Trip Highlights... Lots O' Pics

So, basically... I'm trying to see how many posts I can squeeze out of one trip. So far, I think I'm doing pretty well, eh?

Oregon is beautiful. Really, really beautiful. And the people there are great, also. I have to admit, like, I was a little worried that I might not be cool enough for the Oregonanians. And... I probably wasn't, but they sure didn't make me feel like that. Everyone was super friendly. I could live there, easily. But... it's probably a good thing I don't because I wouldn't be able to run because I'd consume too many double dipped chocolate covered hazelnuts. Holy shit, those suckers are amazing.

Okay, enough talking... let's check out some photos from the trip, accompanied by explanations and commentary, of course...

This was outside of Hayward Field... Love the quote from Bowerman... in case you're senile, it says... "I don't think any other sport puts men to the test as track does... I see boys grow into men right before my eyes." Now... I'm not sure I completely agree with that statement... but, cool, nonetheless.
This was out in wine country. Wait.. thats not really a good description since like all of Oregon is wine country, but this was just outside of Eugene... taken from a winery called King's Estate. This is where I bought a bottle of Pinot Noir and was also told that I have an accent. (Which is kind of a big deal, because I'm never told that).
This was the day after the marathon. Note, that I am leaning against the railing for support. No, not really... I honestly wasn't too sore. This was one of our first glimpses of the coast and it just got more and more beautiful the further up hwy 101 that we drove... (This was just outside of Florence, Oregon).

I know what you're thinking... whoa... how did that picture of Ireland get in there... but, it's not Ireland it's Oregon... who, I think's state tourism quote should be... Oregon: America's own Ireland. Without the Guinness. Okay, so this was in Newport. Sea Lions crack me up. They are crazy SOBs. They just lay around, on top of each other and occasionally rear their heads up and make loud, obnoxious noises. Awesome. I think my mom and I stood on the pier and watched these guys for like 10 minutes. There were about 6-7 in all.
This is the Yaquina Bridge in Newport. Taken from the Yaquina Lighthouse Park. My mom and I actually ran across that bridge on Tuesday morning. That was the first morning I ran after the marathon and we planned on 4 miles. It went really well for the first 3 and then my knee started jacking up on me and eventually I had to stop when we had gotten about 3.8 miles. Close enough. I love bridges. I mean, I love looking at them. I'm not too thrilled to drive across them... but I just think they are so pretty.
Okay, so the only reason I took this picture is because of the little blue diagram at the bottom. There were tons of signs along the highway that had that diagram for tsunami warnings. And it shows a man literally running away from a huge wave. I just thought it was hilarious.
Mmmmm.... beer. And good beer, at that. My mom and I sampled some of the brews here and had a good time. We sat at the bar, hoping to get some attention from the cute bartender (well, I guess I was hoping for that), but ended up having some random old guy sit next to us and flirt up my mom the whole time. Oh well... the beer was good.
This photo was taken from Devil's Punchbowl State Park.... Beautiful view of the coast from here. There was also a little winery here that we stopped at.
This is my mom standing on our balcony in Newport. Literally on the beach. It was awesome.

Newport is a great little fishing town. I've always thought it would be cool to live in a quaint, small town like that. And the fresh beer, oysters, and crab doesn't hurt either.

This is a view of Devil's Punchbowl from another park... cool, huh?
Another pic taken from Devil's Punchbowl. The coast is sooooo beautiful.
Ahhhh.... now we're at Mt. Hood. We had an interesting time taking this photo. We actually propped the camera up on a cookie box that was in the back seat and put it on the hood of the car... turned out well, though! Except for the squatting... I mean, Mt. Hood is like 11,000+ feet tall and we're squatting. Excellent.
Unbelieveable, isn't it? I sent this picture to my friend Jeff yesterday with the subject "ready to climb?" Apparently he's not because his response was... "are you crazy?" But, man... I'm so obsessed with mountaineering and just being there made me super anxious to stop reading books about it and just do it. Probably best to not start with Mt. Hood, though, right? So... about 25 miles out from Mt. Hood it was drizzling rain and foggy... and we were afraid that we were going to drive all that way and not see it. I even considered scrapping the trip completely, but I figured... ehhh.. what the hell. And it's like... as soon as we got close to it... the sky completely cleared and it was gorgeous up there.
This is Multnomah Falls. All kinds of pretty waterfalls around the river gorge. Which incidentally.. I thought was the Columbia River Gorge... but, I dont know... maybe it was the Hood River Gorge??? I dunno.. I need to look at a map. I bought a book on Oregon before we left and was going to read it on the plane. Except... I left the book on my parents coffee table. Uggh.
How freaking gorgeous is that? I love it. This was from Panorama Point.
Along the river gorge. Whichever river it is... taken out of a car window... I mean, seriously.. they need pull offs from the interstate so you can take better pictures.
That's not Mt. Hood, but some other mountains. It's crazy to me, how it's snow-capped and then there's all this lush green grass around it.
Ooooooooooo I love, love, love this pic. This was around the Hood River area. Just below Mt. Hood. So green and beautiful.

Okay, so I didn't take many pictures of Portland at all.... which sucks, cause it's a gorgeous town. We stayed right on the Harbor, so these pics were taken the day we got there and walked along the park that meanders around the harbor. Which, is incidentally where we ran also.
Even though we stayed in Portland for 3 nights... I really don't feel like we did a lot of stuff in Portland. Oh well... just means I'll have to visit it again sometime!