wayside viewpoint

Last Saturday after tasting some wine at Maragas in Terrebonne, Pat's dad took us to a scenic viewpoint above a deep canyon just up the road.

I have been researching and cannot figure out what this canyon is called. What I do know is that the bridge running over it is part of the Blue Star Memorial Highway and that the small park near the bridge is named after Peter Skene Ogden, who was a fir trapper in the late 1700s and early 1800s said to have lead one of the first expeditions in to the Central Oregon region (which I read off of a sign at the park). I hope that you have enjoyed your history lesson for today.

This canyon is made up of basalt cliffs and quickly plummets 300 feet to the river below. There were even signs telling people to leave dogs in their cars because many have been lost over the edge! As you can see there are a series of bridges that cross over the canyon, one for trains, an old one that is shut down, and one that is utilized by car and foot traffic, which we crossed over to get a few pictures. Being afraid of heights and noticing that the railings were not very tall, I was a little bit weary about standing in the center of the bridge, as I am sure you can gather from my facial expressions as the wind blew.

[[ basalt cliffs. railroad bridge. a warning. pat glancing over the edge. steel bridge up close. me standing over the center of the cliff, looking terrified. the river below. park dedication signs. ]]

my week in pictures 5

monday 5/6 - sunday 5/12

Last week flew by, probably because we had Rory staying with us for a portion which made every day seem like it was Friday. When he arrived Tuesday night we went to Goodlife for some dinner and drinks. Wednesday night we went over to Pat's dads place for dinner, bringing Harlow along. Thursday after work I ran home in a rain storm. (The weather was all over the place.) Saturday was sweltering, and me and Pat went wine tasting and explored a canyon nearby with his dad in Tumalo. (I will share more pictures of the canyon later this week). Sunday we did an open house during the day, and then took ourselves out for sushi and drinks as a little impromptu date night. It was a pretty solid week!

[[ good life: bacon squared. the best pretzel in town. brews. sunkissed skin. warm spring day. sunny wednesday. pat & harlow. fetch. flower print pants. confetti nails. crossing sign. running away from the storm. fresh meals. thunder. smile. meragas winery: smith rock views. literature. barrels. a little picnic outside. delicious snack combinations. at the cliff. me & pat in the middle of the bridge. date night: a drink at velvet. dinner at 5 fusion. beef carpaccio. delicious rolls. ]]

tumalo falls

Several months ago me and Pat went hiking around Tumalo State Park, but had not yet gotten a chance to explore the falls until last weekend. The area is beautiful, and quite conveniently the first, and largest of several waterfalls is visible from the parking lot. Not to mention that the "hike" to the top is an extremely easy one. Since we had a large group with us we did not do the extended hike to Happy Valley, but I would like to give it a try sometime in the summer. This time around I only had my phone with me, next time I will bring my big camera also.

[[ tumalo falls. ]]

me week in pictures 4

monday 4/29 - sunday 5/5

I skipped a "My Week In Pictures" post for the two weeks me and Pat were traveling to Seattle and Vegas since those are going to have their own lengthy posts, but now that all of our traveling is over (for now) I am going to pick this new feature up again, starting with last week.

Last week we had another round of guests over for the weekend, Pat's friend Nate and his wife Alicia who just told us that they are having a baby girl in September! (We made sure to have a nice bouquet of flowers awaiting her arrival on Friday night). We also helped celebrate one of Pat's old friends 30th birthday in town and visited Tumalo Falls for the first time (which will receive its own post later).

[[ tumalo falls. lunch at 10 barrel. some of the ladies. alicia's flowers. speckled nails. homemade dinner. zydeko saturday night. the creepiest maniquin in town. sunday morning relaxing on the deck. lunch at crux. me and my babe. happy camper. ]]

vegas :: sneak peak

You know the drill... it is going to take me a while to get through all of the pictures I took in Seattle and Vegas (it has to be creeping on 2,000 now...), but in the meantime here is a little sneak peak of our Las Vegas adventures, as posted on Instagram.

I will say right now that Las Vegas is insane. We had a very epic/exciting/interesting/plastic/hot/casinofilled/latenight/exhausting/sensoryoverloaded/sequinfilled/vodkaridden adventure that was over in a flash.

[[ instagram photos: our hotel room view. posing in the elevator on night one. breakfast in the eiffel tower. exploring the strip. my chocolate milkshake at 3:30am. the city view from the palms moon bar. ]]

vegas baby!

In about an hour me and Pat will be on a place headed for Vegas (baby)!! I am super excited because I have never been to Sin City before... and I have some major sinning to do. Not really, but I am just happy that I get to be a part of the spectacle, even if it is only for the weekend. We are headed to the desert to celebrate his little brother Hayden's 21st birthday... its definitely going to be an epic few days. Be back Monday!

[[ image from hipmunk. ]]

Here are some links that have been helpful in coming up with a game plan for places to check out:
- "Las Vegas: 10 Things To Do" by Time Travel
- "10 of The Best Bars in Vegas" by The Guardian
- the Nightlife section from the Las Vegas website itself

Oh yea, and, Happy Birthday Little Brother!!! See you in Vegas tonight!
By the way, I have looked in to your future, and this is going to be you tomorrow...

[[ happy birthday little hayden monster. ]]

seattle :: sneak peak

I have a lot of big plans over the next few weeks so it will probably take me a while to get to editing all of the pictures that we took from our Seattle trip last weekend (over 1,000 by the way, I am out of control), but in the meantime, here is a little sneaky peak of our adventures! It was an amazing experience by the way. I am really glad that I did some research on restaurants and bars ahead of time because we found some really awesome places with very friendly people to interact with.

If you follow me on Instagram then you have already seen all of these pics, but I don't want to give anything new away just yet. :)

[[ instagram photos: a very serious biscuit  bartenders with major flair. pikes at night. gasworks park. a view of the entire cityscape. my beautiful bouquet. ]]