Tag Archives: Rose Garden

Jan24

2021 – A retrospective

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2021. The whole thing.

I started this post out by just creating a list of all the adventures that I went on in 2021. But… I realized pretty quickly that wasn’t particularly interesting – While it was informative, it was pretty dry, and the list didn’t really capture the feeling of the year.

Instead, I think I’ll just post my favorite pictures, along with a quick summary of the sort of the major adventures of the year:

  • The winter brought lots of backpacking and snow hiking – It’s still strange to me how much I’ve grown to know Oregon in the last year and a half… or, more accurately, how little of Oregon I really met in the preceding four years.
  • I visited friends in Sacramento in the spring; had amazing catch-up time, and saw some stunning views of Lake Tahoe
  • In the late spring, I visited one of the most photographed lakes in the Pacific North West – Colchuck Lake! I even summitted Asgard’s Pass with a friend… though the blood-price for that trip was steep. I injured my knee again, which put me out of hiking condition for nearly two months afterward.
  • The summer saw the death of my Grandmother, a blow to the entire family that we’ll never truly move on from. I was brought unexpectedly face-to-face with just how much of my personality came from her. Her passing brought an unexpected gift, though, in the form of nearly two weeks visiting family and friends back in New England.
  • The early fall brought my first dedicated rock climbing trip in quite some time – along with summitting what is probably the most iconic climbing route I’ve ever done. Devil’s Tower, in the bag!
  • The late fall brought friendship and comradery in amounts I haven’t seen in years. A backpacking trip with friends, and a huge event in my friend group – My friend Dillon’s bachelor party, and my role as best man in his wedding!
  • The winter is still coming in to Oregon, but the end of 2021 brought the return of beautifully snowy conditions up on Mt. Hood, and a reminder of just how glorious the Oregon Coast really can be…


**As always, if anyone would like a copy of any of these photos, please let me know. I have many of them already printed, but can always re-print anything that anyone would like.

Dec24

A visit weekend full of adventures – A day in the city and a Friendsgiving party

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Wednesday, 10-Nov-2021 through Monday, 15-Nov-2021

My friends came to visit!

Two weekends in a row… I’m the most social of all the social butterflies, it seems!

And honestly, I’m so thankful for it. 2021 was, for mas as for everyone, a challenging year. It’d been a year of huge personal growth, and excellent introspection, but at my core I’m still a social creature. Self-reflection is only a part of the growth cycle… sharing those insights, and getting other people’s input, is just as important to someone’s growth.

So when Daniel and Erin asked if they could come to visit the weekend after Dillon and Liz’s wedding… well, I couldn’t say yes fast enough!


Sunday, 14-Nov-2021


With two days of pretty heavy hiking behind us, Sunday was targetted as being a bit more of a low-key day. Hanging around town, exploring a bit, hitting some shops… The rose guarden… you know, all those cool touristy things that we kinda need friends to use as an excuse for.

Ohh, and a friends-giving party!


It was a good day – nice and calm, quiet, and a good / relaxing end to the weekend. There’s not much to be said, from my recollection… we explored, chatted, and took some cool pictures. One that I’m especially proud of, if I may segregate it out…



The rest of the day… Well, I don’t really have much to write about our adventures in the city. But after we got back, we dove into cooking! For Friendsgiving!

My neighbors and I have gotten the chance to spend some more time together, which has been awesome, and there was absolutely no way that I could turn down a Friendsgiving invitation! We cooked up some stuffing, heated up a pie, and took the long walk over to their house by stepping out my door, turning right around, and walking into the door next to mine.


The evening was awesome, and honestly a little strange for me – this was the first time I’d been to a real “house party” in Oregon. COVID aside, the last few years have been… anti-social, to say the least. Not saying it’s a bad thing, but parties and group events weren’t really a thing that I’d done here – which made this just that much more interesting and enjoyable.

A very good evening, to say the least. Made extra much so by fun puppy cuddles, of course!

Oct10

Exploring Portland – Roses and Bunnies.

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Thursday and Friday, 07 & 08-Sept-2017

 

Thanks to the Columbia River fires, we couldn’t really take Daniel around to the wilderness hikes that we’d planned on.  We went to a few spots West of the city (see previous posts), but we still wanted to do some exploring… so why not explore the city itself?  We spent both days exploring, but a few of the more unique bits are below…

 

The Rose Garden

Sarah and I have been to the International Test Rose Garden a few times, even once to watch the sunrise recently, but it’s always an extra treat to take friends there.  Daniel loved it, as far as I could tell… the flowers, the photography, the story about two high school girls commandeering Ollie for their graduation photos, and the Shakespeare garden.

I think he less enjoyed my impromptu dance recital on the amphitheater stage, and I’m quite certain that Sarah wasn’t super stoked (at the time) about my awesome waltz skillz.

For my side though, I was disappointed that Daniel didn’t do a soliloquy.  So we all came out disappointed.

 

Hoppy Hour

Daniel had asked us about going on a “catio tour” of Portland.

Turns out, some people have special patios that they’ve made for their cats.  Cat Patios.  Catios.

Needless to say, we absolutely did not do that.  I mean, partially because Sarah is allergic to cats.  Like, super allergic.  But also because that’s silly talk.  Why would we go see cat patios?

Why would we see cat patios… WHEN WE COULD GO PET BUNNIES AND DRINK BEER?!?

Yep.  Heard right.  Pettin’ buns.  Drinkin’ beers.  Hoppy Hour.  Hops in beers, hops from bunnies.  Perfect.  Combo.

Down the street from our house is a Rabbit Rescue operation.  They take in stray bunnies, and bunnies that families can’t keep anymore, and give them homes.  Some of those bunnies actually go through a special training / certification program to become therapy bunnies.  One of the bunnies is even part of a meditation group that uses her as a “physic focus to the mountains of Nepal”, since she’s a Himalayan bunny.

And on Fridays, for a donation of $5, you can come in and pet the bunnies while being served beers.

We went with that option.  It was just as awesome as one would hope.