Take a Hike!

Good evening, friends!

My lovely guest and me at the rhododendron garden!

This past week, we actually got to enjoy some BLUE SKIES here in the Portland area. Pretty awesome. Lizzie Traudt paid me a visit, and it was so nice to share some of my favorite spots and vistas with her! Although I had work most of the time she was in town, we made time to grab dinner and a beer with José at the DeSchutes brewery in the Pearl District and visit the Grilled Cheese Grill on Alberta, followed by drinks with Lizzie and José afterwards. Another night, we had dinner at our house and spent some time hanging out with my roommates, so Lizzie got to meet just about everybody.

Atop Council Crest, enjoying the sun and the warm day!

     Our best outing, though, was a pretty awesome urban hike called the 4-T trail. It involves parking in Washington Park near the zoo and then hiking on a trail (the first T) up to Portland’s highest point, Council Crest. From there, we had awesome views of the city, the Williamette River (which forms the east-west dividing line in Portland), and Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helen’s, and Mt. Adams! Lizzie was lucky to have such a clear and beautiful day. And it was warm!! We spent some time at the top of Council Crest before hiking the second half of the trail to OHSU’s campus. There, we took the tram (the second T), which was free and awesome on such a clear day. The Portland street car (or trolley, T #3) was our next mode of transportation, and that took us to downtown. We got off by the Central Library and detoured so that Lizzie could sample some Portland food cart and Stumptown Coffee fare. Eventually, we completed the circuit and headed back to the Zoo via light rail (the Max train, the last T). It was a great way to see some of the city both aerially and from the streets!

The second T in our 4T hike-- the OHSU Tram.

I was sad to see Lizzie go, but I had a great evening on Friday with José before he headed out of town for a few days. I had discovered a restaurant serving what is described online as “Wisconsin-style fare,” and we just had to check it out. The place is called Savoy, and sure enough, they have a Friday Night Fish Fry (with Great Lakes walleye!), some pretty decent Old Fashioneds (Dad’s are still better), and fried cheese curds (José finally got to try them!). It was a pretty wonderful dinner, and we topped if off by splitting two mini-pies from a food cart: marionberry and a hazelnut chocolate! So yummy. Portland really loves to eat. This place is serious about food and all things having to do with food… I think it’s a good but dangerous place for me to be!

       Yesterday, I enjoyed more sunshine with Lizzie and Jenna. We hit the road in a ZipCar and drove through Columbia River Gorge until we arrived at a plateau called Rowena Crest. There, we did an awesome hike highlighted by amazing views of the Gorge (different than our usual angles) and lots of purple, coral, and yellow wildflowers. It was a breezy day, but it was a wonderful hike. The three of us had a lot of fun together. After climbing down and having some lunch, we embarked on a little drive called the Fruit Loop. This 30-mile loop takes you past wineries, fruit stands, fields, etc. We stopped at a few and got to sample some wines and some jams here and there. The best part, though, was the lavender farm where we met a sweet lady in a bonnet, smelled delicious lavender plants and products, and tried our best to photograph five speedy and stunning hummingbirds! Our last stop was for huckleberry and marionberry milkshakes. I’d say it was a pretty successful day!

Lizzie, Jenna, and I at the summit of our Rowena Crest hike!

Just in case you aren’t yet convinced that I’ve been having a good time lately, I have one more adventure to detail. Two weeks ago, José and I decided to “run away” to Bend, about three hours east of here—unless of course you take the scenic route through the Gorge, as we did, and tack on another hour. José’s friend and former coworker has a condo there and she let us use it for the weekend, which was awesome! The drive to Bend was lovely because we drove straight at, and then around, the snowy Mt. Hood, until we landed in a totally different climate zone (Bend is part of the high desert region in Oregon). We started seeing all sorts of different peaks—Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Bachelor, the Three Sisters—reaffirming my belief that this is a BEAUTIFUL state!

The amazing view of Mt. Hood as we drove to Bend.

José and I had a pretty chill Friday night after arriving, but we got up on Saturday to do two different hikes. The first was called Pilot Butte, a cinder cone rising up from the center of downtown Bend. It rained off-and-on during our hike, but we still got pretty lucky with the vistas and were able to see plenty of peaks from the summit. Later that afternoon, we did a totally different hike along the DeSchutes River near the condo. We walked past massive rock formations and a river divided in two sections by a huge lava ridge formed during the last eruption. We skipped stones and saw a bald eagle… it was pretty pleasant. On Saturday night, we went downtown and filled a sack with candy at Powell’s Sweet Shoppe before having some dinner and watching the Timbers game at the DeSchutes Public House. The next day, before heading home, we got a tour of the massive DeSchutes brewery company, which makes many of my favorite local brews. Once back in Portland, we caught a play (for free!), capping off what was a pretty relaxing and wonderful weekend escape.

A cool land bridge over a marsh on hike #2 in Bend.

Sometimes it’s just so rejuvenating to go somewhere else! Of course, it’s always nice to come home to “The Other Seven” and find out what crazy things happened while I was gone. This time, I found blown-up, pixilated portraits of Eminem, Lady Gaga, and Justin Bieber adorning our living room and dining room walls. And, my underwear were on my ceiling… but that’s a pretty long story.

I hope you’re all having a nice weekend, and I wish you a wonderful week. I’m especially thinking about you grads today! Congratulations, Class of 2011!!!!

With lots of love, and much anticipation for the much-anticipated arrival of two VERY special guests this week,

Amanda

PS Want more photos?  https://picasaweb.google.com/amwolff87

Marquette, you're not that far! Congrats, 2011 grads!!