Oregon Trip Day 4

Day 4 was our museum day.  We started out with the World forestry Center Discovery Museum, then we went to Portland's Japanese Garden (amazingly beautiful!), and then we ended with the International Rose Test Garden. 

Here's Michael trying to look like he knows what he's doing.  :)

Climbing up to the entrance of the Japanese Garden.

I loved the Garden.  It was sooo beautiful!

We decided when we build our home, our backyard is going to be an asian garden.

I love the cherry blossoms there.  Definitely a must have at our home.

The car my godmother lent us.  It was awesome!  It had a nav and everything!

Here's the Rose Test Garden where they test over 10 million roses for commercial use!

Oregon Trip Day 3

Beach day!  Kind of... we drove to the beach... but it was too cold to get out and walk on the beach... It was once again a gorgeous day.  I would have never believed that oregon rained 80% of the year from the looks of our vacation!

Here's the drive to the oceanside!  Once again, beautiful!

Part of the beach view.

Bridge... there were sooo many bridges all over Oregon!

Here we are at the entrance to the Oregon Coast Aquarium at Newport.

The Jellyfish.

One of my favorites!  The Japanese Spider King Crab!  They were awesome!

The seals and sea lion.  We got to see them feed it and train.

Shark!

Yes, we look a little tired...

The absolutely cute sea otter... until they started feeding him.  They're kind of feisty!

The coastline on our way to Tillamook!

Another...

And another...

And more...

Here is the view from Cape Meares at Tillamook.

We were lucky to see the sunset from the coast.

Gorgeous!

My favorite!

Oregon Trip Day 2

Day 2 was quite the exciting day for us.  We started out the morning with a nice drive through Lake Oswego, the city just south of Portland and where we were staying at.  The roads were absolutely a treat to drive on... no potholes!

Absolutely gorgeous roads... and it has its own scenery!

This was the road up to Crown Point Viewpoint!

Here is the view from Crown Point.

Another view.

Here we are at the lookout point.

And another view... it was pretty cool!

After Crown Point Viewpoint we drove up to the Multnomah Falls, the second largest water fall in the United States.  One of the top five in the world!  It was absolutely gorgeous and the weather was perfect!

Here is the fall!

And another...

Yes... it was a little chilly. :)

Isn't he cute?

It was an absolute treat to get a chance to see the falls!

After seeing Multnomah Falls, we drove to the Bonneville Dam to see the salmon hatchery and the sturgeons.  Before the trip... I had no idea what a sturgeon was, I was in for quite the surprise!

This is where they hatch and breed the baby salmon.

Head of a sturgeon!

This thing was huge!  It said they can get up to 20 feet!!!

They kind of look like sharks.

This is where they fed and grew the salmon before they started their swim upstream.

Here is where they simulated a swim "up stream"... it was pretty amazing at how strong the salmon were and how far they could jump out of the water!

When we were finished at the Bonneville Dam, we drove up the loop to see Mount Hood.  It was gorgeous!!! We were so excited to see the peak of the mountain as we were turning the bend!

I couldn't believe how much snow they have already gotten here!

The Timberline Lodge, where we went up to see the sunset.

It was an amazing day, I was completely exhausted afterwards, but was waaay excited for the adventures of tomorrow!

Oregon Trip Day 1

For my birthday trip this year, Michael and I decided to check out Oregon and Washington (since we were considering Oregon or Washington as possible future places to move to).  We got there Monday 10-20 at about 12PM.  My godmother came and picked us up and we went out to lunch and drove around Portland.  I have to say, I was very surprised at how gorgeous Portland was.  The last time I was here was about 10 years ago, so I was genuinely surprised at how beautiful and green the city was. We went to the river that runs right by downtown Portland, the Willamette River.  There was a little walkway and we walked down the harbor and then drove around downtown and the Pearl District.

Here is the boat harbor on the Willamette River.

Here we are atop a roof in the Pearl District of Portland.

"Eights" Tag

8 SHOWS I LOVE TO WATCH
* The Office
* Grey's Anatomy
* Brothers & Sisters
* Ugly Betty
* Life
* Knight Rider
* Who's Line is it
* Desperate Housewives

8 PLACES I LOVE TO EAT AT
* Carabba's
* Z Tejas
* Costa Vida
* Nicoitalia
* Chef's Table
* Zupas
* Kneaders
* Noodles and Company

8 THINGS THAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY
* I went to work
* I caught up on my TV Shows
* I called in Ben's dentist appointment
* I asked Michael to pick up my glasses
* I slept in
* I got a real nice neck massage, compliments of Michael
* I started a list of things to bring for our trip
* I thought about how I didn't want to work today

8 THINGS I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO
* My Birthday
* Our Oregon Trip
* Christmas
* Changing shifts at work
* Mom coming home to visit
* Not having to work for a week and a half
* Getting off work
* The Office on Thursday

8 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT THE FALL
* The changing leaves
* The upcoming holidays
* New episodes of The Office
* Drinking hot chocolate with marshmellows
* Snuggling
* My birthday
* Christmas shoppig
* Birthday trips!

8 THINGS ON MY WISHLIST
* An ideal day at work....
* The Porsche paid off
* Nice massage and spa day
* Not having to answer dumb 911 calls
* A new projector
* A private jet... hehehe
* An Aston Martin Vanquish
* Long life with my hubby

Utah Symphony!

The season finally started again!!! We were feeling deprived and uncultured for a while there, but yesterday was the first of the season for the Utah Symphony. It was the Ode to Joy concert and it was Fantastic!!! We went to Z Tejas for dinner first, and I must say they are absolutely delicious! Their corn bread and chips and salsa is to die for! Then we went over to the Salt Palace to park and walk over to Abravanel Hall. The first half of the concert was a Piano Concerto and the pianist was absolutely amazing, the symphony was incredible, and Keith Lockhart was sweating profusely. hehe. The second half was even better, it was the symphony of Ode to Joy. The symphony had invited guest singers to sing the solo parts, and they blew me away. The tenor was absolutely amazing, he had quite the lungs and a wonderful voice. The baritone had quite the range, the alto was awesome, and the soprano was crazy! It was quite the treat to hear them. Overall, it was a very impressive performance! I'm so excited for the rest of the season to come!!! :D

Citizen's Academy

We got to go to Citizen's Academy again tonight, it was our Medical night... which means we had a barbeque with the fire guys, and yes they can definitely cook a mean meal! :) Then we had an intro to the Ambulance, and how they strap patients into the gurney. Then they surprised us by flying a Life Flight helicopter down for us, and we got to check that out. It was pretty cool, really tight quarters but absolutely amazing what they can do in the helicopter. The pilot was absolutely incredible, he landed the bird like placing china on the kitchen table. It was an incredibly soft landing! Then we were able to go on a ride along with the rescues. It was a 16 year old female unconscious, poss concussion from a soccer game. Michael absolutely loved it! We watched them strap her in, rode on the ambulance down to the hospital, and went in with the paramedics as they checked her in to the ER. It was pretty cool, the paramedic on the ride over took about 5 tubes of blood from the patient while we were driving! I couldn't believe he even got the needle in, the ride was soo bumpy! :D Pictures are pending...

iPhone!

So... we finally got an iPhone!!!!! I'm sooooooo excited! It's probably the coolest thing I've ever owned! I can't believe how fast and how easy it is to use. I can do pretty much anything on the go and never get lost again on vacation! :D I got a 16GB white one with a clear case and Michael got a 16GB Black one with a geek case! ;) And I must say the apple store is one of the coolest stores to shop at, the customer service was awesome, it was quick, easy, and painless! Highly recommend the apple store for all your apple needs! ;)