Friday, August 30, 2013

Hiking and a bit of "culture"

When did these boys get so tall?


Quick stop for lunch.

Amazing scenery

In addition to a yummy lunch, there were free Ruby Jewel ice cream sandwiches

The installation on the wall is made entirely of bike helmets

The performing bicycle troupe called the Sprockettes....burlesque on bikes!
One of our favorite places to hike is the Columbia River Gorge. About 45 minutes from Portland, it has amazing hikes for all ability levels and spectacular views. Plus, if you travel a bit further down, you end up in Hood River which is a very unique, vibrant little town filled with windsurfers and cute cafes and shops. Oh-and great ice cream at Mike's Ice Cream. We also recently went to a block party at the Portland Art Museum in honor of their recent Cyclopedia exhibit. The exhibit features the private bike collection of Michael Embacher, who loaned out 40 of his amazing bicycles from his collection in Vienna.  The exhibit itself is stunning and in addition there have been all kinds of bike-related workshops and events. The block party featured some BMX performers doing daredevil tricks on bikes, a fun band, great food and also the Sprockettes...a group of ladies doing a different kind of bike performance. Kind of like Cirque de Soleil meets roller derby. Entertaining for sure but maybe not a good fit for the family crowd!! I tried to explain to the boys that culture comes in many different forms but they were definitely more interested in watching the BMX bikers and eating ice cream sandwiches.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

We went camping







We made great campfires, enjoyed smores, saw bats, went fishing, hiked around Smith Rock, rode horses and in general had an amazing time exploring Central Oregon. It's a great place to be in summer! It's safe to say more camping is in our future.