Bye Bye Washington...

I'll start this entry with an interesting fact, well, at least interesting to me.... When showering at Washington State Parks, expect to pay a fee to use hot water. The showers at Cape Disappointment State Park are $.50 for 3 minutes of hot water. I've managed to spend $1.25 per shower, while Richie has it down to $.75. Of course, Richie has less hair on his head than I do... and I'll admit... I like to hang out in the warm water.

Thursday, March 5th: We woke-up at a respectable time this morning and decided to hit the road early and drive the northwest tip of the Oregon coast down to the Tillamook Cheese Factory.








It was an 80 mile trek for some sample cheese and a scoop of ice cream - and it was worth every minute!



Our journey into Oregon presented some hysterical signs. I'm not sure if it was the Tillamook ice cream or just a silly vibe in the car, but everywhere we turned there was a funny or unusual sign. Let's take a look at a few...


This first one is dedicated to my sister, Maria.




















This one was a little confusing... I have to stop, but not really?






We really liked this one, dollarish.



















Read more about the Crab Races here.













Hurricane evacuation signs?





No comment on this one...



















Yummy coffee!

















After our brief coastal adventure, we drove to Jennifer's house in Hillsboro, OR (Richie's cousin).


She has two cats:
Anastasia - 10 years old - and a very timid girl. When she finally warmed up to us - she enjoyed rolling on the floor and having her belly scratched.


Stanley - 8 years old - is a handsome fellow who plays by his rules, and his rules only. He doesn't like to be held and has a mean left hook.


Luckily both kitties are declawed!

Thursday night, we ate pancakes for dinner at a friend of Jennifer's house - Riley. Love pancakes for dinner!


On Friday, we decided to tour Portland. It is a great city full of wonderfully hidden amusements.
Our bikes were in need of a tune-up, so we loaded them on "The Max" (public transportation) and headed to Performance Bikes, where the nice folks took great care of our 2-wheel friends.


The Max was a pleasant experience, and much cheaper than driving and paying for parking (only $4.75 for an all-day pass)!









We walked the riverfront and the city, each splurging on a used book at Powell's bookstore and a cup of coffee.




We ended our Portland tour by people-watching in Pioneer Square.

There was loads to see...

The hacky-sack tossers


Police keeping the peace and Mormans spreading the word!


Our Friday night was spent at Jennifer's house, where we cooked curry with veggies and met cool Dave, Jennifer's good friend. The curry was great - with smoke coming from our ears and everything!

While Friday was an incredibly beautiful day with warm temperatures and blue skies - the weather was taking a turn for the worse - and Saturday was looking quite grim. As some of you know, we had plans to skydive on Saturday with Skydive Oregon. Unfortunately, they don't jump in rain or clouds, so we had to cancel. We were looking forward to jumping - and to see Jennifer in her element. Bummer.

With the disappointing no skydiving news, Jennifer suggested we all go to Mt. Hood and snowboard. We thought this was a terrific idea, as neither Richie or I have ever snowboarded!
It was an early rise on Saturday, and for 2-hours, Richie and I learned the snowboarding ropes. Jennifer's been boarding all season, and is quite good, so she quickly hit the slopes.


Richie caught-on pretty quickly - lucky duck has a knack for these sort of things. I was learning quickly, but not as quickly as I had hoped. By the end of the 2-hour lesson, we both had the snowboarding thing down. Balancing on the board was not the issue for me, really... it was stopping!

We went to the top of Buttercup (a whopping 4523 feet, and the smallest, safest slope on the mountain). I only did one run - my knee was pretty banged up from the morning lesson, but Richie did two additional runs.














It's interesting to learn about snowboarding.
I ride "Goofy" - meaning I lead the board with my right foot.
There are a few ways to test wether you are "Goofy" or not. I decided to stand up and have someone push me from behind. Whichever foot comes out first to stop you, that's the foot you lead with.


Richie thought he rode "Goofy" as the test determined, but during his final run, he was coming down the slope and his body shifted and he discovered he was more comfortable leading with his left foot. If you lead with your left foot - it's called "regular."


You'd think they could come up with better names! Wouldn't you rather ride "Regular" than "Goofy?" Okay - me neither!

The weather on Mt. Hood was great, and there were hundreds of people on the mountain. The snow was fresh and powdery - apparently perfect conditions to ski and board. Richie and I watched enviously at the little kids who were picking up on this skiing and snowboarding thing so quickly. Their center of gravity is much lower - making it easier to maneuver... plus, they are unstoppable - so they can practice for hours at a time!


When we got back to the parking lot, Sally the Subaru was iced over. Incredible!

We ended our adventure with a treat from Joe's Donut Shop in Sandy, Oregon and hot chocolate. I had an apple fritter in memory of Tom.


Sunday we woke up at 10am (eek!) and were sore from our snowboarding adventures. It's amazing how tense your body gets when doing something new! So, it was off to the gym for "active recovery." We rowed 3000 meters (10 push-ups every 500 meters) and did some EODs from McCloud.

What are EODs, you might ask?
To keep up with our regular exercise routine, we asked our trainer to send us an Exercise of the Day. It's been great fun for us. Here are some exercises we've received so far
(Warning: Some exercises have silly names, but it's the way we remember them. Try them at your own risk!)

Fast feet for 50 feet x 3 with 30 second rest between 50's
Inch Worm with pushups x 10
Squat 180 turn - x 20
25 Hands overhead Squats
20 bodyblasters
6 x Pancake pushups - progress hands out 2 inches x 4 then back 2 inches x 4
20 forward rolls on the grass
12 Handsprings
10 Shoulder pushups - knees on bench
100 Jumping Jacks


It was a rainy/snowy Sunday, so we spent the rest of the day inside doing laundry and prepping for the next leg of our trip.