One Last Summer Fling

Lucky for us we live in a place where people actually want to come visit. Last weekend we had Alex, a friend of David's from Philly, and Vince, our good buddy from Loma Linda, came to visit. Both have visited us before, but we wanted to make sure they had not forgotten Portland's quirkiness.


First thing Saturday morning we headed to Voo-doo Donuts. Where else can you get a bacon and maple long john, the "Blazer Blunt", a vegan donut or a voo-doo doll donut all at the same time as picking up a pair of undies. David jokes that it is the only place in Portland where people are wearing 7 layers of clothing but somehow you can still see their butt crack.

Derby Announcers...all I can say is H-O-T.

After the trip to Voo-doo donuts we headed over to the Adult Soap Box Derby. Last year David and I were introduced to this annual event and appreciated the introduction to Portland's culture. After attending last year, I remember thinking: Is it more common in Portland to go bra-less or to only wear a bra. As a Portland resident, I am now feeling very confined when I wear a bra and my normal 2 or 3 layers of clothing as David so lovingly likes to tease me.

So, I bet you're asking, what is an adult soap box derby. Just think of "big" kids that make life size themed derby cars that can be raced. Maybe these pics will inspire you to start up an adult soap box derby in your neck of the woods.

Mr. T's van is legitimately homemade. I personally had to touch it to verify it wasn't real.

This was by far the most disgusting thing I saw all day besides the sicko wearing a black speedo and chaps. I didn't take any photos of him to spare myself and all of you from experiencing a sudden wave of nausea.

There tends to be quite a bit of drinking at these derby events and unfortunately the individuals riding these beer barrels down the hill were a bit tipsy and at a speed of about 3 mph turned the vehicle right into the public safety car parked right along the side of the road.

Sunday we took our friend Vince to the Portland Oregon Temple for a tour. They give guided walking tours around the outside of the temple on Sundays. I enjoyed the tour because I never take the time to walk around the temple and truly appreciate all of the symbolism.


And then Sunday evening we headed to Washington Park and visited the Vietnam Memorial. Vince dared me to roll down the hill for $5.00 bucks. I was laughing so hard the whole way down, so when Vince decided to do it I had to do it again. I NEVER, EVER seem to learn that rolling, spinning, bouncing or basically any other head movement will make me sick. Here is a few clip of our trip down the hill.

If you listen carefully you can hear me laughing hysterically. That is until I stop rolling.... and then this is what I did at the park, on the side of the road heading out of the park, at some random street corner in downtown and then once more when I jumped out of our car at a stoplight. Finally relief!

Isn't David so nice? He took about 5 video tapes of this little incident.

Monday we headed out to the beach. We had to show our Californian friend the Oregon beaches. They are beautiful and refreshingly uncrowded. We hit the two hot spots, Cannon Beach and Seaside. My main motivation for visiting Seaside was of course to visit the 170 flavor salt water taffy store. Everyone gets to spin the Wheel of Fortune and Vince was a lucky winner. Vince this ones for you: "And a little extra cause you're special."

Vince was the WINNER and he got his name on the Wall of Fame!

Tuesday, we headed up to Washington to go white water rafting on the White Salmon River. The river was probably one of the most beautiful I have been on and this particular trip offered a few new adventures for us. Halfway through the trip we had an opportunity to jump off a cliff and then at the very end, we had the chance to go over a 10 foot waterfall. I think that was our first class V rapid ever, at least it was mine.

Husum Falls

We survived the waterfall. It was awesome!

Thanks Vince and Alex for coming to visit!