Megan's Etsy Shop

With a little extra free time without classes, I've been spending more time working on items for my Etsy shop. I also have made a few gifts... so email me at rootlesswanderart@gmail.com if you have ideas for any similar gifts. Also, check out everything in the shop at www.etsy.com/shop/RootlessWanderART . Lastly, follow my instagram account @rootlesswanderart , where I recently posted an opportunity to win a few items from the shop. 

My sweet niece, Delaney, was born on April 22nd. I haven't gotten to meet her yet, but counting down the days until I'm home in August and get to. I created this to match her room and commemorate her birth date. 

I also missed out on Pat & Hilary's wedding in May, but made this hashtag sign to display at their wedding. (which Hilary appropriately had placed on the bar)

Robert & Liz's Visits

Robert & Liz both visited mid-July for a vacation on the coast and also to see Portland.

Tacos at Por Que No, Downtown & the beach in Lincoln City

Whale Watching at Depoe Bay

Hiking at Cascade Head

Downtown, Rose Garden, Lavender Picking on Sauvie Island

Dinner at McMenamin's Kennedy School (an old elementary school that's been converted into bars/restaurant/hotel rooms)        http://www.mcmenamins.com/427-kennedy-school-home

Weekend Outings

With being new Oregonians, we've been trying to get out and explore more places and events we haven't been to yet this summer. Here are a few:

Fleet Week & Rose Festival Carnival

Tillamook Cheese Factory

Camping in Tillamook State Forest

Trip to Bend, Oregon...and seeing LOTS of mountains

Jess & Ken's Visit

We took Jess and Ken to a lot of our favorite spots and a few new ones, too.
For those of you who haven't planned your visit yet, Ken gave me permission to include his email testimonial about how great it is to visit here:
"I wanted to write you guys an email thanking you again for an amazing trip. I can't stop gushing over it. I must have told everyone I work with everything we did verbatim... I can't stop thinking about all the great food, beer and hiking adventures we had, but most of all great company! Honestly we can't thank you enough for your utmost generosity and hospitality."

Downtown Waterfront

Cannon Beach

Goonies House in Astoria

Sunset over the reservoir on Mt. Tabor

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. 

Cannon Beach

On an unusually sunny November day, we decided to drive out to Cannon Beach for the day. (It's only about an hour and a half from Portland) It's got a cute little town and a gorgeous beach. Also happens to be where the Goonies was filmed, so Tyler convinced Megan to watch it since she'd never seen it. 

Multnomah Falls

There are endless places to hike just a short drive away, but we decided to check off Mulnomah Falls from our list early on. Even on a drizzly day, there were tons of people there to see the waterfall. The hike to the top was about a mile of a windy, very uphill path. There were lots of scenic views (already told Lauren Tindall we'll reserve double the time for this hike when she visits for all her picture-taking)

Settling In

We lived with our Air BnB hosts for a week and a half in Portland before moving into our studio apartment in SE Portland. Since we drove with only what we could fit in our cars, we had a lot of DIY projects and craigslisting to do to make our apartment more homey.

One awesome place in Portland, The Rebuilding Center (http://rebuildingcenter.org), has recycled building materials. We got a door to use as a headboard and some reclaimed wood to make the footboard of the bed frame we built. 

We also built a coffee table with some apple crates.

Still more projects to go, including some bike shelves, but pretty happy with how our place is coming together! 

Oh, and pretty happy we live one block from some fantastic food trucks:

DAYS 6-8: Last Leg!

On day 6, we drove from Denver to Park City, Utah and got to visit with Taylor. It's a ski town but the Saturday nightlife was alive even before the start of ski season.

From Park City, we headed out of Utah, through Wyoming, and up through Idaho. We got to make another stop at a diners, drive ins and dives feature: Pizzalchik and enjoyed some baked potato pizza. From Pizzalchik in Boise, we drove just a little further to make it across the Oregon border and stay the night in Baker City, Oregon.

Day 5: Driving Break in Denver

Friday morning we woke up to a light snow covering the ground in Denver. Nevertheless, we decided to brave the unseasonably cool weather and go to downtown Denver and check out 16th street. After that, we headed over to Golden, Colorado to tour the Coors factory. We took an audio tour, followed by meeting up in the tasting room with two of Tyler's high school friends, Mike and Al.

