The Home stretch
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 the Dandy Warhols & countless micro breweries, but we missed them too this trip.
And so down to Bend and the cabin - almost finished now and the first time I'd seen the place without snow on the ground. This is truly beautiful country, with the Deschutes river in full spate running through it (or to be accurate, along the bottom of our plot of land !) There was time for a litle sightseeing, exploring and a little messing about in the water, but with a hard Project Manager on hand and a lot to do, not much time.
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This was to be a working trip and whilst Ren got on with the decking, there was endless flat pack furniture to assemble, fixtures & fittings to install and of course all those essential home comforts to go and buy (like curtains, towel rails, pictures, coat hooks, paint etc.) The shopping proved a popular diversion - and with a back drop of mountains glowing through clean fresh air, it sure beats a trip to Sainsburys, back in the UK. Back up at Portland on our way home, at an antique store in Troutdale, (well, for what the Americans consider antique) we picked up a wonderful old sledge from the 1930's that will take pride of place in the cabin - next time we go back.
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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 the Dandy Warhols & countless micro breweries, but we missed them too this trip.And so down to Bend and the cabin - almost finished now and the first time I'd seen the place without snow on the ground. This is truly beautiful country, with the Deschutes river in full spate running through it (or to be accurate, along the bottom of our plot of land !) There was time for a litle sightseeing, exploring and a little messing about in the water, but with a hard Project Manager on hand and a lot to do, not much time.
.jpg)
This was to be a working trip and whilst Ren got on with the decking, there was endless flat pack furniture to assemble, fixtures & fittings to install and of course all those essential home comforts to go and buy (like curtains, towel rails, pictures, coat hooks, paint etc.) The shopping proved a popular diversion - and with a back drop of mountains glowing through clean fresh air, it sure beats a trip to Sainsburys, back in the UK. Back up at Portland on our way home, at an antique store in Troutdale, (well, for what the Americans consider antique) we picked up a wonderful old sledge from the 1930's that will take pride of place in the cabin - next time we go back..jpg)
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Mt. Bachelor, from the Deschutes river
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