Mount St. Helens

30 years since the blast.

Visitors

My parents have been here since Sunday, and we've been having fun showing them around Oregon. Off to Mount St. Helens in the morning. More pictures to come soon!

Cloudy day at Cannon Beach.

Can you spot them on the bridge?

Conference call with Jeremy.

Dinner at McMenamins.

A weekend in LA

Since we are so close, I couldn't pass up a visit to California to see Emily. She had a great weekend planned for us including a lot of hiking, biking, and relaxing by the pool. Emily was so sweet to find a bunch of vegan/vegetarian places for us to explore. Yum. It was a great weekend.

Cooling off on a hike.

Cooling off at home. It sure is hot in LA. :)

Eddy was kind to put up with all of my snuggling.

Can you imagine having a lemon tree in your backyard?

Santa Monica

Biking along the beach on our sweet beach cruisers.

Downtown LA in the hazy distance.

We didn't get quite as close to the Hollywood sign as Ali and Frank did. :)

Thanks for a fun weekend Emily!

Backpack

We are going backpacking in August, so of course Tucker needed a backpack of his own. :) It's about time he gets to carry his own weight around here. More importantly though, it's about time he gets to carry his own poop.

We thought we'd try it out over the weekend, and it turns out he loved the backpack.

He also loved eating the grass/ferns/leaves on this lush trail. I did NOT love cleaning up his puke later that night.

Soccer overload

It's been World Cup central at our house lately. (Luckily it only happens every four years). We watched the third place match on Saturday. Yay Germany! Sunday afternoon we watched the final game of the World Cup. Boo Spain! Nothing against you, it's just that the Netherlands is the Hoitink homeland. THEN, if one game isn't enough for one day, we took the train downtown to watch the Portland Timbers vs. Atlas (Mexico). The only reason I wrote this post is because I wanted you to see the weirdest mascot in the history of sports.

He sawed off a slice for every Timber goal.

I hate these horns.

Farmers Market

We spent the morning at the Farmers Market in Portland. We have a few little markets in our neighborhood during the week, but it was fun to go to Portland's big market. You could really spend the whole afternoon there.

My favorite flowers.

More lavender.

The bread stands take me back to Italy.

YUM.

More pictures?? His face doesn't show it, but he is so excited about his purchase.

Enjoying the sunny day.

Loving the heat

It's 95 in Portland today, and I couldn't be happier. When I saw what the high was going to be today, I figured I'd be hiding out inside my house wishing we had AC. Nope! Don't get my wrong, it's still hot. But it turns out that 95 is beautiful when there is no humidity.

I'm sorry if you're reading this from the East Coast. Feel free to visit us in Portland to get some relief from the humidity!

An added bonus of the heat is that Tucker needs less exercise. On a normal day we walk an hour in the morning and another long walk in the afternoon. With the heat, he's good with just going around the block. I enjoy taking walks with him, but I'm loving the fact that I don't NEED to walk him. Tomorrow is supposed to be 98. Bring it on!

San Juan Islands

The San Juan Islands were at the top of my list of places to visit while living in the Pacific Northwest. It was like a less touristy and more scenic Door County, so I quickly fell in love. We stayed on Orcas Island and getting there was half the fun! The ferry ride from Anacortes was a little over an hour. We decided to leave our car in Anacortes and just take our bikes across to the island. Ambitious considering the hills on Orcas, but we weren't interested in waiting for hours at the ferry landing. Bikes can board immediately, while cars wait in line for hours on a holiday weekend.

Away we go!

1.5 hour ride from Anacortes, WA to Orcas Island.

Our hotel.

The view from our balcony.

Deer Harbor

Saturday was the first day of the Tour de France, so in honor we thought we would climb a mountain on our bikes. I kid you not. We summited Mt. Constitution on our bikes. That's a whopping 2400 ft climb! I think I deserve the polka dot jersey after my effort.

Quick stop to enjoy the view halfway up. Still plenty to climb, but we've heard the top is the best view from the island. So onward and UPward we go.

THIS is the view from the top?? I guess that's what happens when you bike above the clouds. :)

We did it! It was especially fun to get passed on a nasty switchback by the cars with their nice road bikes attached to the rack while I was going 4mph. Wimps.

It was FREEZING at the top. Enjoying the complimentary hot chocolate before heading back down.

Back beneath the clouds, so pit stop for a picture.

Pony.

Ferry

I loved the deck at our hotel. Enjoying a quick breakfast before taking the ferry back to the mainland.

Goodbye Orcas Island.