First Weekend In Portlandia

What a wonderful first weekend in Portland! Friday night I made a wonderful dinner with fresh salmon, corn, leeks, and wild rice. Saturday we adventured downtown on our bikes for the first time. We got lost a few times but finally made it to the Downtown Farmers Market (shown above). The ride only takes about 20 min because it is all down hill.
We spent a lovely time at the market and picked up alot of fresh produce including apples and peaches. Yum! The market is bigger and busier than the ones in Colorado.There are so many vendors selling produce, cheese, bread, eggs, and meat. There is also a section solely street vendors selling anything from gyros and pork sandwiches to vegan, organic, gluten free foods. After picking up some delicious veggies and fruit we sat down and had a snack composed of a huckleberry scone (huckleberries are abundant here), locally made natural raspberry soda, and a fresh peach

Brendan at the market


Sunday I went for the most beautiful bike ride I have ever been on. I pedaled my way of a slowly rising road surrounded by farms, valleys, and small houses. When I reached the top there were several places to stop and look out over the Columbia river. On the other side was Washington! Descending down the back side you are surround by lush vegetation and enormous trees. Towards the bottom there are dozens of waterfalls that you can see from the road and even more that you can hike to. The road I was on is called the Old Columbia Hwy. It was originally built on each side of the river (one in OR and one in WA) to entice people to move to Oregon and Washington. The idea was that people would drive in on this beautiful highway and see how gorgeous the area. Well, it worked! Once I figure out how to upload images from my phone I can post some of the views.

After my epic ride we went to one of the 34 local breweries in Portland with our friend Chris. We went to Bridgeport Brewery and had some sample trays.

How curbside trash should look
(Yard Debris, Recycling,Trash)

That brings us up to today (Monday) my first day of school!
I will let you know how it goes.
-Emily

What is Public Health?

For all of you who keep asking me what Public Health is, here is a helpful video!

http://thisispublichealth.org/video_highres.html

Pictures of Our Abode

Here are some pictures of our house!

The front of the house from the street

Walking in the front door and looking right

Walking in the front door and looking straight

The Kitchen

My Walk-In Closet

Brendan's Office

Cricket

Scary Basement

Backyard


As you can see we are still unpacking!

We Made It!

After two VERY long days of driving we made it to Portland. We managed to get here safely. I did manage to get the back of the truck and the trailer wrapped around a pole at a gas station but luckily there was an attendant that drove semi trucks! Lucky us.

<---Cricket being helpful

Cricket took a turn
driving-->

We arrived Saturday night and checked into a hotel. By Monday morning we signed a lease!

Our new address is:
26 SE 30th Pl.
Portland, OR
97214
It is apparently a very "hip" neighborhood near many amenities. Whole Foods is one block away, an Indian restaurant and hot dog place is down the street, and of course there is a Starbucks on the corner. Down the block there is a movie theater that serves beer and pizza while you watch the movie, which sounds pretty great. We also live three blocks away from a giant park that has a dog park, pond, and tennis courts! So far the neighborhood has been very pleasant.
Our house it two bedrooms, one bath, basement, and a small room that I made into my own walk in closet. We have a large porch and a back patio with a small (10x10) area of grassy dirt for Cricket. I convienetly forgot to take pictures of the house, but you can go to this link and see the front. It is the green single story house.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=26+se+30+pl+Portland,+OR&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=26+SE+30th+Pl,+Portland,+OR+97214&gl=us&ei=ppO6Sqf-OovosQO40KCRCQ&ll=45.52242,-122.633965&spn=0.010539,0.020535&z=16&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=45.522495,-122.63397&panoid=jPsqCiiNfTKZ8285Pnyi0w&cbp=12,99.37,,0,5.38


I have orientation tomorrow and Friday and then school starts on Monday! The internet machine is being hooked up tomorrow so Brendan will be able to work from home. Hopefully we can poke around town this weekend. Cricket is adapting well and loves the new dog park, there are lots of puppies to play with.

Here are some things about Portland we have learned:


1. They have an extensive beer and wine selection in all grocery stores.




2. They have a mountain named after me.

3. It is illegal to pump your own gas. Someone does it for you.

4. Hip places like coffee shops, restaurants, and bars do not have signs for bathrooms or labels on the bathroom door. It's a constant guessing game, is it a closet? Men's? Women's? you have to open the door to find out.




Our first dinner at home!

So far things are going really well. Our only complaint is that we aren't hip enough and need to invest in some dark clothes. Brendan also will need to buy shorter shorts and tighter pants.
Which none of wants to see.
Good-Bye for now!
We miss all of you.
Emily and Brendan

And So It Begins......... Well Almost

Hello!
Welcome to our blog. This is a handy way to keep up with our busy life in the North West! I will try to keep this updated as best I can so you can stay up-to-date with our adventures in Portland. We welcome comments and notes for we will miss all of you!

And So It Begins......Well Almost.
T-minus three days until we take off for Portland, Oregon. The house is mostly packed and the truck is booked. We still don't have a place to live but are hopeful that something will fall into place before we leave. If not, we will be homeless for a few days while we look for a house. Don't worry there are many hotels and places to camp.
If you have some time on Thursday (9/17) after 4:00pm to help pack up the truck please stop by! I will pick up some cold beer to power through the packing and then we can ride down to New Belgium for the last Bike in Movie (Super Bad).

Stay Tuned for More to Come!
Emily & Brendan