Lake Michigan Flight

This week I'm heading back to Michigan for my official graduation. As I flew over lake Michigan the sun was setting and there was fog on the lake. This resulted in the setting sun's reflection looking like a ball of fire below us. I snapped this picture as we were coming out of the clouds so it's not quite as dramatic, but still reminds me of lava. I would have tried to get more but just as I took this I heard the "Please turn off all electronic devices" announcement.

-B

Movie Madness

Last week we took a trip to one of the most famous movie rental stores here in Portland, Movie Madness. Not only do they have extremely rare videos (some of which you need to put down a $200 deposit to rent) but they have an extremely large collection of movie costumes and other memorabilia. For a complete list check out their website.



Here is a small selection of their movie comstumes display. To the right you can see Danny Kaye's costumes from The Court Jester.



Here is one of two dummy knives use in the original Psycho.



A trip back to the zoo granted some hilarious shots. Here we see Renee slightly worried that she will end up with white poo on her person. That didn't happen (somehow). More funny shots to come.

Crabby

Pizza isn't the only oversized thing in Portland...

Seattle

Last week was another adventure. This time, in Seattle. This shot overlooks the Seattle bay, I've heard people complain about rain...but I don't know what they're talking about.



This was a nice little park right on the water.



This must be where Seattlians run when the rain starts. Biggest awning ever.



We don't know what these pigeons were trying to get. But I'm pretty sure it must have been awesome, whatever it was.



These next few pictures are of Pikes place market. The market goes on every day of the week and is packed with people selling fresh fruit, fish and pretty much anything else you can think of.




Some of the vendors are set up outside, but there are 4 or 5 floors of vendors inside in case of rain.



Doesn't get much fresher than this.



Renee had to go back to this place a few times. We had some amazing plums from there.



And last but not least...Portland might have big pizza, but Seattle has them beat with their texas donuts.

Happy Easter!

HAPPY EASTER DAY FROM THE TRANSPLANTS!

Bend

We took a trip to Bend last week and one of our many stops included the Smith Rock State Park. The path in that bluff is apparently the original Oregon trail.



Renee holds up the fence.



There ate lots of rock climbers who fly in word wide to climb smith rock. If you look closely you can see some of them in this picture.



This guy was doing alright, but Renee and I decided we'd give him a run for his money.



Here is Renee climbing up and over the rock face. The going was a little rough. See the people at the right and the hand at the left to compare the scale. Only wimps use ropes.



We climbed to the top of one of the ranges.



We were here.



As hard as we thought climbing up the front of the cliff was, coming down was at least twice as hard. We only stopped for pictures after we were over the roughest section. There were definitely no rails though.



This is one of the most famous rocks, called "Monkey-face". I think you can see why.



Just so you can tell how big it is, zoom in on this one and see the fearless hikers pointing to monkey-face. I think they just didn't want us to miss it.



Here is a longer shot from the tippy top. Truly stunning, it is impossible to capture on film.