Portland Adventures Since May

We are officially settled and doing our thing in Portland! 

Bjorn was able to get a job about 2 weeks after we got here. He is working as a CNA at a residential facility in Gresham, which is about 30 min east. Bjorn lucked out and actually gets to ride a paved, car free bike path the whole way! It turns out to be 25 min by car or 30 min by bike. 

I got a job about a month after getting here working at a wellness center being the office assistant and yoga coordinator. I did a little bit of everything from scheduling patients, cleaning room, marketing for yoga, monthly newsletter and any other misc. task. My boss turned out to be totally CRAZY and it was a great experience in how NOT to run a business! 

In between working and sleeping we've managed to have some amazing, awesome and beautiful adventures! 

Our first overnight trip to Cape Lookout State Park and then north along the coast. It was rainy and freezing the first day and then blue skies and gorgeous the next.

Sometime in June we hiked the Columbia River Gorge up to Horsetail Falls, Ponytail Falls and Triple Falls. The forest here is super lush with lots of ferns and moss. 

Here are just a few other random things we have done......

Fruit Beer Festival

Woodstock Farmers Market (this is in our neighborhood)

Downtown Market

I love this guy...he is a one man band

Officially Moved!

We made it and we love it! Now here is a recap of the whirlwind last 2+ weeks...

We arrived in Portland on the 4th, picked my brother Paul up on the 5th and got our keys on the 6th.

After working our tails off unpacking we headed to the Arboretum and Japanese Garden. 

Paul showed us this Monkey Puzzle Tree which actually looked like a pine tree from a distance.

We love this place...

Thanks to Paul we discovered Saburo...most delicious sushi EVER! 

(hope you are hungry Charles!)

The Farmers Markets here are plentiful. We have ventured to the People's Market which is art, crafts and food down by the river and also the PSU (Portland State University) Farmer's Market. We will soon be exploring many of the more local markets around our neighborhood!

The last day that my mom was here we decided to check out the Chinese Garden. It was beautiful and breath taking.

Other things we have enjoyed but did not photograph.......many many food cart meals, cool shops/stores, new climbing gym, Mt.Scott park (1 block from our house), 3-D movie The Cave of Forgotten Dreams, our neighborhood Sausage Shop (Otto's) and of course beer!

Last Southern Utah Trip

Triassic, UT (which is not on any map we could find) was our first stop on the trip. Here we spent the afternoon bouldering/climbing and then checking out some very ancient petroglyphs.

Our first night was spent at Wedge Overlook in the San Rafael Swell in the fog, which turned to snow. We were the loan campers and enjoyed every minute of the solitude around the campfire.

Happily we woke to blue skies! We all soaked in some much needed sun after a cold nights sleep.

Simba being unsure about the massive drop off the face of this cliff. Olivia was just happy...as usual.

Now on to one of our top 5 spots in Utah....GOBLIN VALLEY! Here we spent the afternoon hiking and checking out lots of cool goblin filled spots.

End of Day 2......

What a beautiful morning to wake up to... and the journey home begins