It's So Green!

This one is my favorite pictures.
It's now my desktop background.

We've had some time to settle in and are adjusting to the different lifestyle here in Oregon. I love that everything is green and that they encourage "green" lifestyles as well. I have always loved flowers, trees, and nature in general. I took the dogs for a walk while Brandt was on his own excursion to the Willamette River. I stopped to take pictures of all the flowers I thought were beautiful. The dogs did not appreciate the constant stops but I got a few good shots.

Ellie often wonders what I'm doing.

She stopped to sniff the flowers
but still didn't know why I was
making them wait.

I love this rain catcher idea.

They have zipcars here!

Brandt took some time for himself to take a scenic walk down to the Willamette River. He got some good shots and it looks like it was beautiful. I'll join him on the next one. We're not sure if the dogs can handle walking 25 minutes down there and back yet.

We also went to a New Seasons market and I was in awe. Almost everything was organic, natural, or local! It was really busy, had no parking, and the inside was cramped. Brandt has described that part of town as "a small town that never grew." Everything looks like and has a small town feel but the roads are crazy and everything is jammed together. I like it but it makes me feel agoraphobic. New Seasons was a little pricey but I love organic and local, so I was OK with it. We don't plan to go back to one again but it was a nice jump into what Portland food has to offer.

Yesterday, we went to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (for free, thanks to my reciprocal membership). They had the dinosaur exhibit that Exploration Place had last summer. Theirs was larger and had more exhibit components than ours did. It was fun to go through it again and I saw a terrified 8-year-old run away in fear when one of the animatronic dinosaurs roared.

They had an electric car charging station
in the parking lot. I squealed with joy!

Brandt with his favorite dino.

OMSI teaches kids the
importance of recycling.

And about different sources of energy.

And about the importance of saving energy.
I love Portland!!

Brandt and I also played Connect Four with robots. I won!

While at OMSI, I got a message from our Airbnb hostess, that the dogs had been barking since we left. We decided it was time to leave any way but first went outside to look at the decommissioned submarine. It was massive! We were walking along the river back to the car when we saw a boat with odd paddles on the Willamette River. It was a Dragon Boat practicing for the Rose Festival race this weekend! The Rose Festival takes place all month with activities occurring mostly on the weekends. We're planning on attending the CityFair on Saturday.

Today, we weren't comfortable leaving the dogs alone again. Brandt drove around to get to know the city and got a great picture of one of the bridges. Portland is well known for it's many bridges. I even saw a book about them while we were at OMSI.

Later, I went to Fred Meyer (grocery store similar to Dillons but with more than just food, like Wal-Mart). On my way home, I stopped by VooDoo Doughnuts because, even in Kansas, they're legendary. So far, I've tasted the grape and Brandt took a bite of one that we thought was peanut butter but was upset to discover, was not.