We are thinking about becoming Canadian.

After deciding that Tyler should not get a week off if I don't get a week off, I bailed on work and thanks to the adventure loving Mar and Lar we headed to Canada for an incredible week. I fell in love with Vancouver about 20 seconds after pulling into the city. But we will get to that later. Before we got to Canada we stopped for a few days in Cascades National Park.

This is another somewhat unknown park in the Pacific Northwest and we absolutely loved it. It was beyond gorgeous. All the lakes and rivers are fed by a glacier, so they were an amazing blue/green color.

Just for the record, I would like to dedicate this trip and all the posts relating to it, to my nature loving sister. You're welcome A.

I am so grateful that we have taken the time and had the opportunity to explore the area that we have been living in for the past 3 years. I know we are possibly running out of exploration time, so we are packing in as much as we can in our last year. We have fallen in love with this gorgeous part of the country and I know we will miss it every day when and if we leave. There is nothing more invigorating than a gorgeous hike and visiting places you have never seen before. I am so lucky to have Ty who is even more eager than I am to be outside and to keep active. And he got all of that love of the great outdoors and the extra energy from his awesome mom Mar. She is 60 going on 30 and we love her for it!

We did some amazing hikes. The first was to a beautiful blue lake with a view of Pyramid Peak. It was a pretty solid hike and I was 100% impressed with Lar, who at 71 did the whole hike like a champ. We hiked a total of 8 miles that day. I can only hope I am 1/2 as fit as him when I am 40, let alone 70.

The end of the hike.

A beautiful mountain lake with "log gardens."

Tyler risked his life climbing the side of a mountain to snap some lovely wild flower shots.

Hike number two of the day was to a beautiful overlook of Ross Lake. The sun came out and it was a stunning view of mountain peaks and the river. I was in heaven. I had forgotten what the sun felt like.

Soaking in the sun at the top of the hike.

We stopped at another overlook on our way back to town. A huge bald eagle flew right in front of us while we were standing here. It was pretty awesome.

On our way out of Washington we stopped for a fantastic view of Mt. Baker in the sunshine.

We got a taste of small town America at its finest on this piece of our trip. The highlight was when we stopped and asked a woman and her three legged dog where we could find breakfast. In addition to where we could eat we learned all about the three families that settled the God forsaken town, what they all liked to do, why they set up a winery, and something about how her great great something or other was a lady who sold moonshine instead of working in the whore house because she knew how to make her money standing up. Classy lady. Classy town.

Now, on to Canada.

Just more of the same...doing what we always do.

While clearing out our camera chip in preparation for the big Canada trip I came across some forgotten photos of some hikes (surprise surprise) that we did awhile back.

Outing A: Punchbowl Falls and Camping

In rebellion of this ridiculous rainy weather Ty and I went hiking and camping and dared Mother Nature to rain us. Luckily she cooperated fairly well and we only got misted on throughout the day (and night).

Punchbowl Falls kicks butt. It is super easy and short but very awesome. Plus the wildflowers were still out thanks to our chilly spring. And that makes me very happy.

The flowers are so beautiful. I just wish they lasted longer!We will have to come back in the hotter months when we can take a little dip in the icy water.Now on to Hike B:
It is hard for me to use appropriate family friendly language when writing and thinking about this hike. Seriously. It is actually hard because there are not words that can describe just how freaking hard this hike was. And how angry we were at this dumb mountain. Perhaps we have become weak since moving to Oregon and being spoiled with the best effort to reward ratio hikes on earth. But I doubt it. This one was a beast. Suffice it to say it was hard. Real hard. It was crazy steep the whole way. And just when you think you are about to DIE at the half way point, it gets much steeper. But by then we had gone to far to turn back. Luckily it was lush and green and gorgeous.
Then just to mock us it started to snow at the top. We were minutes away from the ocean and it was snowing. Seriously? Ridiculous.
But on the upside the view was truly stunning from the top. I was so bitter about how hard this hike was that I was expecting the view to suck and be no where near worth it. The pictures do not do it justice.
We survived! But only barely. My legs protested for days afterwards. This sucker is being added to my list of hikes that I am glad (sort of) that I did once but will NEVER do again. Top of the heap on that list? Mt. Olympus. Lamest hike ever. Sorry Wasatch fronters. It really is.
As usual we love getting outside and hiking. Man oh man do we love Oregon.

Next up...adventures from Canada. Mar and Lar arrive tonight and then the fun begins.

One year and One week

I am feeling good today. It must be because the sun is out. Summer is really holding out on us in Portland. So a sunny Friday means I am suddenly feeling a cough coming on...I mean chances are the sun won't be back for another week or two, and I am not taking any chances.This morning as I dropped Tyler off at school I passed the big white tents and tables being set up for the dental school graduation. I had a rush of two very different emotions. One, I WISH that was us! And, only ONE year left?? I don't think I am ready for that. It is a strange combination of being so ready to start our lives and be done with studentdom that I could scream, while at the same time knowing I am going to miss this phase of our lives and all of the wonderful people that are a part of it. But ready or not I know it will be here before we know it. I know we will be both cheering and gritting our teeth for what is ahead.
***

One week from today we head off on a much needed vacation. We are going to Whistler, BC and I cannot wait. I am making daily sacrifices to the Sun Gods. I really really need a sunny mountain experience. And some pool time. We are also hoping for a peaceful riot free stop in Vancouver. But either way, I know it is going to be a beautiful and exciting trip.

Here is to looking forward to one week and one year from today.

Rhodie Gardens

I am fairly certain this is what the Garden of Eden must have looked like:Our annual trip the Rhododendron Gardens was not a disappointment. We love Spring after a long gray winter. We decided to bail on work/school a little early and enjoy the sunshine while we can.

Family Photos...Do we count as a family?

We had a fun impromptu photo shoot with the talented Kate Maxwell. She is technically a wedding photographer but used us as practice on some new methods she was trying out {Lucky us!}. She is obviously incredibly talented because she managed to get plenty of pictures of me that I don't loathe and even more pictures of Tyler not looking like a serial killer. It was actually almost impossible for me to pick the following pictures as some of my favorites. There were just too many cute ones. So thanks to Katie for doing something no one has ever been able to do before. I was pretty much laughing hysterically the whole time. Partially because Katie is very funny, and partially because I have a hard time taking anything seriously when I should.

This was the last picture of the day. Which resulted in a high five. Feeling good that we survived.

We have not really had our pictures taken since our wedding, so it is fun to have some up to date photos of just the two of us.
Thanks Miss Katie!