Japanese Garden, Portland, Oregon

One of my favorite places to visit and to take visitors to in Portland, is the Japanese Garden. The whole area is wonderful with the International Rose Garden, views of Mt. Hood, hikes, Memorial Parks and more. Best thing is, it is easily accessible via public transportation- either the bus or MAX. Here are some of my favorite photos from my visits to the Japanese Garden.

Camping in the Northwest

I love living in the Northwest and have been here off and on since 1997. I moved back most recently in 2006. One of my favorite things to do in the Pacific Northwest is camping- whether it's in the mountains, by a lake, near a river, in the forest, or on the coast. I love camping and the Northwest offers some of the most beautiful scenery to camp in.

When the weather isn't in our favor, we sometimes rent yurts or cabins

Waterfalls, so many waterfalls in the Pacific Northwest

Sometimes you find interesting things when you are walking around, like animal skeletons

An interesting way to make smores, that look kind of like a face

The Pacific Northwest provides beautiful settings for camping and hiking

Some friends and I were skipping rocks on day and decided to try and hit a can on a rock. Here it is, after being hit, flying in mid air. We thought it was a cool shot.

One of my old rolling tables provided great firewood!

My friends and I like to consume adult beverages when we are camping.

Senegal, West Africa...

Back in December of 2011 my family and I traveled to Senegal, West Africa to visit my younger brother.  He was in the Peace Corps over there and the Christmas before (in 2010) we celebrated without him. Although Skype is great, in 2011 we decided to spend it altogether. We spent an amazing two weeks traveling around the country including spending a night in my brother's village. It was such a memorable experience and so hard to summarize in a small place like this blog post.  I took 600+ photos and narrowed it down to 100- those are all posted on my Facebook profile. Here are a few photos that highlight the two amazing weeks there. 

Animal Sanctuaries

One of my favorite things to do in my free time is to volunteer on behalf of or for animals. There are a few farm sanctuaries within a couple hours of Portland that I go to. In fact, the closest one is just 45 minutes away! These are some of my favorite photos I have taken of animals, while volunteering at farm sanctuaries in Oregon.

House-Crawl-O-Ween...

The past two years some friends and I have decided to do something different for Halloween. We have organized a House-Crawl-O-Ween year after year. We each hosted one of the stops on the crawl and provided a drink, snacks, or music. The first year we coordinated in rainbow colors for our Halloween costume. It was awesome and as far as I know we plan to continue making it an annual event.

  

Vegan Prom 2011...

So every year one of the organizations I am involved with, Try Vegan PDX, hosts a Vegan Prom. It occurs every year at the end of Try Vegan Week and is always a good time. Back in 2011 the theme was the 1920's.