Mom & Dan, Alex & Carmen visit

 The last visitors of the season have come & gone already. Mom & Dan, Alex & Carmen made it out for a week. It was a warm week, & the weather cooperated for us beautifully. We went to Multnomah Falls, Bonneville Dam, Seattle, & little jaunts around here.
Carmen & I are due 2 months apart, which is pretty awesome. We talked babies, shortness of breath, & names. It was great to reconnect & be in the same phase of life again.

We went up to the Abbey, which is always nice on a clear day: you can see Hood, Mt. St. Helen, & Mt...Adam's? Washington? Can't remember which one, & I have to be accurate now because I've had Oregonians reprimand me in the past for my woeful lack of Oregon know how! All in good fun, of course. 

I also took them into Willammette Valley Pie because every visitor's trip is made richer from a slice of peach raspberry pie or Marionberry turnover. And my coworkers wanted to meet them.

We took off on Friday for highlights in the Columbia Gorge. Multnomah Falls is one of the most impressive falls I've been to. It was a little smaller this time of year, but no less impressive for its hundreds of feet drop. Carmen, Alex, & I hiked to the top. It's a short (it's a little more than 1 mile, despite the misleading signs) hike, but it's all switchbacks & steep. If you ever go, don't get discouraged at the 1 mile mark: you are almost there, & it's all downhill the rest of the switchbacks to the head of the falls.

 See those tiny people in the upper right in the grayish area? Or maybe they're cars...Cause enough for a little vertigo. It's a beautiful view though-you can see the Columbia River & mountains across.

 We went to Bonneville Dam down the road. We saw salmon swimming up the fish ladders & then got to view them underneath, swimming heroically upstream, against all odds. Quick nerdy PNW fact: Of one batch of 5,000 salmon eggs, 5 will make it back to their spawning grounds to lay/fertilize their own. Pretty amazing fish, huh? A nice Segway into our next activity: Dar took the men out on Saturday & they caught 7 of their own to take back to the Midwest.

 While the men were fishing, we women were searching for a sunny beach nearby. First, we went to Cannon Beach, my favorite Oregon beach so far, but it was so foggy we couldn't even see the ocean. So we settled for a crepe & a little shopping, then headed to Seaside to chase down the sun.

 We found some sun, but despite how the photo looks, it was miserably windy & chilly. We parked our chairs in a little cove (the same one the Sinn family was at a few weeks ago for our quick coastal vacation, in fact) & enjoyed it the best we could.

 We headed up to Seattle after Mom & Dan finished their hot air balloon ride.  We met up with Lyle & Angelina after walking around the Space Needle. We chilled at his 23rd (21st? Can't remember-pregnancy brain!) floor apartment, admiring the view & helping him make dinner. He's a wonderful host, don't let him tell you any different. We ate on their apartment building's "party" floor, which has a kitchen, pool table, media room, & deck with grills, all with a view of the Sound & Space Needle. What a different way of life, to have to have a communal space for hosting guests since your apartment's too small! And I think our apartment is limited on space.

We enjoyed Pike's Place Market, only a few minute's walk from Lyle's. I love the flower stands there! So bright & fresh. To be honest, the other shops in the belly of the market kind of creep me out. Dark stairwells, a curious smoky smell, dampish...I'll just take the sunlit outer area full of fish being thrown & flowers & spice arrays & produce of all kinds. Sadly, my appetite has been lacking, & all the different food vendors failed to excite me. Dar was feeling a little under the weather too & didn't get giddy at the sight of a street of ethnic food. I think Al & Carm made up for us though. Ironically, Mom & Alex & Carmen all bought the same French baguette from the same bakery while we were off doing our own things. I find it humorous.

 the view from Lyle's apartment

my first pumpkin spice latte of the season in the city where Starbucks began. Just seemed fitting somehow. 

 The next day we went to the Boeing factory, the largest building on earth by volume, (look at the facts I soak up!) & watched them build jets. It was interesting, but I couldn't take my camera in on the tour so you'll just have to trust me on that. 

We headed home then, stopping for artisan cheese & European sausage to go with the abundance of French baguette we now had. 

The next day they were off, I was back to work, & fall has since arrived! I'll expound on my clichéd love for fall in a future post.