Day 4: Never Ending Nebraska

We thought Iowa was boring, but Nebraska somehow seemed even less exciting, maybe because it was generally flatter. It was raining the majority of the trip, so we had to take our stretching breaks indoors. This led to a snack shopping spree and discovery that Target in Nebraska sells liquor (not that we had space to fit any in our cars) We were very excited to cross into Colorado, but it continued to seem like the middle of nowhere.
We finally arrived in Aurora, Colorado where we stayed with family friends Dan and Sandra...and got to enjoy a home-cooked meal of chili complete with a chocolatey dessert drink.

Day 3: Quest for an Ohama Steak

After 2 really long days of driving, we allowed ourselves to sleep in and get a later start. Day 3's drive was mostly through Iowa, and the landscape didn't have a whole lot of variation. There were lots of random attractions on road signs, and Tyler "accidentally" led us to the National Motorcyle Museum on one of our stops. (http://www.nationalmcmuseum.org) We eventually made it to Omaha to Johnny's Cafe for a genuine Omaha steak. Tyler claims it was in the top two steaks he's ever had. After dinner, we drove just a little further into Nebraska and stayed the night in Lincoln.

Day 2: DETOUR

We decided a few days before leaving to change up our original plan and detour to Madison, Wisconsin. We got to walk around and see a little of the city (including a bike shop in an old train station shown in the photo above) before meeting up with Aunt Sally and Uncle Dave for dinner. They also drove us around and showed us more of the city and the campus. We had a delicious meal at one of their favorite restaurants, Bluephies. And since we were in Wisconsin, we had to start off the meal with some bacon-wrapped cheese curds. The meal ended with selecting the dessert by looking thru that red View-Master (that's the name of that binocular toy according to our Wikipedia search.)

Packing + Day 1

We decided to each drive our own car to Oregon caravan-style, but that decision left us with really limited space. We brought virtually no furniture and went through the trouble of having a "trial pack" a week before the big move. While it was a big help, it still took all day Sunday to pack up our stuff. (Special thanks to Elena for "helping" us, too)

Day one of driving was the longest we had planned, going to Royal Oaks, Michigan (near Detroit). Including stops, it took a total of about 11 hours. Our longest stop was to go to a restaurant featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives near Pittsburgh. It was called Starlite Lounge, and would probably most appropriately fall under the "dives" category. Megan chose it because it was known for one of her all-time favorite foods, pierogies. They did not disappoint.

 

When we finally made it to Megan's cousin Paul's house in Royal Oaks, we unpacked what we needed for the night and headed to a nearby restaurant, Vinsetta Garage (www.vinsettagarage.com). We each tried out some local beers and feasted on pizza and pasta bowls. We wish we could have had more time to spend in Detroit, but we had to get up early to start day 2's journey. Thank you, Paul for being such a great host to us!

Road Trip!

We have set our departure date for Monday, September 8th and planned our stops along the route to Oregon. Here's a little more info about our stops and if you have any suggestions for adjustments to see/experience exciting things along the way, please leave us a comment! 

1. Detroit - We will be staying with Megan's cousin, Paul, at the lovely home he is renovating.

1.5 Starved Rock State Park - We plan on taking in some nature and sights before we get to the long open stretch through Iowa and Nebraska. Here's a link to the park: http://www.starvedrockstatepark.org/

2. Le Claire, Iowa - Our second night will be spent at a hotel on the Mississippi river near the Illinois/Iowa border.

3. Kearney, Nebraska ... otherwise known as the "Sandhill Crane Capitol of the World" (too bad we won't be there for Sandhill Crane season) http://visitkearney.org/

4. Denver, Colorado - We hope to catch up with some of Tyler's friends in Denver and then plan to stay at longtime friends of Megan's parents, Dan & Sandra. (Also planning on stopping in Boulder on our way out of Denver)

5. Salt Lake City, Utah - We will be staying with one of Tyler's best friends, Taylor.

6. Baker City, Oregon ...because we couldn't pass up a stop on the OFFICIAL Oregon Trail: http://www.bakercity.com/

Last stop: PORTLAND! We have reserved a room through AirBnB for our first week while we apartment hunt.