Oh Portland

Well, it's officially spring and it's officially still gloomy here in the NW.  It's not exactly chipper, let's-go'out-and-do-something weather.  It's more like hey-it's-raining-again-let's-go-back-to-sleep kind of weather.  I must will swallow my pride and admit that Weston was correct- I would miss the sun.  I have also diagnosed myself with SAD (seasonal affective disorder).  I do believe I'm seasonally affected.  I miss my friends, I miss CO, I miss my family and I basically just want to go home.  It's just not fun to sit here and watch it rain all day. But I did decide that I will NOT let the rain win!  I will not let it keep me inside anymore!  So last week I put on my rain jacket, my hat and my gore-tex pants and I went hiking in the Gorge.  It was cold and wet, but it was also wonderful.  No one was on the mountain and the view from the top was just as beautiful as it was when it was sunny.  So take that rain!



Colorado!

After the weekend in Santa Fe Mark and I flew up to Colorado to stay for a few days.  He got to meet lots of family and some of my friends.  I think he passed the test.

  

Kyle and Merideth.  They are pretty awesome.

Ryker!!

New Belgium. Mmm

We finally took the tour!

Kyle AKA Beer Ranger!

Mark.  yeah...

Kyle and I wrestling

yeah....

Santa Fe!

Let me take you back to a magical place called Camp Echo.  It was the summer of 2007 and being young and naive I thought it would be a great idea to work at a summer camp full of rich, bratty New York kids, working 20 hours a day for literally pennies a day.  It was an... interesting summer and I met some of my best friends here.  Now fast forward almost 4 years and here we are, reunited again.  Cristina got married and Kat, Terra and I got to go to our first catholic wedding in Santa Fe.  It was lots of fun and so so good to see my camp BFFs.

Dallas. Yee-haw!

I have officially been to Texas! As much as people warned me that Dallas is the armpit of America, I was pleasantly surprised.. Yes, I may have set low expectations, but the point is, it wasn't a horrible place to visit. I was really only there about 36 hours, so we squeezed as much as possible into that time as possible. We went and saw where JFK was shot (morbid) got caught in the middle of an intense pro-choice rally (scary!), met Rachel and Derek for dinner (awesome), and went to the World Aquarium (super cool!). We were also lucky enough to be in the city the same time as 500 cheerleading teams competing in a National Championship. There was just so much glitter...

Grassy Knoll where JFK was shot...

Where Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shots...



Hanging out by the memorial fountain...

At the World Aquarium. Flamingos!!!


A GIANT manatee...


Mark pouting because he wanted the penguin...


Cool fish...



Random sculpture garden...

Being stretchy...


The rally. We had to walk thru that and it was crazzzzy!


Tired after a long day, waiting for the train.


P.S. it was 78* all weekend. It was glorious!