PDX pix - November 2011

On to November...  a momentous month here in Stumptown.  Not only did it include Tom's birthday, visits to friends and family in Seattle, Thanksgiving, and the beginnings of ice-scraping weather, but we bought a house!  (or rather, are in the process of buying one still, to be accurate.)  On to the photos...

 

 Playing darts at the Lompoc Sidebar

At the Tillamook cheese factory, on a weekend trip to the coast.  Wow, they make a lot of cheese.  It was fun to watch the assembly line and see how all the machines and people work here.  And to taste the cheese.

 

 And to take silly photos.

Haystack Rock, the most iconic part of the Cannon Beach landscape.  A beautiful beach and fun, artsy town.  We had a nice stay.  Banjo loved running around on the wide beach.

Visit to Seattle, where we saw Steve, Sarah, and Frank.  Here's Ellie about to launch herself off the dock in hot pursuit of the elusive tennis ball.

 

 Banjo was content to sit and watch.  No cold water for him, thank you very much.

 

 Seattle nightscape

 

 Two-Man Gentleman Band, thanks to Anonymous for the prodding to go see this group, they did not disappoint!  We even got to swing dance a little bit (as much as Kate could convince Tom to do).

  At the Olympia state capitol building area.  Rest stop on the drive to Seattle for Thanksgiving. 

 Playing games (Catacombs) with the family in Seattle.  This one was a favorite because you get to flick the pieces around the board.  

 Our pies!  Apple cranberry on the left, and pumpkin. 

And last but not least, here's what will hopefully be our house in January!  This is us at one of our early investigative visits.  It's definitely not the prettiest one, or the fanciest, and it will involve quite a bit of remodeling and updating work, but we're happy with it and are excited to start working on it!  It's in the Bridlemile area SW of Portland - only about 10 min to downtown, in a nice neighborhood, and has a big dog-friendly yard and a community pool in the summer. Come visit, there will be plenty of space!

PDX Pix - October 2011

We're back.  Hopefully to at least continue with some monthly photos.  Here are some from October, stay tuned for November shortly as I try to get back up-to-date...

 

Here's Kate with Herman the Sturgeon, at the Bonneville Locks and Dam up the Columbia.  Who knew these ancient giant fish were swimming right near us in the river!

 

Also during that visit to the locks we got to see the salmon running.  They were just flinging themselves at these wooden doors trying to get upstream.  Pretty amazing.

 

Got a visit from Wen, Claire, and Dad (not pictured) in NC while I was there for a work trip!

 

Sunset in Beaverton

  

Some goofy "hats" at the Saturday Market with Kate's family

  

Ground Kontrol - quite a selection of pinball and retro arcade games

 A view of Mt Hood from the Rose Garden on one of the last bike rides home during daylight!

 Fun outdoor games at Sky and Sarah's wedding in Rochester!  We braved the cold to play bags, bocce, cowballs, and other games.  Good wedding!

See- we are smiling!  We had a good October, whether it was in Portland or elsewhere on our travels...

PDX Pix - September 2011

One month into our new Portland adventure!  Here are some selected pix from September in the Rose City.

Open-top fermenting at Upright Brewing!  A fun, semi-hidden spot right on my way home.

A German choir singing at the Mount Angel Oktoberfest celebration.  We also saw a master yodeler, an alpenhorn group (that was cool), wiener dog races (somehow I lost the pic of that, oops), a functioning glockenspiel, and lots of folks in leiderhosen and dirndls.  A very culturally authentic Oktoberfest, which was a welcome change from the frat-boy fest at Widmer Brewery.

A Timbers game!  They tied.  The Timbers Army (at left behind the goal) certainly lived up to their billing.

Watching the Vaux's Swift nightly roosting ritual at the Chapman School with Ari and Dustin.  This was quite an amazing experience, and I encourage you to experience it for yourself by watching a video such as this or this. 

Kate on one of the many art bike racks in town

From the Portland Art Museum.  The name was the most interesting part of the piece. 

Portland game store during a Magic: The Gathering tournament.  Whoa!

Tasting at Hair of the Dog.  Mmm!

At the Polish Festival with Ari

The Captured By Porches beer bus on Alberta.  Bring your own cup for 50 cents off!

On the train.  Just seemed like a quintessential "Portland" shot. 

Stay tuned for October's update!

