its all roses

one of the many free things we enjoy here in portland is the free international rose test garden. heather took this one. this is from our trip to the rose garden on Thursday, July 10.

Electric Car Parking Only

We took a walk around town today and noticed this charging station where you can drive in your electric car and hook it up so that it charges while you work. I have no further details at all, although I do have many questions. I quickly found an article online outlining the intentions of PGE (Portland General Electric) to install even more electric-vehicle charging stations. Pretty cool.

Triple Falls Hike

To welcome a beautiful July day in Portland, Heather and I headed for a quick little hike to see some waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge, just about 20-30 minutes east of the city. This was followed by a quick drive up to Larch Mountain, a great viewpoint to (on a clear day = not today) take in great views of Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and maybe another that I forget. To round the day off, we acquired some furniture off Craigslist! The place is beginning to come together, now that we have somewhere to sit (besides on the floor) and Maggie has something to hide underneath.

Click the photo below for more photos.

We found a place to live!

So we did make it to Portland! Nothing much to report on driving through southern Wyoming and Idaho and Eastern Oregon. But, we do love it here in Portland.

After battling the very tight Portland apartment rental market and looking at many different places located throughout the city, we finally chose a place right in the middle of town.

4th of July

What a great day the fourth was! We moved in to our new place first thing in the morning, got the essential elements to live from the big stores and Ikea, and then went out to meet some of our new friends at a cookout and then went down to the riverbanks of the Willamette with the rest of the city to watch the fireworks! Fabulous day. Here's a picture of our new place (from the outside) and our very own block of Portland, Oregon.