Wednesday, October 30, 2013
August's Ketchikan Trip - Bears, Flying, and Beaches
Back in August I went to Ketchikan for two weeks to work. I stayed with my friend Katie and her glorious cat Bella and it was AWESOME. It was when I was having some life problems and it was nice to be around a girlfriend for two full weeks. I ended up working almost every day that I was there, which wasn't what I expected but it was really nice to earn some money and keep my mind busy.
One of the fun things I got to do was go on Promech's Neet's Bay bear tour. The planes fly out and drop people off at the Neet's Bay salmon hatchery where bears love to congregate. The bears are too busy gorging themselves on salmon to notice there's a bunch of people watching them, so it's good times for all! It was awesome that my dad was able to get me on one of his flights! The weather that day started out horribly rainy and eventually got super sunny and warm. In sum, it was a pretty darn good day and fun to hang out with my dad!
See the family resemblance? ;o)
Back Island submarine test facility
Approaching Neet's Bay
I ate crab on this houseboat in Nakat Inlet years ago! So surprised to see it here!
Puck, our guide, explains "bear trees" to people. Bears like to scratch them, which gives information to the other bears, such as how big they are.
A bear den
Yay! We saw a bear!
This guy hung out for just a little bit, checking out the creek. No salmon at this time, though!
The day that I was leaving I had time that morning to use Katie's car, so I drove to my two favorite beaches in Ketchikan, South Point Higgins and Refuge Cove, and spent some much needed thinking time there. It was another gorgeous Alaskan day, as you can see!
Even though I didn't hardly get to see people and have many adventures, it was still a GREAT trip! I can't believe it was my first trip home since I was there for a month last fall! I just can't wait to go back again. So much travel happening in the next year!
Monday, October 28, 2013
Transitions
My birthday card from Amy last year...little did we know that 2013 WOULD be worse than 2012. ;o)
Man, this year, I tell ya.
I did not plan for two months to pass between my last post. The past three months or so have been the worst, most stressful months I've ever had. My life turned completely upside-down for awhile. It's finally getting back to being normal again. I did have some adventures during this time period that I'll be blogging about. I went to Ketchikan for two weeks and worked my butt off. I went camping in central Oregon's high desert and hiked to the top of Smith Rock. I paid my Antarctica trip (!!!) and got accepted to Conservation VIP's Torres del Paine volunteer trip, which means I'll be heading to Patagonia in March for two weeks!!! (Checking off TWO life dreams next year!)
I really do think life is finally back on the up and up. It feels good to be back.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Don't Panic
Sorry for the radio silence as of late. I've had a heck of a past couple of weeks. I think I have run the full gamut of emotions. But you know what? Life is good. I have a lot to be thankful for right now. I've actually been back in Ketchikan the past week and have been working a ton, which is great since I could use the money. Tonight when I got off from working my second job of the day I took a long walk around town in the rain by myself and did a lot of thinking. Even though sometimes life doesn't pan out how you thought it would, that's okay. Sometimes there's a lot of uncertainty and that's okay, too. Things always have a way of working out for me and I just roll with it. I don't need to plan everything. I don't need to know what's going on every second. I just need to do what I need to to be happy and focus on myself a bit right now. And sometimes that includes long walks in the rain at night.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Today Is My Fifth Portlandiversary (And I'm Spending it in Canada)
Image by Steve Morgan
I did it, kids!
Today marks my fifth year of living in Portland, Oregon, also known as Bridgetown, the City of Roses, Beervana, Stumptown, and Rip City. It was five years ago today that I landed in Bellingham, WA, on a 36 hour ferry ride from Ketchikan, and then drove down to Portland to begin my new life with Jonathan. You can see two past posts about previous Portlandiversaries here (from 2010) and here (from 2011).
This weekend we are in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, celebrating the wedding of one of my favorite people, Stina, to her awesome wonderful new husband, Ben! It has been about two years since I've seen Stina, I believe, so it's been AWESOME to spend time with her and I think this is a pretty good reason to be out of Portland on my fifth Portlandiversary.
In honor of five glorious and weird Portland years I give you five of my favorite things about PDX.
1. Hiking!
2. The Oregon Coast!
How I Spent New Year's Day in 2012 (This also has us at Fort George Brewery in Astoria)
Team Brittanathan Coast Windstorm Adventure (in which I bribed Jonathan with fish tacos)
3. Beer! (Though mentioned many times on the blog, PDX is a good place to start a drive from!)
4. Mount Hood Adventures!
(Wow, I know we've had lots of other Mt Hood adventures that I apparently never blogged!)
