Showing posts with label Portland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Portland. Show all posts

3.08.2010

A year of travel--reviewed.

I haven't written for a while, I'm a busy person. I decided that since it's officially been one year since Lindsay and I took our very first trip together I would celebrate with a post dedicated to some of my favorite photos of us and a bit of reflection. Here goes...

The very first trip that Lindsay and I ever took together was to Tennessee for my 28th birthday. I'm not gonna lie, it was a wreck mess because we couldn't get it together, but there were some good times (as always, duh). We rented a cabin for my bday and off we went.
Gatlinburg, Tennessee 02.09

Chillin' on the balcony of our cabin.
Being incredibly in love.
We ultimately had a good time on this trip. It was just a little rough. We had only been together for about three months and we hadn't figured each other out, yet. We still made the most of it!



Chicago, Illinois 04.09
This is one of the shortest(two days), fun-filled trips I have ever been on in my life. Lindsay and I went to Chicago for her first Girlyman show. It was fantastic. We saw Millennium Park, I rode a train for the first time in my life, the Girlyman show was excellent, and we did some touristy stuff, which actually was really cool. By the time we took this trip, we had our shit together (finally) and realized that traveling together made for the best times.
See us? :)~
On Navy Pier. I LOVE this picture.
Our last day in Chicago.




Portland, Oregon 8.09
Since Lindsay was gone nearly six weeks out of the summer, we decided it was time to take a real vacation. We didn't have any particular place in mind...just somewhere that neither one of us had previously been. We googled a map of the U.S. and after lots of talking we decided on Portland, Oregon. Excellent choice! We had a blast...although people rave about the food and we didn't understand why (with the major exception of VooDoo Doughnut). Portland is super clean, very GLBT friendly, easy to navigate, and gorgeous. Rent a car and go explore, it's awesome.
The world famous maple bacon bar from VooDoo Doughnut. Absolutely delicious. We waited in line for 45 minutes for these little gems. Worth every second of it.
At the Washington Zoo. They had a ton of animals and exhibits. We loved it, of course.
Wakheena Falls in the Columbia River Gorge. Gorgeous waterfalls all around us.
Let me tell ya, Mount St. Helen looks much closer than it is when you start driving towards it. GEESH! When we had driven as far up as we could go, there was a state park-ish thing. We just walked in (hello, it was open to the public, no gates, no one taking money except inside a building) and took a look at our surroundings. Lindsay was convinced we were going to get kicked out, so the experience was short lived.
Ridiculously in love. Watching the sunset in Astoria, Washington on the beach. This was my first time seeing The Pacific Ocean. It was COLD!!!!



Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 11.09
Lindsay had an APHA conference to attend in Philly in November, so we decided that one of our friends and myself would tag along. Bad idea. I should have stayed home. I got the stomach flu the night we arrived and was sick as hell the entire time. It was awful. However, I still managed to go out and see a little bit of Philly.
Star fish at the New Jersey Aquarium! Yep, that's my hand. Brandi and I went here and acted like five year olds while Lindsay was busy being a big brain.
Thanks for still loving me babe, even when I'm sick and we are traveling. :)






Senegal and The Gambia, West Africa 1.10
It just kinda happened that I got to go on the trip to Africa with Lindsay. I had never been on an international trip before and still to this day, can't believe that we had such an amazing opportunity to share this adventure. I'm honestly still in shock about how inspiring this trip was, so I'm still processing. I got to see things I could never dream of. A couple of things I hold near and dear to my heart from this trip: it opened so many doors for me and my eyes at the same time, made me want to learn Spanish (we had a layover in Spain, plus pretty much everyone speaks Spanish), the trip made me want everyone to SLOOOOW DOOOOWN, and last but not least it inspired me to study Anthropology. Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from the trip. You can check out Lindsay's post to get a more in depth review of our trip.
Welcome to Banjul! This was taken from a tower in downtown Banjul. I composed myself and picked up my jaw long enough to snap this little beauty. :)
BEACH!!!! Did you say beach? The Gambia is landlocked on three sides by Senegal (take a peek, here) but luckily we were staying on the coast, so I got to see (and play in!) The Atlantic Ocean from Africa! HA! As you can see, it was gorgeous.
Lindsay with her favorite thing ever, solar panels. We visited a HUGE hospital out in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE (no seriously) that uses solar power for 90% of it power.
Dream come true! I got to hold this cutie little African baby. He wasn't so sure about me, but let me hold him anyhow. This was taken in a remote village.
A different village with LOTS of kiddos. This is our driver, Yabo's village. The very tall white man is Dr. Nagengast, the man who made all of this happen.
Lindsay and I near a HUGE koi pond at The Gambian President's resort. Just keepin' it classy, as always.
Cattle, just crossing the road. No bigs. This happens CONSTANTLY in Africa. If you don't stop for them and you hit one with your vehicle, you have to find the farmer it belongs to and pay him for his loss.
I found this very interesting. It's just a bore hole to get water from, but I'd never seen anything like that, so I was amused. One of the students lowered a bucket down into the water, pulled it up to our level, and then transported it up a sand hill to the main water pot that the residents use for daily cooking, drinking, etc. NEATO-O.
The group.
We visited a slave house on an island in Senegal. It was uber creepy. This is me in solitary confinement. I was being bad, apparently.



New York City, New York 1.10
Our flight from Africa arrived in NYC later than we could catch a flight back to Indy, so we just stayed there! I had only been once when I was much younger, less traveled, and it was a really bad experience. Lindsay wanted to show me that it's not so bad. She was right! In about 6 hours, we saw Ground Zero (BOOOORRRRRING), Times Square, and Central Park. Oh..and we got lost (kind of). It was awesome.
Ground Zero. I told you it was boring.
Times Square was fantastic! Soooo many people and places.
Excited to be in Central Park. It was nice to escape the noise for a while and see what the hype is about. I figured it out....it's HUGE.
Me and Lindsay in Central Park. We were judging people. =D




I've never traveled this much in one year, ever. It just kind of happened for me/us. As you can see, I've been so many places and met so many people in the past year. I'm so fortunate to have Lindsay in my life. Without her, none of this would be possible and so many other great things wouldn't have happened (going back to school, believing in myself, this deserves a whole other blog post). Our travels will continue and I will always try to share them with you. Stay tuned!







9.08.2009

Portland Day 4

By day four in Portland, we were feeling like we had done almost everything the city had to offer. We had a relaxing day being in love and walking around downtown. We visited Finnegan's Toys, went to the movies and saw "Adam" (which was actually REALLY good...until the ending), and visited VooDoo Doughnuts again. We knew we had to get up early the next morning for our flight home, so we called it a night around midnight. All in all, a great way to wrap up a super fun vacation.

8.25.2009

Day 3 in Portland!

Day 3 in Portland was AMAZING. Lindsay and I had an absolute blast!!! We decided the night before that we would rent a car. We searched around and found the best deal was with Hertz. We got a sporty little car with GPS for I think eighty dollars. Unlimited mileage and we had it for 24 hours. Thanks, Hertz!




We were on the road by 9am. The previous night we mapped out our drive. We would first head east to Multnomah Falls and The Columbia River Gorge, then go back through Portland and north to Mount St. Helens, and IF we had time we would head west to Seaside, OR.

Follow this link to check out our route. It kicked ass.

Anyhow...moving on. So, I took over 200 pictures on day 3. It really was pretty much the best thing ever, so I had to capture pretty much every single moment. No, seriously.


This is the first place we ended up, Wahkeenah Falls. It was gorgeous. There was a nice paved path so we decided to climb up and get a closer look.

As mention, paved path.

Fat kid dying of thirst on paved path.

Oh!!! Good thing I found something to drink! It was actually the best water I've ever tasted. And before you ask, no, I didn't get sick. I live on the edge, occasionally.

Yea, we got SOAKED. Totally worth it.

Shiny, wet-faced Ange and Lindsay in love.

I promised this little guy if he let me take his picture, that he'd become famous. :)

Looking out across the Columbia River.

Me being pissed because Lindsay wanted to continue walking on a path that was leading to nowhere.

Okay, so I got unmad REAL quick and we carried on...

Our next stop, just a mile or so down the road, was Multnomah Falls. It was super gorgeous, but incredibly touristy.

Pretty. Really pretty. Post card pretty.

OH!!! And heart-shaped! Even better!

After being REAL done at the falls, we grabbed a latte and a muffin and headed for Mount St. Helens. Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee???

We couldn't have gotten there without Madge, our little GPS buddy.

Wahoo! We're there! HA! Not quite....
Yea, that big "THING" in the background behind me, that's Mount St. Helens. Little did we know (until informed by a kind information center employee) that it is another hour and a half drive to see that beast up close and personal. Are ya shittin' me? Carry on...no need to get SO CLOSE. Let's go!!!

Thankfully, it was a GORGEOUS day and the drive complimented it well.

All along the drive to the mountain, there are places to pull off and snap away. We did just that. This is what the path of lava flow looks like 30 years later...

A better view.

Post card style.

These folks are SUPER SERIOUS about preservation, understandably so.

"Plants grow by the inch and die by the foot." Clever.

Mount St. Helens from Johnson Observatory.

Thank you, kind Asian family for taking our picture in front of the mountain!!!!

We headed out of there...and back to Oregon!

On the way, we noticed that the speed limit signs are missing a word....

Welcome to Astoria, OR! What an adorable little town! It has ocean! It smells so wonderful!

And lots of ships too!

Lindsay being silly behind a GIANT anchor.

HAHA! This is Lindsay after she made the mistake of ringing this bell. People must have heard it for miles.

Enough of Astoria! Let's get to Seaside where there is BEACH! Down the 101 we go!

Oh god! Sand! Beach!!!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh....so chilly yet so soothing. WE LOVE THE OCEAN...and this was our first trip to the ocean together.


My love splashin' around in the water...we did this for quite some time.

Yay for cool pics at the beach.

OMG! It was soooooooooo chilly after being in the water. So, we burried our feetS in sand.



One of the sweetest moments of my life. Being SO in love with my love, watching the sunset on the beach, in the Pacific Northwest. *PERFECTION*


Sunset in Seaside, OR.


After getting back in the car and cranking the heat up to maximum for a few minutes, we cruised around and ate at a less than satisfactory seafood restaurant. Then we took a very long and dark drive back through the mountains and came within miles of running out of gas. What a great day!