a list of books: Sightseeing Part 1

Kate's parents came into town on the 23rd! We spent the week going from place to place, and i ended up taking over 500 pictures. We picked them up at the Portland Airport on Saturday morning, and spent the day at the Portland Saturday Market. It's a great big affair every weekend during the warmer months with hundreds of arts and crafts open-air vendors showing off their stuff for sale. Lots of painters, photographers, glass-blowers, and jewelry makers along with tons of food and beer and lots and lots of people. After the market we did a self-guided tour of some of the best microbreweries in town (Portland is famous for its home-grown beer). Then we took naps. Then we woke up and had dinner at a great restaurant overlooking all of Portland and the Willamette River.

The next day we woke up and traveled along the Columbia River Gorge making a few stops along the way. The first stop was at the Multnomah Falls, which is one of the highest waterfalls in America. It is a special place for me because when i first got accepted into Oregon, i wasn't really considering coming out here. My roommate, Todd, cut out a picture from one of his surfing magazines of a waterfall in Oregon and left it on my desk. I kept it there and looked at it every once in a while, i guess because it was just such a pretty picture. It always served as a gentle reminder of what I might be missing if I didn't at least come check out the school. So obviously i ended up coming out here, but i never expected to see those particular falls because there are so many in Oregon. It wasn't until we were planning our itinerary that day in portland that I realized they were the same falls, and when I saw them in person it was a pretty wonderful feeling. I will certainly be going back there.

After Multnomah, we kept driving up the Gorge, eventually heading South to Mt. Hood. We had dinner at the same lodge that I had visited on my field trip a couple months back, then headed home to Eugene. It was a great way to start our week with the Torrenzanos.

We stayed in Eugene until Tuesday, then headed to a town called Bend, which is a big resort town out here. We stayed about 15 miles south in a place called Sunriver, at a beautiful resort called Sunriver Resort. We rented bikes and mountain biked along the Desuchetes River to Benham Falls. Jay and Jeanne brought the wine sac they've had since they backpacked Europe 20 years ago, we had lunch, took in some scenery and got a great workout (not to mention some pictures too). As if that wasn't enough, we took the bikes up the river and rented canoes. We spent the next hour and a half floating down the river, which was so peaceful. That night we took in Joe Biden's speech at the Convention while sitting out on the porch of our room, with a great view and a beautiful sunset in the background.

We dropped Kate's parents off in Portland on Saturday morning...but we weren't done yet! It just so happened that Dave Matthews was playing his yearly shows at the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington that weekend, so i couldn't resist. It was only a 4.5 hour drive from Portland, so we bought some tickets on craigslist and headed north for the night. I've seen Dave play about 20 times now, and this was one of the best. Not only was the concert amazing, and so emotional (their saxophonist and one of the founding member's of the band died earlier that week), but you couldn't go wrong with the venue. Watching the show with 20,000 Dave fans, on a beautiful night, with the Columbia River as the backdrop, is not a bad way to spend the night. I've been waiting for almost 10 years now to see him play the Gorge, and it was everything i had hoped. Plus now we know what to do for next years shows!

Ok i'm done for now, but enjoy the pictures! Miss you all!