5. Random Adventures
Here's to another five years in Portland! ;o)
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Hoyt Arboretum: A Woodland Dream in Portland
The latest house I've been house-sitting is near Hoyt Arboretum. Like, it's the backyard of the house practically. My new dog friend Zach and I have been spending many glorious nature-filled hours exploring all over the arboretum in the past few days, so I thought I'd share some pictures. The arboretum boasts twelve miles of trails over almost 200 acres! As you can imagine, there's a lot to see!
I tend to stick to the more tree-filled areas because it reminds me of home, but walking through the flower and shrub areas always makes me find something new! Also, there are more than 6,000 specimens and 1,400 species, which are labeled so you can easily identify them. There's birches, oaks, redwoods, spruces, cedars, all sorts of trees!
If you like nature and haven't been to the arboretum, I highly suggest you go! It would also be a lovely place for a visitor of Portland to see also. You can get there by TriMet (both MAX and bus), car, or foot. Basically, what I'm getting at in this post, is that it's amazing and you should go. :o)
I tend to stick to the more tree-filled areas because it reminds me of home, but walking through the flower and shrub areas always makes me find something new! Also, there are more than 6,000 specimens and 1,400 species, which are labeled so you can easily identify them. There's birches, oaks, redwoods, spruces, cedars, all sorts of trees!
If you like nature and haven't been to the arboretum, I highly suggest you go! It would also be a lovely place for a visitor of Portland to see also. You can get there by TriMet (both MAX and bus), car, or foot. Basically, what I'm getting at in this post, is that it's amazing and you should go. :o)
These were all taken with my iPhone 4.
Monday, August 12, 2013
Saving Money and Having Fun: Visiting a U-Pick Farm in Portland
Thank you, Amy, for the cute pic of myself!
On Friday I got to do something that I've only done one other time since I've lived in Oregon, which is visit a u-pick farm. What's a u-pick farm, you ask? Well, it's a farm where you get to go pick all the fruits, vegetables, and flowers you want and it's cheaper that way because you're doing the work yourself! I coerced Amy to go with me right when Sauvie Island Farms opened because I wanted to get out there and get pickin' before the sun got super hot. Luckily she was game (after a yummy coffee) and we had a great time!
My main goal was to pick a bunch of blueberries, but I was open to getting other fruits or berries, as well. Jonathan makes smoothies every morning and fruit really adds up in cost! Since it's something we use daily I wanted to stock up. Blueberries, marionberries (a kind of blackberry that only grows in Oregon), and blackberries at the farm were only $2 a pound! We also ended up getting broccoli ($1/lb), kale ($3/lb), beets (don't remember price), corn on the cob (25 cents an ear), and more! We spent four hours at the farm and picked.....
wait for it.....
35lbs of berries!
After getting home I began the task of cleaning and processing everything. This has taken a few days, because it takes time to freeze things in batches. You have to freeze the blackberries and broccoli on cookie sheets and then transfer them into bags or containers because otherwise you end up with a large chunk of plant matter frozen together and it's hard to get it out later for use. Also, vegetables contain an enzyme that makes the plant mushy if you don't blanch them before you freeze, so I've had to do the corn and broccoli in small batches because there is only so much room in our freezer. But Amy and I had a great time and I'm happy to save money and do something fun with my friend!
Back at home I processed the berries first since they are the most delicate. Sunday afternoon I started in on the broccoli. I had to trim all of it and clean it. I ended up only being able to blanch and freeze one bowl's worth, so I'll have to do the rest later.
This is what our freezer is currently looking like. It's getting more and more filled and soon will be lined with containers full of fruit and vegetables and in a few days I'll be stocking up on chickens and those will be in the freezer as well!
Everything I bought ended up costing $66, which sounds like a lot until you think about how much this can all cost at the grocery store. Blueberries are usually $4-6 per pound, broccoli is usually a couple bucks, and those are foods we eat quite a bit. I have bought several 2lb bags of blackberries at New Seasons and Whole Foods that are in the $9-10 range! I'm hoping to go get more fruits and veggies later but will have to see how full our freezer is first.
Have you ever done a u-pick farm? Would you ever do one?
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