LOOK WHO WE BUMPED INTO

For all of you who believed that whole charade about Tony quitting his job, joining the military, dating a girl from Missouri, moving to Alaska, and going to war in Afghanistan, the joke’s on you. He’s actually a professional poker player, married, 3 kids, and living in a sweet house next to Wayne Newton. He took some time out of his busy schedule to show us a good time in his new town. It was great to see the old ball and chain from our days in the one bedroom apartment. After a whole 4 hours of sleep, we headed for part two of our 950 mile weekend, Zion National Park. Why we waited so long to visit this park is beyond me. Some of the craziest scenery and trails either one of us had ever seen. Anyone scared of heights may want to view these pictures with caution. Bon appétit.

OREGANOS - HAPPY 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO US!

All apologies for our recent bout with blogging slackness, in future we promise to please our audience and post closer to the time we actually took the trip. Just for fun lets pretend you haven’t seen any pictures and haven’t spoken to either one of us since we returned from our anniversary trip to Portland, OR. I had somewhat of a hunch from all that I had heard about Portland that there were going to be some striking similarities to its sister city in Maine. Older city, waterfront, delicious liquid refreshment, seafood galore… to name just a few. Though when you try to order lobster they just look at you funny and mention that it’s not fresh, because they had to fly it in from Maine, ironic. I honestly believe I could compliment Portland and all its beauty for as long as my fingers could type, but the rest of Oregon made an even bigger impression on us. Actually for this one I may just let the pictures speak the words. Possible words coming to mind may be phenomenal, extraordinary, astonishing, and other synonyms of the like. Welcome to Oregon, the site of the First Annual Festival of Floogen.

Heavenly Falls at the Portland Japanese Gardens

The 1 year anniversary is the "paper anniversary". What better anniversary gift could we give each other than tickets to Jerry?

Astoria Riverfront Trolley - Astoria can be found along the northern coast of Oregon near where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean. It is the oldest settlement west of the Rockies. It is home to sea lions, the end of the Lewis and Clark Trail, a lot of history, and who could forget...the Goonies house and jail and the Kindergarten Cop school.

Shipwreck in Ft. Stevens State Park. This area is known as the graveyard of the Pacific.

A stop along our Coastal Drive

Stacks in the Pacific. See the window in the left one?

Cape Meares Lighthouse

Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood - yep that's snow, and a LOT of it! They still had the ski lift open and many people taking advantage.

Mt. Hood Scenic Byway

An awesome view of Mt. Hood from the Hood River Valley, which is filled with wineries and orchards.

Flowers and Mt. Hood in the background. Fancy work for a digital camera.

A town called Hood River along the Columbia River Gorge - a popular place for windsurfing

Hood River is also home to the brewery Full Sail. Our favorite beer there is the Session Lager. It comes in a bottle that reminded us of Red Stripe. Trivia - what is the state with the most breweries per Capita. Hint - it's the focus of this blog.

Multnomah Falls along the historic and beautiful Columbia River Highway.