Portastic...

As many of you know Ashley and I live a fairly hygienic life. We wash our hands a hundred times a day, don't touch public spaces, and disinfect often. Ashley used to not let me put luggage on the bed and she after coming home from nursing would strip off her clothing and put them in a plastic bag to be washed separate from other clothes.

Ashley and I had bad colds for much of the summer that seemed to morph and shift. The way I see it, we had weakened our immune system from being so "clean". After moving into a house for the summer with three of the boyest of boys and a little girl that likes to be in the thick of it, our immune systems brought swords to a gun fight. We were sick in various ways for many weeks and it wasn't until recently that we started feeling like normal.

So this weekend we did some of the things we thought we would be doing more of prior to being hit with a million and one kids germs.

We started out the day splitting the "Reggie Deluxe" from Pine State Biscuits in NE Portland. That's a piece of fried chicken, bacon, cheddar cheese, fried egg, and gravy, sandwiched between their famous biscuits! I don't think I have to say but I will anyway, it was fantastic!

After our early breakfast we headed to Multnomah Falls to do a little hiking. We've been running a couple miles everyday so we were ready! We started at the base then hiked to the top of the fall. We then hiked down and hiked up to another couple of waterfalls. No pictures because I forgot my phone in the car.

It was a pretty steep hike and as it was still early in the morning a bit chilly. Ashley kept taking on and off her jacket.

By the time we reached the top both of us were quite sweaty.

At the bottom again, we had someone take our picture.

The hikes were FANTASTIC and really made Ashley and I excited to do more. I think we're going to work up to a whole day hike in the same region. We were both on quite the high afterward. It's great to be in a place with so much to do outdoors. Earlier in the week I went whitewater rafting with the other finance interns and some supervisors. It was great fun and a bit scary when I jumped off a 20 ft cliff into a narrow stretch of fast moving river to get into our rafts again.

On our way back we stopped at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican store with small well-reviewed deli.

Sweaty Ashley with carnitas tacos w/ cactus, beans, and rice.

Me with a carne asado burrito made with a house made tortilla. (Warning: if you stare too long you will get hungry). Both were fantastic!

On the way out Ashley couldn't help but get some pan dulce with coconut. Ashley would have better success eating it if she were a snake and could unpin her lower jaw. As that's not the case, a lot of coconut hit fell to her lap as she ate.

After a short nap, Devin, Bridget, Ashley and I headed out for an evening out together (our first of the summer!). Since we were celebrating my birthday it was my choice. We headed to Du Kuh Bee, an authentic Korean restaurant. We ordered dumplings, fried rice, napa cabbage w/ spicy pork, bbq'd beef ribs, and pork noodles. It was all fantastic, and despite the familiarity in the names, very different then other Asian food I've had. My favorite was the ribs and pork noodles (the noodles made from scratch throughout the day).

Behind Ashley is a man hand pulling individual thick, round noodles! So, so good!

Portland is a fantastic place! We've really been enjoying it! We're sad our time here this summer is coming to an end.