FYI, these are going to be way out of order, because we all know I haven't been practicing my blog-skills. Also, I am just loading these in between classes and work and stuff. It might take a week or two, knowing meThe entrance to China Town. This is as close to it as we got. I also think this arch is 90 percent of Portland's China Town.

So, we suck at sexy eyes, but I thought it was funny, and the waterfront is cool...

This is in Pioneer Square...

Waiting for the street car...

This is in the Pearl District, the real ritzy part of town. This shot will be appearing as the cover of our all girl indie rock band album. Stay tuned. Marci's bro was so great in showing us tons, as well as taking millions of dorky pics of us.

This is the stuff we carried around with us all day. For anyone who wants to do this trip, I recommend the book store last, as books are really heavy after about 8 hours of walking.

This is Portand State university's campus. Isn't it awesome? It's right in downtown Portland, which wierded me out a little, being used to Logan. So pretty. Marci's brother is a student here.

Fall Break 09: Portland

So, we had a single day off school, they called it fall break, so we went to Portland. My roommate's brother lives there, and it has theworld's largest bookstore, and a coast. No further persuasion was necessary. We left Thursday at about 2 pm (once my Latin test was done) and drove til about 1:30 am. Here are some really happy faces. Left to right: Caitlyn, Erica, Katie, Marci.





Friday, our first real day, was a Portland guided tour. We took the MAX into downtown, where it looked like it would be a truly rainy day. Luckily, it cleared up and the day was beautiful.



Top: Katie. Middle: Caitlyn, Bottomdweller: Erica

Portland Destinations: Finnegan's Toys



Say Say Boutique, The Real Mother Goose, POWELL'S BOOKS (this was one of the true draws for Portland. 2 city blocks, 4 stories. I was expecting something truly epic. Here's the entrance:




As you can see, I'm eating in this pic. There were tons of street side vendors selling ethnic food, and I can't pass up a katsudon. And, it was good. Thus the pose.

After Powell's (and spending WAY too much, though I did by one of my fav books, The Little Prince, in Latin) we wandered around everywhere. Buffalo exchange, Magpie's, Jamison Square, and went to Hot Lip's Pizza.

The mall, Shenandoa, and Winchester

We had a blast letting Mike and Manda take care of us and entertain us for a week. Sister Manda bought Amandass and I some sweet bubbles, which we struggled using, but loved anyway. We drove to Shenandoah National Park on Sunday to do a hike, but a shooting had occurred, or maybe that's just where the shooter fled, or something, I'm not sure, but I am sure they wouldn't let us in. So we went back Thursday to do a hike, but it was freezing, so Amanda just read us the plaques while we acted really cool.
Also, classic pictures at the mall and the DC temple... The part I loved most of the day was this Asian man asked me to "pose in his picture." I thought for sure he wanted me to take his picture, so I consented, but sure enough, he handed his camera to his friend, and he walked me over to the Lincoln Memorial with him. Who knows why, but I was sure weirded out.
**Notice outfits are only worn once, so link these photos with the others from DC.**

Baltimore!

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We gave ourselves the walking tour of Baltimore, and I'd say we did a fine job. We saw the home, bedroom and bed in which Babe Ruth was born, and the shrine/museum displaying them. These noses were worn by an actor who portrayed the Babe in a movie, and he himself saved them all. Great, huh? Baltimore has some awesome buildings, this cathedral, and the grainy pic is a beautiful library 8 stories tall that reminded me a lot of the one in Beauty and the Beast. The inner harbor was really cool, and we spent quite some time at that awesome Barnes and Noble. Mike was the only one who went to the world famous aquarium, we were all too cheap. I was surprised by how clean and safe this big city was after spending sometime in Philly...

Philly

I've now been, so I can officially use the term Philly. Cool huh. These are some random pics of the Liberty Bell/Independence Hall. I'm not sure who Barry is, but don't I do a good impression? We also have my sassy silhouette in the building where our independence was declared, and some other interesting facts which I didn't pay much attention to after 5 minutes. Other than historical things, we went to a really cool market (where we didn't take pictures) and walked around the streets for a while, til we felt like we'd had the full experience. The man posing with the Amandas and I is a security guard who confused "Utah" with "Bermuda" whe we told him where we were from. He was very friendly and wouldn't stop talking about Michael Douglas. Very interesting...

Spring Break: DC

For my spring break, my friend Amanda and I went to visit Amanda in Virginia. Though that may not seem like the warmest spring break destination, it certainly beats Logan who got 2 feet of snow today. Friend Amanda, now on referred to as Amandass, planned a great itinerary for us. Today we went to DC- my first visit. The cool building is at Arlington's tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We went to the National Museum of Health and Medicine, where I ate this brain, as well as view a really gross hair ball, and the bullet that killed Lincoln and pieces of his skull.

Love-O-Meter!

Aight. I went to Cedar this weekend to visit a dear friend, and returned with a cec-copywrited idea. This love-o-meter displays the goings on of all my roommates' love lives. Having a love-o-meter has so far done nothing to improve the lack of life, but now just charts and measures the lack.
Here's how it works:
The thermometer bottom is cold, starting with 'outer darkness', moving on to 'stalker', and 'nails on a chalkboard'. Other measurements of note 'eye flirt', 'first name basis', 'eff-book buddies', 'intriguing experience','silence ISN'T golden', 'DTR' and 'Hot 'n' heavy'. Clearly we are slow movers, but we're excited about it.
Also: each sticky is a boy's hopefully unbreakable code name, with a symbol denoting which roommate is involved. Both the code names and symbols are known only to the roommates, and code detection could mean bad news.