May Roadtrip - California Redwoods and Southen Oregon Coast

We did a four night road trip over memorial day and it was a relaxing and fun family trip.
Realized that Anjali has inherited the traveling bug from Ranjeewa and I. She happily sat in the car singing, chatting to her self, and napping.

Day 1 - we drove from Portland to Grants Pass and stayed at a quaint motel by the Rogue river.
Day 2 - we hung out in Grants Pass and stumbled upon a small town memorial day parade and discovered their local farmers market (always a treat). Later we drove to the Jedadiah Smith State Park and toured the mighty big redwoods and picnicked by the beautiful Smith River, spending the night in Crescent City, California.Day 3 - We drove up the southern Oregon coast to Florence. I realized the southern coast rivals the familiar beauty of the northern coast. We stopped at Whales Head Beach for some digging in the sand.








Day 4 - We spent the day in Florence hiking and exploring the Oregon Sand Dunes. These are amazing windswept dunes almost 500 feet tall. Lots of fun to climb up and slide down. I really wanted to dune board... but saving that for another trip. We returned to Portland on Tuesday and I have now visited the entire Oregon coast and it's incredibly beautiful!

Why we love Portland - 18: The Portland Garden in May

This is my favorite month in the garden. All the rain we get in the winter makes the garden sparkle like an emerald in the spring. On a sunny day with blue skies Portland is just magical. Clockwise from top left: Clematis, Iris, Allium, Day lily, Clematis, Weigela, Lilac, Lavender, Cone flower. LOVE my garden.

Obama Mama Part IV

Sen. Obama is in Oregon today and finished a rally at the waterfront park. LARGEST EVER (75,000 people) for his campaign. Hopefully Obama will ROCK on Tuesday's primary. (No we didn't go - it was nap time...! yeah.. yeah... I know, they say nap time is the new happy hour for moms right?)

Time for tea

Since I hardly buy new toys, I do a lot of research online before actually purchasing anything.
And this tin tea set proved to be a winner. It was wonderful to see Anjali playing with it the minute we opened it, and continues to do so. The first 'meal' was a salad with cookies and salad dressing poured from the tea pot! Its so nice to be served to :-)

Our Picasso

Anjali's schools' art focus has certainly rubbed off on her. Thank goodness for these IKEA bibs. I can clean up without losing my mind.

Cinco De Mayo Celebration

Cinco de Mayo in Portland has a 24 year tradition and this year I finally made it, and was so glad I did. The festivities reminded me of the school fairs we used to have in Sri Lanka, complete with a horror house! We went because of Anjali's excitement about Mariachi and it was great for her to see so many in person. This might become an annual tradition. She went on her first thrill ride as well!

Conditioning Hike

I love how that sounds... as if we are really gearing for some super challenging adventure hike!
But really this was a big one so far for the year - 5.5 miles with 1700 feet elevation gain (with Anjali on Ranjeewa's back), that is quite something. We hiked from Multnomah falls to Wahkeena falls passing about 6 more waterfalls along the way. Everything was so lusciously green. My legs are still recovering... almost all up hill and then almost all down hill. It was just a perfect weekend. Don't you love my new found collage skills ?