"I love Oregon!" ~Celeste

(Note: I wrote this post on 9/29 but Blogger was being a pain so I just uploaded it today. Sorry! ~D.)

Hi everyone! Swatchy Prep here. My good friend Swatchy Hugs and I met up in Portland, OR this week to visit our friends Korin and Ruby. Celeste used to live here, but it's Devon's and my first time! We LOOOOOVE Portland! It's such a cool hippy city. Devon likes that she can wear cargo pants and fleece and fit right in (preppy purse notwithstanding - you can take the girl out of Jersey...)
Yesterday we went to Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge. Hugs did a hike to the bridge, but I hadn't brought my hiking boots so I stayed in the car. They told me it was gorgeous though!

Haha - get it? GORGEous? Hahahaha...

Devon, I told you to stay in the other room! Anyway, the falls were SO BIG! It was definitely unlike anything we've seen on the East Coast.

Later, we headed over to Powell's, the largest independently owned bookstore in... the world... or something cool like that.

in Rehoboth? Hahahaha! Devon, no one else will think that's funny. You had to be there.

They have bike racks outside (It's SO Oregon!) with the names of all different books on them.

Today we drove out to the coast (after a coffee stop, of course -- OR coffee will make a coffee drinker out of anyone), and visited the AMAZING Cannon Beach and Ecola State Park. I can't even describe how beautiful it is, I'll let the pictures do the talking. And then we grabbed a local brew at a cute little pub -- coffee isn't the only thing Oregon does well!
Devon and I departed for San Francisco and Celeste and Hugs headed to Vegas, baby! We'll miss them!! (stay tuned for updates... including one from Prep that just may knock your handknit socks off)

1994

Eliza's pictures from Scotland in the Black Cuillins post reminds me of a trip we took together back in 1994. Do you remember, Eliza?

Eliza and I took two weeks to camp and hike in Oregon. We visited Crater Lake, my personal favorite, but we also traveled to the Three Sisters area. This used to be the site of an active volcano, and the evidence of eruptions can still be seen.



I was so struck by the contrast between the green of the pine trees and the black of the volcanic rock. This trip was the last camping trip I made before I got sick. We traveled at the end of July 1994, and I fell ill in October. It is so weird to think that this was the last time Eliza and I slept in a tent, made a fire, and hiked in a forest. At the time, I expected we would make a trip like that every year.