KPW #5 - The Naked Bike Ride

On Saturday night, we watched as thousands of people participated in the annual naked bike ride through downtown Portland. The ride promotes the use of bicycles as a better mode of transportation, "less gas, more ass" as one man put it. It took about 20 minutes for the entire group to ride past our corner and it was a hilarious sight. The riders were of all types and really quite inspiring. Even though the idea of taking pictures was "gross" I had to get one for proof, haha!

MLS

A transformation has begun. Tammy and I are becoming hooligans. OK, not hooligans, but crazed soccer fanatics. We are of course season ticket holders for the Timbers, which turned out to be a brilliant move now that all of the home games are sold out (the entire season). But more than that... we are actually watching soccer on the tele! And not just the Timbers, we are watching every MLS game we can, and occasionally watching English Premier and La Liga (Barcelona!), but mostly MLS. It's just talk, but I keep bringing up Brazil 2014! This is definitely proof of a transformation from loving a team to loving a sport.

The Timbers Army @ the home opener on 4.14.11

Coyote Wall

We took a nice 7 mile day hike in the Columbia River Gorge. The area is known as Coyote Wall and the trail started with a steep climb (1700 ft. elevation gain), leveled off and descended into a nice loop. We took plenty of pictures along the way, check them out!

View from the wall

Tammy on the trail along the wall

Us with Mt. Hood in the background

A type of wild sunflower?

Wild flowers

More of the wall

It's steeper than it looks!

Backpacking @ Lower Deschutes River

On Tuesday, we went backpacking at Lower Deschutes State Recreation Area. It's on Oregon's northern border east of the Cascades, so it was a nice escape from the rainy city. Justin and I, along with the dogs, hiked in about 3 miles and stayed the night. Tuesday's weather was a fabulous 55 degrees and sunny. But overnight the temps dropped significantly and even the boys were cuddling in our sleeping bags to stay warm. I definitely should have brought my warmer bag! We still had fun and are ready for our next trip!

we always find room for a bottle of wine :)

our campsite was right along the river

Deschutes River

hiking out

it almost looks like a Bald Eagle

Winter Camping

Justin and I like to think of ourselves as pretty "outdoorsy" people. We love being outside and regularly hike, camp, and backpack when the weather allows us to. A few weeks ago when we were at White River Sno-Park we spotted several backpackers enjoying tent time in the snow. We have read about winter camping in Backpacker magazine and have always wanted to try it. Unfortunately, the price of 4 season tents has always stopped us from attempting it. So when I found out that REI rents winter tents, it needed to happen!
We picked Trillium Lake on Mt. Hood as our destination (since it's practically impossible to get a reservation at the campground in the summer, why not enjoy it in the winter when it's closed to car campers?). We parked at Trillium Sno-park and snowshoed in three miles to the lake. I think we had the (frozen) lake to ourselves which is something few people can say. We set up camp along the south side and we attempted to make a small fire. It turned out to be pretty difficult as you can imagine, but we were somewhat successful. Our zero degree sleeping bags kept us toasty warm in the just above freezing temps and the tent did a decent job of keeping us dry. It was really a great trip and I think we will be doing it again, next time at a higher elevation. I was worried about bringing my Canon along in the cold, so I just brought our old camera which doesn't do so well anymore. Bare with the pictures for a look into the crazy winter camping!

A Frozen Trillium Lake

First flag picture. Love the Madness.

R2S 2011

We had a great time with Romp to Stomp this year! Our team, "The Breast Intentions" had 15 members helping to stomp out breast cancer. Family and friends joined forces and we raised a total of $1780 taking second place for team fundraising! The Oregon event brought in about $24,000 for Susan G. Komen, which is pretty fantastic. Thank you to everyone who supported our team this year and last. We can't wait to do it again in 2012!

off we go!

We did a good job of staying together for the first mile or so.

Made it to the top of the hill!

Tiff and I finishing the 5k!

Tiff, Jeremy, and Aiden

At the finish line!!!

Me and Vanessa

With Nicki and Suzanne!

With Tori the awesome volunteer we meet!

Most of The Breast Intentions!
Justin, Suzanne, Nicki, Jeremy, Tiff, Migdalia, me, Vanessa
Aiden, Luis, Wendy

Keep Portland Weird #4

Round 4 of Keep Portland Weird is dedicated to "The Church of Elvis". The Church of Elvis is in NW Portland and is a fun pit stop on your walk through downtown. It claims to be "the world's first 24 hour coin operated art gallery". Only Portland could call this art. It is a conglomeration of weirdness. There is actually very little to do with a church, and even less to do with Elvis. For a mere 25 cents you can get three miracles (the normal price of one!). A quarter will also buy you a 3 minute peek into the Barbie gym or a fortunetelling. Sound too good to be true? Check out the pics!