Another beach trip!

This past weekend my grandparents flew my sister down to Wilmington from New York so she could spend the weekend with us. We had a great time walking on the beach, water skiing, eating lots of really good food and the boys went claming.

Portland Oregon

Lange Vineyard in the Willamette Valley. They grow primarily pinot noir grapes.

Mount Saint Helen

Cold water lake. Created when the glaciers melted off the top of Mount Saint Helen.

Last week I was in Portland, OR for a plant pathology convention with work. It was a lot of fun and I got an opportunity to see some sites. We drove up to Mount Saint Helen one afternoon which was amazing!! The shear enormoity of the eruption doesn't hit you until your actually there looking at the miles and miles of destruction that remain, even after 30 years! How mighty is our God, that he can blow up a whole mountain if he wants to!!! It was also amazing to see how the earth is begining to heal itself and slowly shrubs and some trees are coming back. The streams have created channels through the ash and are once again flowing like they should.

Portland in itself was a really cool city. Its build around the Columbia river and has a really nice boardwalk. It also has a really nice area called the Pearl district. Its the old warehousing district that has been revamped with new restaurants, stores and townhouses. We ate at this fabulous restaurant called Bay 13 and had fresh halibut served over a corn and red pepper sucatash, amazing!