Grand Canyon--CHECK!

So, to keep my life interesting I (and a few friends) created bucket lists of things we have always wanted to do and accomplish. One item on my list was hike the Grand Canyon. And now I can proudly say -- check!

Okay, okay, we didn't hike all the way down to the river, we were not equiped with camping gear, but we did hike six miles of the Grand Canyon! Even my 60 year old mom made it! Yeah! The biggest challenge was the heat. When it is 87 degrees on top, it is 95 degrees 1/2 way down. If we had reached the bottom, temperatures were reported over 108 degrees. I drank tons of water - a little over 6 litres to be exact, and ate a few Cliff bars along the way. I am really not too worn out, and other than the heat, I would say for at least as far as my family hiked, Mt. Timp was a lot harder. The trail we went on, Bright Angel Trail, really isn't too steep, just winding and winding and continuously winding switch-backs.

Anyway, I have accomplished quite a few things on my list, the Oregon Coast, learn 20 words in a foriegn language, go to a country I've never been too before, hike Mt. Timp in the fall, ride a motorcycle with a cute boy, and quite a few other items, (a few which will remain undisclosed for now) and now I can check off the Grand Canyon! Thank you to my dad who finally gave into my whining and took me there!

Keep Portland Weird

I've seen these shirts on various poeple wandering around the world and have wondered, keep Portland weird, huh? What makes Portland so weird? I discovered what makes it "weird" this last week when we inadvertantly spent an afternoon in Portland while waiting out the rain.


Spend the an hour or two in Powell Books. It is an entire block of old buildings, interior ripped out, now a huge book store with discount books. If Amazon was a physical bookstore, this would be it. Portlanders drink coffee, check e-mail, and read away the afternoon in its windows.



Have a donut at VooDoo Donuts. I'm sure there is somebody you can think of who needs to have their head bitten off! jk :)


Try on vintage clothing at any number of second-hand stores on East Burnside before catching a dollar movie at:

The LaurelHurst Theatre where you can buy wine and vegan pizza to snack on while catching a flick! Suprisingly, the dollar movie and wine is very, very hip in Portland. It seemed oddly appopriate that we watched Alice in Wonderland.


Yes, Portland is a little weird, but also kind of oddly fun.