Daily Archives: Saturday September 30th, 2006

**Started 9/26/06

We are down here in Portland. The party will be starting in a few hours. So I figured I can try and start an entry. =)

We spent the week in Surrey, BC so we could visit Dieselnand his family. It is right outside of Vancouver. We haven’t seen them in a few years since their wedding.

***Restarted 9/28/06

Alright, let’s get back into it. =)

We spent some time with Diesel & Lisa in Vancouver and had a great time. The kids are growing like weeds and are as cute as hell.

We spent some time at Bear Creek Park. It is a gorgeous park and it was a beautiful day. Canadians seem to take a lot of pride in their parks and conservation, which is really cool. We spent several hours there taken pictures of it, even got a few with a bird on my hand, which was wild.

We left there Sunday and headed on down to Deception Pass Park, there at Whidbey Island. We didn’t realize that a town over was having a major biker rally. Holy cow, there was the roar of bikes every where but we got to see some really neat looking bikes. Unfortunately, we went to the wrong entrance of the park so we didn’t get to visit the area that we traditionally go to. It was beautiful just the same.

We took the ferry over to visit oue friends in Ports Townsand. We had a great little visit, exchange info we have about our online business connections & acquaintances. So that was fun. They were so nice and took us to the quaint little downtown they have for dinner and breakfast the next day. It is beautiful area and it very active in keeping the large box stores out to maintain the dignity and beauty of the area.

When we left there we took a very scenic drive down the peninsula, going by Olympic National Forest, doing a lot of stops along the way to take some pictures of the area. It was stunning. I felt right at home.

We have lucked out and the weather has been perfect….knock on wood. So we took a chance and stopped by the closes Mt. St. Helens visitors’ center. They have three of them, one 5miles in, second one 47miles in, and the third 60some miles in from I-5. The last time we were here a few years ago, that was the day it decided to become overcast and you could barely make out the mountain. But that Monday it was crystal clear and we got some great pictures of it.

When we got to Portland, we missed our turn and ended up in the heart of down town on the phone with our friend as he tries to get us where we need to go. Downtown was pretty with having a park right there in the middle of it.

We had a great time hanging with our friend Lincoln. He knows about 90% of the folks in Portland……….lol, it helps that he has been there for about 20yrs. We meet some really cool folks, hung out a lot at a local bar.
During the day Tuesday, we headed to some of the local spots and checked the area out. We were in the NE quadrant of the city and for us (after being in the Midwest so long), it remind me of how “free” an area is around a college. It is more of an alternative and free way of living and thinking. Portland is very big on their parks, conservation, supporting their artist & music community. The people are very friendly and seem to have a live and let live attitude. All which makes us consider that area for ourselves.

The party was on Tuesday night. There was about 60-80 people there. What I liked about it was that even though there were so many folks there they all seemed very respectful of Lincoln’s space. That was cool.

There was a guy there with a 12ft long albino Burma’s python and a scorpion. I got to hold the python! I’ve held them before, but it is so rare that I get the chance that I love it when I do. When we get time, I’ll post the pics. I did not hold the scorpion, there was no way. I don’t what species it was, but the handler said it would be the one you would want because its sting is no worst then a bee sting, unless you’re allergic to those.

Lincoln also arranged to have a fire eater there. She put on a really cool show and his ceiling has the scorched mark to prove it………….lol She got the crowd involved, having them help her put out little fires and putting members in the crowd on fire. Unfortunately, we didn’t want to miss any of it and didn’t grab the cameras. =( If any of our friends post the pics, I’ll see if they will let me post them here.

The majority of the party started to clear out by 3am. We crashed between 4:30-5am……I’m use to being in bed by midnight, so it was a stretch. The core members that were left didn’t crash until about 6am.

We didn’t get much sleep we had a 9am breakfast date with our friend. They took us to the Kennedy School. It use to be an abandoned school house that was redone into a couple of different themed restaurants and bars. The breakfast was great, the Kennedy School was amazing and the company was excellent. We had a great visit and Jeff was so kind and great on giving a small tour of his part of town. Thanks Jeff !! It was greatly appreciated.

I really don’t know how to describe it, but it is beautiful. Portland is a city, but really doesn’t have the “city” feel in the majority of the areas. It kind of reminds me of one big spread out town on the feel of it.

After breakfast, I was going to lay down for a nap……..after 2hrs of sleep, I really needed it. But we were so torn between our need for sleep and wanting to do some sightseeing; because once we crashed we would waste the day.

***Closing for now, we have entered the very congested City of Seattle.