Janel and I are off to France tomorrow bright and early. I *plan* on updating this blog during the trip with photos and such ... so check back during the next 10 days if you want to see how much fun we are having (other than when I am at the conference).
Friday, June 23, 2006
Sunday, June 11, 2006
My Parents Visit
My parents came for a visit last week. Tuesday morning we had breakfast and I showed them around Intel. They then went out to the coast while I finished up my work week. Friday I had a "quarterly" with my group where we all went out to Cannon Beach (Ecola State Park actually) for a BBQ and an afternoon of no work. This was a lot of fun, and my parents met us and got to meet many of the people in my group. We had a good time all in all ... I will have to get some pictures from Yen who actually was more of a camera fanatic than I usually am. Friday night they came and watched Janel and I play soccer.
Saturday we did the "visitor" thing. We hit up the Rose and Japanese Gardens in Washington Park (I was too cheap to ever go to the Japanese Garden before) ... and then wandered around downtown a bit (REI, Powell's, etc). Janel was out taking her final teaching tests while we were doing all of this. She has passed all her tests so far ... and it is good that she is finally done (I don't have to listen to her complain about tests ever again (hopefully)).
Sunday we went on a hike to Eagle Creek. We have been there before, but this was the first time that I did the 12 mile trip out and back from Tunnel Falls. This was a great hike, although there were a ton of people out. Below is a picture of all of us at Lower Punchbowl Falls. It was supposed to have the falls in the background :) ... but oh well.
It was very interesting coming back to this trail (we were here two weeks ago). The water level has come down like 6-8 inches since then. I had to wade out in the river to see Punchbowl Falls two weeks ago, but had no trouble taking a picture this week. I brought my chaco's ... so I decided to wade all the way across to make use of them :).
We had a great lunch about a mile past the "High Bridge." There were a couple small waterfalls that we could see through the trees, so we made our way through the forest to the river to a great lunch spot.
Tunnel Falls was huge ... by far the best falls on the entire trail. It is pretty cool ... there is a tunnel that goes behind the waterfall so that you can follow the trail around. Just past Tunnel Falls is another waterfall. It is not really possible to see it though, because of the angle, but there are some huge cliffs (see picture below). I was going to make my "newbie" backpacking trip down this trail ... but I might have to reconsider because of the possibility that people are afraid of heights. We shall see...
All in all I had a great visit with my parents :). You can see all the pictures here. Related Link
Saturday we did the "visitor" thing. We hit up the Rose and Japanese Gardens in Washington Park (I was too cheap to ever go to the Japanese Garden before) ... and then wandered around downtown a bit (REI, Powell's, etc). Janel was out taking her final teaching tests while we were doing all of this. She has passed all her tests so far ... and it is good that she is finally done (I don't have to listen to her complain about tests ever again (hopefully)).
Sunday we went on a hike to Eagle Creek. We have been there before, but this was the first time that I did the 12 mile trip out and back from Tunnel Falls. This was a great hike, although there were a ton of people out. Below is a picture of all of us at Lower Punchbowl Falls. It was supposed to have the falls in the background :) ... but oh well.
It was very interesting coming back to this trail (we were here two weeks ago). The water level has come down like 6-8 inches since then. I had to wade out in the river to see Punchbowl Falls two weeks ago, but had no trouble taking a picture this week. I brought my chaco's ... so I decided to wade all the way across to make use of them :).
We had a great lunch about a mile past the "High Bridge." There were a couple small waterfalls that we could see through the trees, so we made our way through the forest to the river to a great lunch spot.
Tunnel Falls was huge ... by far the best falls on the entire trail. It is pretty cool ... there is a tunnel that goes behind the waterfall so that you can follow the trail around. Just past Tunnel Falls is another waterfall. It is not really possible to see it though, because of the angle, but there are some huge cliffs (see picture below). I was going to make my "newbie" backpacking trip down this trail ... but I might have to reconsider because of the possibility that people are afraid of heights. We shall see...
All in all I had a great visit with my parents :). You can see all the pictures here. Related Link
Sunday, June 4, 2006
Relaxation
Janel and I decided to keep this weekend simple, as things are going to be pretty packed for the rest of the summer. Friday night we had a couple of fun soccer games early in the evening. Our second game was against some high school kids, which I always enjoy :). Despite the fact that the ball had to be on our side of the field for 75% of the game, we pretty much trounced them 7-3. I had a couple of nice goals (boys are only allowed to score 2 goals in our league), and Janel's shot is really improving as well. Saturday, Jason and Pablo joined us on a trip downtown to the Rose Festival. We went to some carnival on the waterfront. The had some fun looking rides ... but they all cost at least $3.50 ... and I was much too cheap to partake in that. After that we went over to the Saturday Market and wandered around a bit. I saw some nice photography, which reminded me that I have been meaning to buy some more picture frames and get some more photos up. Today we are taking it easy ... need to clean up the place because my parents will be visiting next weekend. The weekend after that we are planning on heading up to Seattle to visit Jenn ... and then we will be off to France.
Thursday, June 1, 2006
Alkaline Trio Concert
On Wednesday Janel, Shelley, and I went to see the Alkaline Trio at the Crystal Ballroom. The Draft and The Lawrence Arms openned for them. This was the first concert I had been to in a long long time, and I had a lot of fun. The Draft and Lawrence Arms were okay (although Janel and Shelley really were not into the latter) ... but the Alkaline Trio played one of the longest sets I have ever experienced before. They started out playing their entire first album, Goddammit ... which I really enjoyed. They then played a few songs off of their most recent album (Crimson) ... but not too many, and a few new songs, along with a smattering of others from their various albums. One thing that I thought was strange about the whole experience was the amount of cell phones and gadgets that everyone in the crowd seemed to have. People were texting on these little devices with QWERTY keyboards and camera phones were out in force. Obviously, this was a lot different than what was the standard at the shows that I grew up going to (not to be judgemental ... just interesting how things have changed). I left my camera phone at home :) ... so no pictures to post for this entry. Despite being 25 ... I still enjoy the thrill of the crowd, despite the fact that the people in there with me are starting to look a bit young.
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