Columbia Gorge, OR

This is an area east of Portland. The Columbia River Gorge is a river canyon cutting a route through the Cascade Mountain Range that is 80 miles long and up to 4,000 feet deep. The north canyon walls are in Washington State and the south canyon walls are in Oregon State. There are many beautiful waterfalls and hiking trails here.













View from the bridge, down the waterfall








Wildflowers everywhere!

Woodburn, OR - Tulip Festival

During this second trip to the Tulip Festival, we caught more flowers in bloom than in the first time. The pictures really don't do it justice, though. You really have to be there to fully experience the wide stretches of color everywhere.

Beaverton, OR - more pics of our new home

A cool view of the moon during the day, near home


An open meadow, near home. These are pretty common here. Living in Los Angeles, you get so accustomed to every available inch of space being crammed with buildings and parking lots, it's positively astonishing to see so much open space. And really refreshing!


A full moon peeking from between the clouds, silhouetted behind the trees - as seen from our balcony

Random thoughts - Oregon

As you can probably imagine from the pics and descriptions, living here has been incredibly cathartic, and we are convinced that moving here was the right choice. We are continually amazed by the beauty of this place and by how friendly and polite people are. It's also much more diverse than you might think. Hence, if arts and culture are your thing, there's a whole lot of that from people of various ethnicities, religions, lifestyles, you name it.

There is also deep concern for the environment here. Advertisements frequently describe why the product at hand helps lessen environmental impact. TV programs and public service announcements help teach appreciation for nature and what we can do to protect it. All the major streets seem to have bike lanes, and you see a lot more bicyclists and pedestrians here. There is also emphasis on public transit of numerous kinds.

There's so much more to tell, but suffice it to say that our new home seems to have all the wonderful arts and diversity and great things to do that Southern California has, but with a lot more concern for the environment, much cleaner air and water, way more comfortable weather, way less crime and traffic, tons more trees and parks, much nicer people, and clean beautiful neighborhoods that average people can actually afford. Wow. Wow. Wow. We still can't believe we live in such a lovely place!!

Backposting

There's a pic of me and my Evil Twin from 3/11 that I posted back in the Goodbyes post, because I just got to it. Them's the breaks when everything has to be unpacked. Hehe enjoy.

Beaverton, OR - our new home

Our balcony overlooks the brook and duck pond. The ducks fly right past our balcony when they leave the pond at night.


Close-up of the duck pond


The entrance to our apartment complex


Our street


The neighboring street


This park is literally a 2-minute walk from our place. It has lots of trees, little creeks, a couple of pretty meadows, a basketball court and a playground.






A cool view of the moon, near home


More to come.....