Biking by Breweries

My (bike) commute passes lots of breweries.  Portland is so far living up to much of its reputation!  I think I'll stop at Upright Brewing on my way home today...


View Breweries on commute in a larger map

PDX Pix - Aug/Sept '11

Hi everyone.  So we are now in Portland!  We've been a good mix of busy and frazzled getting settled into our new city, new jobs, and new surroundings so far but here are a few pictures I've taken to semi-document some of what we've been up to.
 

With my first week here before I started my job I spent a lot of time biking around the city since the weather is great this time of year.  There are so many good bike paths and routes.  Here's the Steel Bridge looking west across the river to downtown.  Bikes cross on the lower level and cars/MAX (light rail) go up top. 

It really is quite a bike-friendly and conscious town.  This sentiment perhaps is a little extreme, but there are plenty who take it seriously!

I rode up to the Rose Garden, one of Portland's more famous tourist landmarks.  We don't have the Santa Cruz Mountains here for riding, but there are still some nice hilly areas with scenic destinations.

 

A cute house I found on a bike ride with crazy dahlias blooming all over.

T+K at the Deschutes brewery tap room in downtown.  We went with friends from CA here to visit.  Neat to get to try some of their uncommon beers not available in stores.  They have some wild ones!  I've decided I draw the line at Flanders Sour Ales.  Can't do it.

This is the newly renovated Jen-Weld Field, where the Portland Timbers play (MLS).  I like it because it's neat to have a local team with a rabid fan-base.  I hate it because the team displaced Portland's AAA baseball team.  :(

Banjo isn't the only dog in the house any more!  Rufus is on the left.

Kate and I went to the Widmer Oktoberfest at their Brewery near our place.  Aside from the beer and sausages it was not very Oktoberfesty but we found a good performance by a band we liked.

The Columbia River Gorge.  We went up for a hike on Saturday morning.  It's nice to have a natural area with great hiking just a 20-40 minute drive away.  So many waterfalls everywhere!

And this is one of them.  Can you see a Kate and two dogs?  The trail here went behind the falls - kind of fun.

 Tom, Dustin, Kate at the Captured By Porches beer bus.  That's right - in Portland not only do we have food carts, but we have beer carts too.

SparrowCam

In case you haven't heard, we have some sparrows nesting in the nook between our house and an exterior light fixture, under the eaves of the roof.  We've been noticing them building a nest for a while, and upon returning from our trip to the east coast we heard lots of chirping coming from the nest.  Turns out there are three babies in there and mom and dad are popping in and out every couple of minutes to feed the hungry kids.  I set up a webcam to watch (and share) the action without disturbing the birds, you can watch for yourself here:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sparrowcam

Be patient if nothing happens for a few minutes, but during the day, pretty reliably they get fed every few minutes.  Busy job!

Here's mom:


And dad:

 And the three kids as dad flies away:


Any suggestions for names?

iPhone Pictures, part deux

Tom here with some iPhone pictures myself!  Consider this an update from the past 8 months...

 Group bike ride to the coast and back

Golden Gate Bridge in the fog while riding back from Marin

 Niners game!

Pretty SF sky and Marin Headlands from a SF trip for the Halloween BANG puzzlehunt

 Parents visit and hike in Arastradero Preserve

Monterey coast after my SCUBA class

Thanksgiving - Ann made a pie.  Yum.

Kate selecting the most odiferous Christmas tree in the Santa Cruz Mts.

Sleepy dogs

 Mission Peak hike

 Kate coaching basketball for her HS.   That's her in the white sleeves on the bench.

 Neighborhood tree in winter

 Sunshine and fog on bike ride up above Saratoga

 Christmas with Claire and mom in NC

 Tom and J in the Dean Dome for a UNC game

 Muddy, wet Banjo.

 Double rainbow!

 Kate at a beer and cheese tasting event we went to.  Very fun!

 Cupcake making party for our friends who set off to hike the Appalachian Trail in April

 A's game in Oakland

 POTUS visiting Palo Alto - I rode out here on my bike to see him on his way to Facebook HQ

 Kate making, or trying to make, carnations glow for physics

 Hiking in Coal Creek

 Riding part of Day 1 of the AIDS ride from SF to Santa Cruz with Mei-Yen and Glenn

 At the water sculpture near the Ferry Building in SF - can you spot the Kate?

 Alcatraz visit with all of Kate's family.  This is the old warden's house.

There you go!  Hope that wasn't too many pictures in one sitting.