The Rose City

I'm going to briefly write about visiting Portland, OR.  I'll post later about Washington and L.A.  My Portland trip started with a twelve hour drive from Salt Lake City.  It was a long day driving through the rain in Utah, Idaho and Oregon.  The good news is that I can check two more states off that I'd previously never visited. 

When I got to Portland, I met up with Erika and grabbed a beer at a local bar.  Erika had to work Friday morning so we called it a night pretty early.  The next day, after Erika left for work, I decided to walk around the city.  Erika had informed me that Portland was small enough that I could easily walk across the entire city.  I didn't attempt that.  Instead I went to buy new shoes which were desperately needed.

Erika got done work early so we went to a nice neighborhood to walk around and get some food.  We rode a couple different forms of public transportation.  Seeing 'Portlandia,' the enormous statue downtown was really unique.  After a fun afternoon, we regrouped, had dinner and made plans to go out.  We went to a couple different bars, both with their own flare.  All of Erika's friends were so kind and very friendly to me.

The next day was a walk through Forest Park, a visit to the Rose Gardens and a handful of other 'must see' sites.  That evening, Erika and I took time to visit some of the excellent pub/breweries that Portland has to offer.  We had a blast ordering flights of beers and eating good food.  After a brief respite, we gathered with the roommates again and went to a nice bar and got late night food at 'The Grilled Cheese Grill.'

I was supposed to leave on Sunday, but decided to be lazy and stay another day.  We went grocery shopping, read books, took naps and cooked supper.  What a great day.  That night we watched a movie and went to bed early.  Monday morning, I drove Erika to work and took off for Washington to visit Jamie, Eric and the kids.  Will post later...

Stay Tuned

Sorry for the brief absence.  I haven't had very much Internet access in the past week.  I'm going to try and post later tonight re: Portland, OR and Lacey, WA...

The Top of the Earth

Hello everyone!  Greetings from Salt Lake City, UT.  I'm staying here with my friend Cari and her boyfriend Ryan.  My last days in Fort Collins were a blast.  Having stayed in Colorado for as long as I did, I was able to meet a lot of people and see a lot of great things.  But every good stop leads to another.  And this is no different.

I drove through Wyoming most of the morning and afternoon to get here.  There's not much to see off of I-80 (except a few oil refineries).  But as you get closer to Salt Lake City, the mountains appear and the view becomes absolutely breathtaking.  Without a doubt, one of the most naturally beautiful cities I've ever visited.  The warm, grassy city in the valley is completely surrounded by ginormous snow-capped mountains.  Where Cari lives, you have a great view of Salt Lake City and she's only a short drive from all the ski resorts.

After stuffing our faces at the Cheesecake Factory, Cari and I decided to take it easy, watch a movie and go to bed relatively early.  That put us in great moods to go skiing at Snowbird today.  Snowbird is a huge resort only fifteen minutes away.  We went in the afternoon to save a few dollars and get an afternoon pass.  Without going into extreme detail of the riding I'll say that although the conditions were not 'perfect' I couldn't ask for anything better on my first ski trip out west.  The views were spectacular, the slopes were excellent (snow conditions could have been better) and the lodge/spa afterward was a delightful treat.

We just made it back to the house and deciding what we want to do tonight.  Perhaps the movies.  We'll see I suppose.  Give me a little time and I'll upload some photos I took earlier and post them for you to see.  I hope you are well wherever you are reading this.  Best.