Spring Break in San Diego

For Megan's Spring Break from school, we headed down to San Diego for 4 days. We stayed only a few blocks from the beach in Ocean Beach in an AirBnB. There was a lot of beach time--including La Jolla, Misson/Pacific Beaches, and Coronado. Since Tyler lived south of San Diego in Chula Vista when he was at the Olympic Training Cener, we made a few trips down to visit friends and coaches...including lunch in the cafeteria of the training center. Tyler introduced Megan to the deliciousness that is In-N-Out burger and taught her about the insider menu items ("protein style" and "animal style"). We heard that San Diego is one of Portland's rivals for best beer towns, so we of course went to some breweries, too. Stone Brewing's Chai Stout is one of our new favorites, but we still think Portland is the better beer town. We're sad to no longer be on vacation, but looking forward to a summer exploring more places in Oregon.

Megan's Etsy Shop

I've been working a while to make enough paintings to launch an Etsy shop, and it's finally done! All paintings are made on reclaimed wood which we bought at the Rebuilding Center or Denali Furniture. I use the texture/imperfections of the wood as a part of each unique design which is hand-painted. For more paintings, check out the shop at www.etsy.com/shop/RootlessWanderART . Also, follow the instagram account for updates on new artwork added @rootlesswanderart . I will be taking custom orders (so lettering can be added or existing designs you like can be modified to the colors/sizes you want. Email rootlesswanderart@gmail.com to start discussing ideas for custom orders). Thanks for looking!

Kelsey & Matt's Visit

Tyler's sister, Kelsey, and her boyfriend, Matt, came up for a few days after flying into San Francisco. We showed them lots of fun Portland things-- including shopping on Hawthorne, eating at food trucks, our favorite pizza place, Mount Tabor and Powell's Bookstore.

We did try something new with them, though, called "Portland Esacapism":

Our friend Jen joined so we had a team of five and sixty minutes to find all the clues that would lead us to the door combination which would let us out of the room. It definitely took all five of us to be able to figure it all out...but we highly recommend it to anyone in Portland! (also they change the room about every six months, so any future visitors who want to try this, we would definitely be up for it) Website: http://escapismportland.com

Saturday morning we headed downtown to the market, and we made our first market purchases, which included this awesome succulent magent! We are trying to include lots of plants in the apartment, so this was a fun addition to the kitchen. 

No visit would be complete with out a hike, so we took Matt & Kelsey to Horsetail falls (where you can walk behind the waterfall). 

Seattle Day Trip

While it was snowing back on the east coast, we took advantage of a sunny day in the Pacific Northwest to day trip to Seattle. We started at the Public Market, which was a little crowded and overwhelming but came away with lunch and some delicious pasta to take home.

We headed down to Post Alley to see the gum wall (but didn't stay long because Tyler was completely disgusted by it.) Next, we walked to the Olympic Sculpture Garden which overlooks the Puget Sound. We spent a lot of time there since the view was so beautiful of the water and mountains in the distance. After that, we headed up to Seattle Center to see the space needle (but not go up it). After a long day of walking, we finished up the trip with dinner in the Capitol Hill neighborhood before heading home. 

Tyler's Birthday Hike

There are tons waterfall hikes less than an hour away -- this one we went to for Tyler's birthday was Elowah Falls. 

(Photo credits for all except the one above go to Tyler)

First Visitor

One of Tyler's friends & co-workers, Rob, received the honored title of our first visitor when he came in January from Madison, Wisconsin.

Hands down the most exciting thing we did (and probably one of the most exciting things that's happened to us in Portland so far) is win a Lego contest at a bar. We were given 75 minutes, the theme of "music" and free reign over a large collection of legos. Our friends Maya and Jordan also joined us, which was helpful since Jordan is a musician and tuned some water glasses as part of our creation. Maya and Megan built a "stage" in front of the water glasses while the boys built swinging pieces to strike the notes of the water glasses and play Hot Cross Buns. Our prize was a random assortment of gift cards totaling $55.

We also took Rob to brunch below our apartment at Slappy Cakes, after Tyler's grandmother saw the restaurant featured on Food Network (http://www.foodnetwork.com/restaurants/or/portland/slappy-cakes.html) They have griddles in the table to cook your own pancakes and many batter flavor choices, like peanutbutter or chocolate.

Lastly, we spent a rainy Saturday afternoon brewery-hopping:

1. Basecamp (camping-themed brewery)

2. Hair of the Dog (with an option for a $1500 glass of beer on their menu)

3. Cascade Barrel (specializing in sour beers)

4. Buckman Brewery (actually just a bar)

5. Some dive bar none of us probably remember the name of after all those beers.