Augmented Fourth: Portland and Environs

And so we continued through the Pacific NorthWest, through the National Forests and deep into the Cascades. Unfortunately, a fairly thick cloud-cover prevented us from seeing a lot of the volcanic beauty around us. We crossed the border into Washington and found (eventually) the house of the Sims. They live nestled in an old farm house with four grown kids and the youngest (Catherine) still romping around the grounds of an orchard, a delightfully British garden, a christmas-tree farm (or a piece thereof), and some delicious berries. Catherine gave us the grand tour of the grounds and the house. The house seemed to fit the family perfectly. One big bedroom for the five girls to line up their beds and books. One small room for the boy to dream big and prepare his adventures to the center of the earth. After our concert at Holy Rosary, Catherine and I slipped into Portland to have some fun. As it turns out, neither Catherine nor I nor are GPS were very good at getting us around Portland. That, however, did not prevent our having a good time... and even meeting some of her friends.

While we didn't quite make it to the VooDoo Donuts place that KPay had so ardently recomended, we did stop at a coffee shop with a musical flavor called the Rimsky-Korsakoffee house. It was filled with fruits and nuts, but I have come to expect that of the Left Coast which I called home for 18 years. It's color had a certain appeal, though. There is something I love about individuals being themselves and not putting up with a lot of pop-culture stereotypes. I guess I think of it as them that much closer to real truth when they'll at least question the cultural air they breath. But, many of them still don't. We still have the working definition of a hippie as someone who will kill a baby before an animal. And, yes, we cursed them frequently in the car. "Damn hippies!" became our favorite apophthegmatic expletive to shout as if we were ornery old men. Perhaps the only adjective that doesn't yet apply is old. :)

After the coffee-shop of fruits and nuts and some lively Catholic conversation at a level too loud not to give offense to the many free spirits in the room, we gallivanted off the a close Chinese restaurant with a couple of other friends of Catherine's and one of the older siblings of her brood. Our gallivanting found us a parking lot more than 10 blocks from where we needed to be, which perturbed the older sister in this picture enough to complain vociferously... but we decided to love her anyway. After some tasty Chinese food, we had not the energy to continue our adventures in the strange city of Portland... so we headed home. The night continued well with good conversations turning over any and every examination of every good thought and read we had had that summer... but alas, Tom did not have infinite energy (take note, all ye who disbelieve it). I went to bed, tired, but happy. The Pacific Northwest God has filled not only with awesome natural beauty... but good friends with quaint houses and awesome land. :) The next morning brought the most beautiful mass that Allen and I had yet been to and a drive up to a very old friends house, our housemates parent's Jody. And that was adventure full of other delightful friends. I'm sensing a theme developing...a theme augmented with ornate variations.

In a totally random side note, while the Lutherans were waiting for the Catholic's mass to end...they went to see a waterfall just outside of Portland. I leave you all with some pictures of their adventures.

Nathan playing hide and seek in something that looks like a cave, but really wasn't: