Portland!!! (Sept 5 - 8, 2009)

We decided to head up to Portland after visiting Ashland and hearing that Jasper had an extra whitewater kayak, Louis has hops growing in his front yard (and a home brew on tap), and because we're on vacation.

We also found a reason to go back to Portland...


Home of the Cheesus Burger


... need I say more? And you eat inside a converted school bus...


Since we planned to go whitewater kayaking the next day, we borrowed Lou's neighbors canoe from his shed... where he was incidentally curing ham...


And took it out on the slough... that's Kimbo wearing a neoprene hoodie... NOT a ninja trying to steal Mingus.


... and taught Lou how to roll. He did get it once before he got too cold and we turned around to head back.


That's a dry suit Lou gave me that he had found at a garage sale...


We also had dinner with one of Kim's friends, Molly from Cornell, who started a winery in the area.


The next morning we loaded up the Volvo (4 people, one dog, and three kayaks... Mingus wasn't too happy.. as you can see).


And went to White Salmon, WA. On the way there, Jasper was thinking... maybe I'll do Husum Falls (class IV)... but when we arrived, this is what we saw...


Mingie ready for the class IV


... but we suited up and peer pressured Jasper into going...


... and he nailed it.


Lou managed to stay upright through some of the class III rapids, but fell over in excitement right after.


Jasper and I playboated in the last wave for a while...


... you can click here to see what happens next...


... then met up with Kimbo for the ride home... BUT the adventure didn't end yet. As after we went to a brewery in Hood River, we stopped to look at some fish some Native Americans were selling on the side of the road.


We went to the first stand, looked at their biggest salmon, and they said 30$... we didn't really say much for a bit... then he said 20$. The rest is history.


It's hard to pass up a 35+ lb salmon for 20$... especially when your neighbor is an amazing foodie with an professional grill.


We ate some sashimi style, grilled, saved some for smoking.... and here is Lou preparing lox with the other part. We even saved the head, tail, etc. for making broth later.


On the drive back from Portland, we took a detour to one of my favorite swimming holes... About 0.5 seconds after this picture was taken was the last time I had my wedding ring on my finger.