Last Friday I flew to Portland, Oregon to spend the weekend with my parents, my brother Dave and my friends Chris and Sara (Dave, Chris and Sara all live there and my parents were on vacation). I was staying in Hillsoboro at Chris and Sara’s house. Thanks to Wikipedia, I learned that this town is home not only to Intel’s largest facility but is also the headquarters of Pizza Schmizza. Thank you, Wikipedia.
My trip was busy. Friday night was spent eating dinner with my family at the Kennedy School, an old elementary school that has been turned into a number of restaurants and bars. I met up with Chris and Sara later and they gave me a ride back to their house where we drank Soy White Russians. This reminded me of an infamous birthday party for my friend Chad a few years back where too much vegan cake and too many Soy White Russians were consumed. I’m not even vegan any more, but I can’t give them up.
Saturday was spent wandering around Portland.
This picture shows Pioneer Square downtown, a large public space that was once a famous hotel and then was a parking lot. There was a lot of activity downtown this weekend because of the Rose Festival and Twilight Parade. Later in the day, we made our way over to Washington Park to see the Rose Garden and the Japanese Garden.
Sunday was spent doing the Mt. Hood loop. I went with my brother and parents to see the surrounding coutryside and visited Multnomah Falls, the second highest waterfall in the U.S. 
The drive went through the scenic Columbia River Valley, but the real goal was Mt. Hood. Part of the Cascade Mountains, Mt. Hood looms over the city of Portland and is perpetually snow-capped. This was my second weekend in a row on a snowy mountain, last weekend’s visit to Mt. Shasta was slightly less snowy though because of its more southerly latitude.
After a small meal 6,000 ft. up the mountain at the Timberline Lodge (perhaps you have watched “The Shining”?) , I met a ground squirrel/ chipmunk/ rodent that was very unfazed by my camera. Perhaps the alititude was making it friendly. We returned to Portland and went to Chris and Sara’s for a home-cooked meal. Monday was cloudy, but we still managed to make it to the Hoyt Arboretum just as the sun was coming out. I returned to San Francisco Monday evening.
wow, those pics are great – i want to go to oregon so bad – it sounds like you had an amazing trip! (me=jelously home with the flu).
oh, btw, thanks for reminding me of the soy white russians – if you recall, my stomach didn’t like that combo of vegan cake and soy white russisns….i was quite ill (though we had an awesome time that night anyway). yay for sweet nostalic memories!
Wow, soy white russians. I will never have those again…well, not along with vodka tonics, captain and cokes, vegan birthday cake, 2 pitchers of labatt blue while bowling, jumping out of a moving car, and then captain and coke again. I say that every friday, but it ends up happening over and over.