April Backlog 2

I just found these pictures on Brad's iPhone. For a 2 week stint in late March/early April, we have these gorgeous cherry blossom trees that bloom. There's a lot of them along the riverfront too, so it makes for some gorgeous scenery especially when it is sunny out (like it was for this pic below).

Sarah, my old friend from middle school and high school came out to visit Easter weekend. As part of the trip, we felt obligated to take her to Voodoo Doughnuts, a Portland tradition. It's open 24 hours (and only probably 3/4 mile away from our home). They are unique because they have some of the strangest concoctions for doughnuts like a maple bacon doughnut, doughnuts with cereal toppings, and a real voodoo donut that oozes red jelly when you bite off a limb! :) Yum.

The array of fresh goodness at VooDoo Donut.

Sarah with her special Easter duck donut.

Northwestern friends: Clint shows off a maple bacon while Courtney models the decadent banana fritter complete with peanut butter and chocolate drizzle. Fo shizzle!

Afterwards, we hit up the Saturday market....

Sarah had to head back to STL on Sunday. I left for Detroit for work Monday morning. On Monday evening, Brad went to his first Portland Trail Blazers game. He had organized a group outing with 23 people from the Northwestern University alumni club of Portland (of which we are both board members). They had a good time, and the Trail Blazers are cruising their way to the playoffs.

April Backlog

These last 2 posts are kind of scattered since so much has been going on during the month of April. Besides Sarah visiting for a weekend, we also had Kristy and Pat come out to visit too! We took them to some of our favorite spots including the Oregon coast. They brought some nice weather with them too - it was 70 degrees and sunny! And in the pic below, you'll see how far along Kristy is with her pregnancy! She's due early July! This may be their last trip to Portland for a little while once the lil bugger comes out...


A picturesque view of the beach on the Oregon coast. The beaches are just massive! There's definitely no squeezing into small spaces on this beach (like we experienced at North Ave. beach in Chicago).
After the Oregon coast, we drove up to the Pittock Mansion to get a great view of downtown Portland. It sure is hilly compared to the midwest. Also, on clear days, we get some good shots of Mt. Hood in the background like in this picture!
We have started a new tradition with some friends in Portland. We get together for dinner once a month, and each couple picks out the restaurant location to try out. Last month we went to OM Seafood (our fav!). This month, Alvin (a fellow Northwestern alum whom we met through the NU Club of Portland), picked out Hot Pot City (which happens to only be 1/2 a mile from our place!). Yummm...hot pot! The other couples are Matt and Kristina and Courtney and Charlie. Courtney is actually an old friend of mine from sophomore year at Northwestern where we lived on the same floor in our dorm room. Small world! We've definitely taken advantage of our Northwestern connections here in Portland ;)

So to explain the last few pics in this post - I travelled to Detroit for work between the weekends Sarah visited and Kristy and Pat visited. We were in Plymouth/Canton for the first half of the trip and in Lansing for the 2nd half. I was really excited for this trip because I got to get together with Amanda for dinner one evening. I can't believe how long its been since I've seen her! There was so much to catch up on - she is working towards her MBA at University of Michigan. Sorry all you Ohio State fans! It was great seeing you Amanda! Thanks for taking the time out of your exciting consulting project to see me ;)

While we were in Lansing, we decided to stop in Michigan's capital building. Wow, was it nice. The senate and representatives weren't in session at the time, but it was cool to be able to tour the building and take some great pics.

The outside of the capital building.

The main atrium

The senate room. Those chairs looked mighty comfy.

So this video is our finale! At the Saturday market (read the below post), we picked up a new toy for Jas. It's like a little pillow with some catnip in it. She absolutely loved it! It was the best $6 spent. And most everything at the Saturday market is locally made, so it's nice to support the local artists and cat toy makers in the area.

Sauvie Island & Sellwood Recreational Park

On Saturday, Brad and I went to a BBQ at Tom and Alana's house to watch some of the Final Four games and enjoy some grilled goodness. We also got to re-live some of our old days in the Midwest because we got to play corn hole (a.k.a. bags!). On Sunday, Brad got called into work, so I decided to take advantage of the 70 degree and sunny weather by heading out to Sellwood Recreational Park and Sauvie Island with Matt, Kristina, and Zoe. Sellwood is just south of the city, hence in the next picture if you squint your eyes, you can see a picture of the Portland skyline. There's also a tiny beach to enjoy on the river as well. Sauvie Island is actually a little North of Portland by about 15 min. It's a huge island right in the middle of the river. and when I say huge, it took us about 15 min. to drive across the island. And that's the short way. There's a lot of fun stuff to do on the island like berry picking, pumpkin patches (in the fall), and big beaches! Hmm...who would've thunk Portland had a beach?? It was the only thing I thought Portland was missing...well besides my friends :( Below are the pics from our excursion out.

I took this picture while I was standing on the water. You didn't know I could walk on water did you? Just a new trick I learned. Just like Matt's hovering trick (inside joke!). So there's actually this floating dock where people sit and fish.

Matt and Kristina's dog Zoe posing by some flowers. Do you notice Zoe's ears and how 1 ear is up and 1 ear is down? It's because Kristina cleaned out her ears one day, and they were never the same again.
Zoe basking in the sun. I think she's thirsty.
While we were at the Sellwood Recreational Park, we spotted some eagles flying in the air. I guess it's a big deal because they're nearly extinct. This last picture is at Sauvie Island. In the distance, you can see Mt. St. Helens (or Mt. Hood or one of the mountains in the area). The beach is nice and big but it's not the softest sand. But it will do for now ;)