Fall in Oregon

This past weekend I got to take a girl weekend to visit my sister, Mindy, and her family who recently moved to the Portland area, and attend Time Out for Women while I was there.  Fall had just fallen, so it was chilly, wet, and the leaves were fuchsia, yellow, and orange.  It was spectacular!  What a treat for this poor desert rat.

Though Mindy lives it town, just beyond her door is the country.  Every drive is beautiful with pretty little farms dotting the landscape.  I wish I would have taken more pictures, but with the recent passing of my dear camera, I was at the mercy of my Dad's camera.  Thanks for sharing, Dad.

Fir Point Farms was a great little farm not far from Mindy's. In fact, it was so great, we visited it twice.  Here we are standing in front of a giant pumpkin weighing in at over 1,300 lbs.!  At this farm they have a yearly pumpkin smashing where they get a crane and drop a giant pumpkin like this on a donated vehicle.  Sorry we missed that!

Mindy's baby Zach, myself, and Mindy on a pile of almost red Cinderella pumpkins.

Zach in a maze of pumpkins.

Pumpkins weren't the only giant produce at Fir Point Farms.  Check out these HUGE cabbages.  Zach is in there for size comparison.

Dad is about to take on a giant apple that they call the "one apple for a pie" apple.  That will keep the doctor away, for sure!

Here is a really cool old building we saw.  There was grass growing on the roof and it was tangled with old dead vines.  I love cool old stuff like this! 

We visited another local farm, Lee Farm.  It wasn't as fun the last farm, but they did have incredible homemade apple cider doughnuts and these darling little chicks!  

They also had a TON of pumpkins!

These bootiful witch hats were on sale at Fir Point Farms.  They are glitzy, frilly, curl at the top and have sequined spiders hanging off the rim.  Hazel, Hilda, and I, being the wicked witches we are, just couldn't resist.  We each bought one.  Don't we looking spooktacular, darling?

After our TOFW event at the convention center, the rest of the family met us downtown for dinner at Kenny & Zukes, a place known for it's pastrami, with a real downtown Portland feel.  Here I am drinking Birch Beer, a red homemade root beer.  So good.  Look out the window behind me.  There were a whole group of people waiting outside a hotel for the trolley.  They were a bunch of drag queens dressed like royalty with crowns, etc- a pretty sight.  Mindy's 5 year old Avery was so excited and said, "Look at all those princesses!"  Boy, they would have loved to have heard that, wouldn't they?

Portland is an interesting place.

Here we all are a Kenny & Zukes.  Of course I had the Reuben sandwich - what else would you get in a pastrami joint?  It was tasty, and the potato salad was off-the-charts great.

As evening came we took a walk along the river.  There are so many bridges in Portland, kind of reminding me of the Arno River in Florence - except totally different.  The reflection of lights in the river was beautiful.

Mindy, Me, Mom

Here is Mindy's beautiful family in their beautiful new hometown.

The next day Mindy drove us up the Colombia River to Multnomah Falls, a tall, double waterfall spilling though the forest and fall foliage.  This is a dry season, so the falls usually have much more water, but it was lovely to us.

To get to the falls you have to walk under a train track.  There happened to be a train going by at the moment.  You could look up and see the underside of the train as it sped over just inches above your head.  It was violent and loud.  Really wild!  Here my parents and Mindy are looking up at the sight of the train whizzing by.

Zach and his Momma

Here I am at the bottom of the falls.

There was a short hike up the hill to the bridge.  Everything was so mossy.  No wonder those Portlanders are so into "green."  Its everywhere.

Cool pic looking down from the bridge.

Here's a cute picture of Mom and Dad on the bridge.  I had to hike back down and take it with the telephoto.

We traveled down the beautiful Columbia River Gorge.  What a lovely drive!  We stop at a scenic area and Mom reads the historical marker.  Cute hair mom, even with all this moisture.

The Gorge at dusk.

I just loved this sweet little "Frog Pond Chapel" just around the corner from Mindy's house.  The old steeple was so great peeking up above the flaming foliage.  I took a lot of pics, but I wish the sun was shining.

Here I am on the morning before we came home, painting some of the stunning leaves I collected in my watercolor travel journal.  I couldn't do it plein air since it was raining outside, so in the dining room next to a huge picture window was the next best thing.

Portland was beautiful and we had a lovely time.    Thanks Ben and Mindy!  Mindy's kids thought Aunt Shelly was just super fun.  They couldn't get enough of me.  I don't think I am as popular at home, but I was on vacation, right?  I didn't have to be the mean mom the whole time.  I sure missed my guys though, and I KNOW that Dennis, and the boys, missed me.  They sure were happy to see me back home.