August 22, 2011

California, Oregon, Washington | Kissing Summer Goodbye 2011

Sometimes the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Monday nights are usually spent at the gym playing some good old volleyball, but right now my body feels like I was run over by a Mack truck. So, I’m taking the time to record my summer. The calendar may not say it, but with kids across the country going back to school, the winds of change are fast moving to fall!

You know that first day of school when your teacher asks you how your summer went, and you blank out and can only say “Good…” That’s me every time someone asks me about the past few months! If for nothing else, this is to remind me of all the things, big and little, that made up my summer of 2011.

Fathers Day was spent at a Sacramento River Cats game. They ended up losing, but the dance by the field cleaners and Roof Boy and Roof Girl kept us entertained.

My sisters signed us up for a cake decorating class. I decided to stick to photography, though this cake did turn out pretty good!

The 4th of July was our annual bbq with friends followed by my 31 Bits party, then we packed up our van and headed north.  Our 10 day trip to Oregon and Washington started at Tule Lake near the California border. This is where my grandpa was sent to an internment camp during World War II. He can still picture Abalone Hill and the exact bunker where he lived.

A little hike along the Rogue Valley lead me to my mini project during the trip: taking pictures of cute dogs.

Crater Lake was amazing and beautiful! This past year they got over 600 inches of snow! Looking out at the lake, I felt like it needed its own mystery monster like Nessie.

The valley around Mt. Hood was beautiful and full of wonderful fruit! We ate so many cherries during our trip!

My 31 Bits beads were my jewelry of choice during the trip, and I got compliments wherever I went. Just spreading the word across the Northwest!

Multnomah Falls was so cool to finally see in person!

The road to Mount Saint Helen was surrounded by trees that had been planted since the eruption. No, they’re not blurry, this pixelatedness is what it really looked like!

Experimenting with taking a picture through a telescope–look closely and see an elk!

It was a cloudy day, but thankfully we were able to get glimpses of the top of Mount Saint Helen before it was covered up for the rest of the day.

It’s amazing how much destruction was caused and how much is still affected today. You can still see the random piles of logs still sticking out of the mud along the riverbed.

“If you look out this window at Mount Saint Helen…never mind the clouds, let’s look at the model on the table…”

At Boeing’s Future of Flight Aviation Center

Seattle

This cute dog was from Japan and only understood Japanese!

I think this doughnut machine is the coolest.

Have a toothache?

This gospel quartet was singing outside and gathering large crowds. One little guy even stopped in the street to dance along, lifting up his hands in affirmation. It made me want to grab Austin and Andrew and do the same thing at home!

Pikes Place–the birthplace of the first Starbucks

I have so much more to share, so it’ll have to wait for another post!

FILED IN: personal

comments +

  1. Emily says:

    Beautiful pictures!!

  2. m. blair says:

    Please tell your sisters the cake looks lovely! (The pictures are lovely too of course =D)
    Your trip sounds so fun! I love road vacations like that–there is so much to see and memories to be made in between the destinations that a lot of times people miss. Thanks for sharing!

  3. LadyM says:

    That is neat–history-wise–that you got to visit the internment camp where your grandpa had to stay. The pic of Crater Lake is beautiful!!!

  4. Leeann Marie says:

    Looks like you had some wonderful trips! That photo of the trees was messing with my eyes! :

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