=how crowded Philly is!

I have only been in the city to drive Sarah her first day at OHSU. Tomorrow I'm planning on riding the bus with her into work, then hanging out for the day there. I'll be able to have a better feel for the city after that.
So far, my days have been filled with hanging around the house, taking bike rides around the area, exploring trails (as pictured below), working on my Walden courses, visiting the Kornelis Grandma (who reminds me a great deal of Grandma De Boer!) and, of course, eating. Stress has tried to sneak up on me several times...sneaky stress. Fortunately, I've been able to ignore it quickly.

We have a few friends in Portland that we're looking forward to hanging out with. Sarah has the 4th off, so we're checking out our options for Independence Day celebrations. One day at a time!!

Packing for Portland

Woo hoo! Sarah just called to say she's coming home from the hospital. That means we're leaving in a few minutes for New Castle, PA where we'll spend the night and morning with the Gardners. Then, Michigan, Chicago, and finally...Portland! The land flowing with milk and honey. =)

Philly summer events

Mayor Nutter announced some more free summer activities in Philly. Just add this to the previous list I wrote about last month:

The Music Movement: A Phillywide Summer Concert Series
The City of Philadelphia will take the music to the people with a series of concerts in neighborhoods throughout the city being held every Thursday through July and August, beginning July 10th. The series will culminate on Monday, September 1st, at an ‘Old School Jam Session’ at the Mander Recreation Center, 33rd and Diamond, being headlined by The Sugarhill Gang.

All concerts are free and will start at approximately 6:30pm. They will go ahead rain or shine. Details of concert sites are below, artists will be confirmed at a later date.

Thursday, July 10 Kingsessing Recreation Center, 50th and Chester, Neo-Soul
Thursday, July 17 Shepard Recreation Center, 57th and Haverford, Gospel
Thursday, July 24 Capitolo Recreation Center, 9th and Federal, Alternative/Rock
Thursday, July 31 Cecil B. Moore Recreation Center, 22nd and Huntingdon, R&B/Hip Hop
Thursday, August 7 Cruz Recreation Center, 6th and Master, Salsa and Samba
Thursday, August 14 Simons Recreation Center, Walnut Lane and Woolston, Jazz & World Beat
Thursday, August 21 American Legion Recreation Center, Torresdale and Devereaux, Pop/Rock
Thursday, August 28 Myers Recreation Center, 58th and Kingsessing, Jazz & R&B
Monday, September 1 Mander Recreation Center, 33rd and Diamond, Old School Jam Session feat. Sugarhill Gang

City Hall Film Series (‘Movies Under Penn’)
The first ever City Hall film series will run every other Friday night in July and August in the City Hall courtyard. Films will begin at sundown, approximately 8:30pm, and vendors will be on site to sell popcorn, candy, pretzels and other refreshments. In the event of rain, no film will be shown.
Friday, July 11 Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Friday, July 25 Italian Job
Friday, August 15 Unbreakable
Friday, August 29 Invincible