Zoo II

These are just a few more pictures from our Easter visit to the Indianapolis Zoo.
I swear that there should be a bumper sticker on that tortoise.

I am calling this one Ben & Molly.

Happy cherry blossom season to all Lug Brothers and Sisters out there. Apologies for my extended silence; we had guests staying with us -- good friends from the old country -- and so I didn't spend much time at my computer. We spent many hours in conversation over Nest Beer and green tea while we waited for the cherry trees to blossom. They were late this year and so we couldn't have a proper cherry blossom viewing party in the park as we might have done, but if it gives them cause to come back again, well, maybe it's for the best. And if seeing these pictures inspires anyone else out there to pack their bags for Japan we'll be happy to see you but maybe we'll put you up in a hotel -- we were reminded again of just how tiny our apartment is!

And on a completely unrelated note, since there are some Hoosiers in the audience (and four years in Indiana does leave a mark on one, I've noticed) I want to mention that I actually had a chance to watch the Butler - Duke game today. What a heartbreaker! (And how it brought out the eleven year old in me, tears streaming down my cheeks as I watched Duke beat Michigan back when it was Chris Webber & Co.) The things we carry in our hearts!

Washington Park, Portland

Saturday was by far the nicest day when I was in Portland. I hiked up to Washington Park, a 400 acre park near the top of Portland. It seems to be Portland's answer to Central Park, or if you combined Cherokee/Seneca Parks with the Louisville Zoo. It has a nice rose garden (of course none of them were blooming this early in the year), a Japanese garden (that I just took a quick picture of over the wall - too expensive to get in), and some amazing views of the city. In the first picture you can just make out Mount Hood in the back ground (it was much, much clearer in real life). While it was great to walk up to this park, my legs were hurting for two days afterwards, as I was not used to climbing such steep hills.

Portland Pictures

Here are some pictures of the sights of Porland. The first one is downtown overlooking the Columbia River, the second is the railroad draw bride, and finally Made in Oregon sign from the old town section of the city.

Portland Bikes

These are a few bikes that I saw while in Portland. Lots and lots of single speeds, town bikes, etc. The third picture is from River City Cycles, one of the best bike shops in the US, it is a 1984 Colnago Super, set up in time trial mode. It was a pretty amazing looking bike, with even the tire bags on it to protect the tires. This shop had a bunch of other bikes hanging from the ceiling, like a 1965 Cinelli Supercorsa, and a 1972 Eddy Merckx (built by Colnago), but due to poor lighting and a crappy camera, none of those pictures turned out very well. The last picture is of what I think is a Trek 760 like Dad's bike, but this one has been canabalized into a single speed. I even saw a Match bike. Match was a small, custom frame shop that was located in the Pacific northwest back in the late 1990s. It was one of the leading builders of its day, but sadly is closed down around 2000. Reason I know about them is that they built the steel Paramounts back then, and I had a chance to bid on a Match frame on ebay years ago, but passed it up and have kicked myself for it ever since.

Multnomah Public Library

Yes, I know that I am marking myself as a nerd for posting pictures of a library (especially since I failed to get a picture of the outside of the library), but here they are.

The first one is of the children's department - the tree is a bronze statue.

Rogue Brewery

Okay, so I just realized that the first picture is blurry, but I can't do anything about that now.

One of the cool places that I visited in Portland was the Rogue Brew Pub (the makers of Dead Guy Ale, Morimoto Soba ale, etc). I actually was going along to help a co-worker pick out a t-shirt for her son (and I actually convinced her to buy him a Dead Guy t-shirt, though not the ti-dyed one).

I have not tried a hugh number of Rogue ales, but the one that had there at the brewpub was good - John John Dead Guy. It would have been fun to try all the beers they had on tap, but I would probably still be there.