Oregon

In July, 2000, I relocated to the Portland, Oregon area with my husband.

Here are a few sites I've found on this area:

Oregonian--The daily newspaper for the greater Portland area

Mt. Hood Community College-- the local community college

Portland--the nearest metropolitan city. I live in a suburb just outside the city. I'm literally minutes away from downtown Portland. I can even take the Max, the light rail system, into town.

Portland Citysearch-- find out everything you need to know about what's going on in the area...

Trailblazers--Portland's NBA team. They used to be a VERY good team! They made it into the playoffs every year for more than 25 years. I was able to see a few games after we moved here back when Arvydas Sabonis (a gold medal Olympian) and Rasheed Wallace (won a national championship for Detroit) were still with the team. Hopefully one of these days we'll get to go see them play the Rockets at the Rose Garden.

Mt. Hood-- information on our local mountain, I mean, volcano. It's approx 40 minutes from where I live. It only takes so long because you have to go slow in several of the small towns at the base of the mountain, and you have to wind your way up the mountain. At Mt. Hood, I was able to play in snow deeper than I am tall for the first time in my life-- and it was in June!

Timerline Lodge-- built at the 6000' feet level on Mt. Hood. Built during the depression as part of the works project in 1937. It is filled with beautifully hand carved wooden posts, railings, etc. It has the longest ski season in North America, closing for only 2 weeks in late Sept. It is most famous for being one of the locations The Shining (Jack Nicholson version) was filmed at. Remember the parts where they showed the outside of the hotel, and the snow was up to the second floor? That's Timberline! Watch and in some parts you can see Mt. Hood in the background. When I visited in early June, the snow was still up to the second floor.

Vista House-- located at Crown Point, this area gives you a spectacular view of the Columbia Gorge, which separates Oregon from Washington. In this area, the river is at the bottom of a steep gorge that extends for miles. Along this area, some of the original paths cut by settlers traveling the Oregon Trail are still there. Now covered by pavement, it is interesting to drive through these areas and see how early Oregon settlers cut through the mountainous area. Vista House was built in 1916-17. I took this picture just as the sun was setting from an area a few miles west of Vista House. It is the building you can see sitting on the cliff in the distance. (Click on picture for pic of the building).

Oregon Zoo-- a great zoo with several animals we didn't have at the Houston zoo, including penguins and polar bears. This is one of the first places I visited when I moved to Oregon.

Above pictures © Jennifer Simonis