springtime in oregon!

I am LOVING the spring season in Oregon! The weather is amazing, the days are getting so long, & so many flowers are in bloom! Everyone always talks about foliage in the fall, but I hadn't really thought about how all the plants just "spring" back to life after winter ;] It felt like the saturation in the city was kicked up a notch practically overnight. Needless to say, we've been hiking ever single weekend this past month. Above are a couple photos from hiking around the Columbia Gorge with Burton's co-worker, Andrew, & his fiance, Lisa.

A couple weekends ago, we hiked the Silver Falls trail for the first time. 10 waterfalls in 10 miles! It was glorious. About half of the waterfalls were over 150 feet & the trail actually took you behind many of them. There's always something magical about getting that close to a waterfall.

This was our lunch time picnic spot. Not bad, right? ;] We did this hike with our friends, Maggie & Walker, who also moved here last summer. We were introduced to them by a mutual friend, Jody, who lives in Boston. I had met Jody on my trip to Israel & Maggie knew her from a study abroad program in Chile! It's crazy how small this world is.

Here was the final waterfall of our trip. We finished the day at Hair of the Dog brewing. If I could describe my perfect day, it would be really similar to this one :]

Last weekend, we hiked near Mt. Hood along the Old Salmon River trail. Unfortunately, this is the only photo I have from that hike - sometimes you just get too caught up in the moment to snap a picture. We hiked with our friends, Lindsay & Ian, who we were also introduced to through Jody. Crazy, right?! Turns out Jody's boyfriend has been really great friends with Ian since high school. Thank goodness for Jody!

To be honest, I was nervous I'd get homesick in Oregon, considering we didn't know anybody prior to moving out here. All we had were just a few vague mentions of somebody who knows somebody who also lives in Portland. But we absolutely adore every single person we've met out here & I'm so grateful for these friendships that are being built. June 13th will be our first anniversary of being Oregonians & I can't believe a year has already flown by! I'm looking forward to many more years spent in this beautiful state with these wonderful people :]