Ashland/Brookings Trip

Now that Fall has arrived in Portland, I figure its about time I get up the pictures of our final days of Summer. A couple of weeks ago we met up with some Scovilles (Sue, Greg, Scott and Bekah) in Ashland to see a Shakespeare play. Then we headed West to Brookings, OR to stay at a beach house for five days. The vacation was lovely, and a wonderful way to end summer. We loved the Shakespeare play, I've always wanted to go and was happy to be able to check it off the list. Walking around Ashland was really nice too. The house we stayed in felt like a Grandma's house with trinkets and very old, cheesy (or should I say "apple-y" there was quite the apple theme) wall paper throughout. These details made it feel cozy though. The deer in Ashland are quite comfortable with people to. At any given point in the day a deer would be in the backyard or walking down the sidewalk. So lovely.

Here is a picture of the Ashland House:

And here are some pictures of our Ashland fun:

 And after a very large breakfast...

 And a 3 hour drive...

We made it to the beach house in Brookings...

Some beach-combing and clam chowder later and we were picking wild-berries for a berry cobbler...

  
 Yummy food was devoured (including delicious Whiskey-chocolate cake and Lamb Tagine)...


and a good time was had by all...

THEN,

On the drive home to Portland, we spotted Elk on the side of the road. Surprisingly this was our second time on this trip spotting these beauties. The first time it was a group of about 40 elk with a good amount of males present, so the antlers were just gorgeous. Unfortunately we didn't take the time to stop and take pictures. Regretting it the whole trip we were so excited to get the opportunity for a second time. This time there was only one male, but still- gorgeous.

 

So, that concludes our grand beach-house-adventure. We had a wonderful time! Can't wait to be home for thanksgiving celebrating the wonderful season of crunchy golden leaves, and crisp cool weather.

Pumpkin Lattes, Pumpkins, Turkey Basters, and Rain...

September is here! September in Portland is very special to me. It marks the anniversary of our big move up from Sacramento (three years this year), Sunflowers are in full bloom gracing every other yard around town, the Swifts (birds) put on a show every night of the month bringing hundreds of Portlanders together, school starts, and the weather begins to change.

Believe it or not this weekend is the first rain I've seen all summer here in Portland. I'm sure it did rain a couple of days this summer but I think I somehow managed to be gone for those days. Anyway, the rain really has gotten me thinking about fall... not only the rain but the presence of Pumpkin Latte's at Palios, and Turkey Equipment at the grocery store has made me realize that summer is coming to a close. School starts for me next Monday and some butterflies in my tummy have started to flutter. I'm not nervous about school starting, rather quite the opposite. I am very excited, and also am slowly becoming more and more emotional about saying goodbye to Portland. I know we still have 8 months left, but I now know how fast 8 months passes by. I feel like school will start and time will be filled with papers, projects and before I know it I'll be graduating and we'll be moving. We are very excited about the moving though! Europe has been in our conversations daily. Our first month will be spent backpacking, and so we have been watching backpacking videos like this one and dreaming up the best route. We will keep you posted as plans firm up. As for now, I hope you are enjoying the last bits of summer as we are.