Summer 2015: Camping in Colorado!

At the very beginning of August, Burton & I hit the road (after a spontaneous camping trip) for Dinosaur National Monument Park! Our beloved Florida friends drove out to meet us in the middle of the country to camp in the Colorado canyon for 4 nights. And it was GLORIOUS! We lounged in hammocks, hiked to spectacular viewpoints, rafted on the Green River, saw tons of wildlife, & even got up close & personal with DINOSAUR FOSSILS! But one of my favorite parts of the trip was the night sky. Our campsite, in Echo Park, has some of the lowest levels of light pollution in the country! Each night, we'd sit in our chairs with our backs to the fire & watch for satellites, shooting stars, & the Milky Way's movement across the sky. After our four nights of camping, it was really hard to leave our campsite & especially our friends. But at least we took some awesome memories with us :]

  

adventures with Jess!

A couple months back, my beautiful Florida friend, Jessica, moved to Portland! What's even crazier is that her apartment is only 4 blocks from mine! Not only have we had lots of lovely brunch dates & pot luck dinners together, but we've also been going on lots of outdoorsy adventures as we show her her beautiful new state. A few weeks back, we all went to Cannon Beach (where "The Goonies" was filmed!) & hiked along the coast. We also had some reeaaaalllyyyy good ice cream :]

Needless to say, everyone was pretty tuckered out afterwards. But we rested up for another adventure the following weekend...hiking around the Columbia Gorge! 

We hiked for about 5 hours on the Indian Point Trail, which has a 2800ft. elevation gain, making it one of our most challenging hikes yet. But those views!!! It was worth every single step. I'm not afraid of heights, but it was a little dizzying being so high up & so close to a sheer drop off - it was so thrilling! The rest of the hike was pretty mellow, with a beautiful picnic stop & music playing on our portable speaker :] We were practically running on the way back down. Which was fitting because after the hike we visited not one, not two, but THREE breweries!! That pretty much sums up my perfect day :]

school's (almost) out for summer!

This is the final week of school (yay!) & winding everything down has been HECTIC. You can see what my students have been up to on my art teacher blog :] I taught my final art classes today & I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Burton & I have been so busy that we haven't even had a chance to firm up itineraries for our summer trips! We'll be leaving for Hawaii & Japan in just TWO WEEKS, holy cow!! We need to start doing some research...

As the school year winds down, we've been attending LOTS of school events - community BBQs, graduation, dance recitals, musical performances, etc. But my absolute favorite event was PROM! Burton never attended his prom when he was in high school, so it was exciting to be his first ever prom date :] We "chaperoned" by strolling through the beautiful venue, enjoying the sundae bar, making s'mores at the garden's fire pit, & dancing awkwardly at arms' length. It was such a great night - I hope Burton asks me to be his date again next year!