Road Trip 2

We've been checking out apartments online for a while now, and this weekend we're going to Portland to look at a bunch of them. Looks like no matter what we choose, we will be doubling our living space: not tough to do, but still, it's pretty damn exciting.

We will be posting pics and stories of the adventure later this weekend. Stay tuned!!!

Let the adventure begin

Since Andrea was accepted to the PA program, we are planning to move to Portland this spring!

Her classes start June 1.

After living at the shack for a couple years, we really haven't had the space to accumulate much stuff; so the moving part should be pretty easy. Right now, we are looking for apartments and I am searching for work.

Less than 2 months left!
Chili doesn't know if she can stand all the excitement

The Interview Trip

Andrea's interview at Pacific University (for the PA program) was January 9, and we made a road trip of it. It's a long drive, so we checked out "Master and Commander" on CD. Ten discs later, we pulled into the Banfield (dive) Hotel off 37th street in the Hollywood District. Thumbs down on that place; but fortunately, we were so tired it didn't matter. We breakfasted at the Bread and Ink cafe on Hawthorne (excellent!), then stopped in at a few of the little shops in my old neighborhood. For lunch, we tried to go to Pok Pok (a great Thai place, we were told) but it was CLOSED for renovations!! Instead, we hit the Vietnamese Pho soup restaurant on Powell and 50th(?). Micah, my little brother, regaled us with stories about the more adventurous meats they served (entrails, soft tendon, etc.). We went with the spring rolls and some ramen, hold the tripe for now.

The next stop was downtown, where we walked in a cold wind along the waterfront under a slate-gray sky, and then took a turn through the Chinese Garden. In the top of an overhanging tree, an Anna's Hummingbird sat shivering its little tail feathers off in the cold, damp wind. We were also quite cold by then, and went to find something hot to drink. Spanish coffees at Hubers are just the thing to finish off a chilly day outside!

The day before Andrea's interview it was pouring rain, so we bundled up and took a drive to the coast. In the bay near Garibaldi, we saw a huge Bald Eagle sitting in a precariously perched tree atop a rock in the surf (photo). Just below the rocks, there was a Great Blue Heron standing in the water. We stopped the car and found a footpath leading toward the rocks (how convenient) so Andrea was able to snap some nice photos.

To warm up, we stopped in for a tour of the cheese factory at Tillamook (photo of Andrea as dairy gal).

After the interview, we went to town: from the hotel in Hillsboro, it was about 40 minutes on MAX. Micah took us to Kell's Irish Pub where we had a celebratory Guiness and watched the waiter wrap people's tips around magnets and toss them WAY up to stick on the magnetized 20ft ceilings. Pretty neat!

Places we went: Multnomah Falls, the Coast (Tillamook, Nehalem Bay) Hillsboro, Portland downtown, Huber's, Bangkok Palace, IKEA, Kell's Pub, Trader Joe's