Scutt Pics

Back to Oregon in May and this time I went too. From Seattle we drove south on I5, with stunning views of first Mt. Olympus to the west, then Mt. Rainier to the east - at 4,392m this peak really dominates the landscape. I'm possibly the only person that hadn't realised the logic to Interstate numbering - odd numbers run north/south, even east/west. As we followed and then crossed the mighty Colombia River, the familiar sight of Mt. Hood welcomed us to Portland, glowing a beautiful pink in the evening sun. As we drove the last leg to Ren's home in Gresham I was reminded that this is where they grow many of the plants for America's gardens - fields of flowering shrubs; rhododendrons , azaleas and of course, roses. Portland is known as the "City of Roses" and we missed the Rose Festival (which runs through June) by a week ! The City is also know as the home of t he Dandy Warhols & countless micro breweries, but we missed them too this trip. And so down to B...

March 2007 and we are almost finished. Trix popped over to Oregon to spend a week hard at work with brother Ren and the last of the sub contractors. Tiles for the kitchen, sheets for the beds, timber and more timber. There's a snaging list (or "punch list" as the American's call it) as long as your arm, but with any luck all will be complete by the time we go back for a holiday in May. The bonus room above the garage, temporary dorm for the workers.

Three loverly weeks off over Xmas, spent on the West side of the US. Trix & I went back to Seattle, catching the Cascades train down from there to Portland. Still suffering from the aftermath of terrible ice storms, the journey took a lot longer than planned, but we still met up with our pal Geoff who had come over via San Francisco. Together with Trix's Mum (Caroline) we all squeezed in at Ren's place for the "Holidays", with a trip down to Bend to check on progress with the cabin. It became clear that the orriginal plan to spend a few nights there was not possible due to somewhat slow progress with the build, but at least we got the garage doors installed whilst there. New Years day, Trix & I went on down to Las Vegas - which also looks like a construction site at present with several building sites along the strip.