busybusybusy

Rick and I must apologize for not writing much this weekend. No excuses but our explanation is that with Nate in town and our big football wins! we really weren't home much!

Nate flew in on Thursday evening. Friday night we met Nate's cousin and his wife (Phil & Michelle, who live in Portland) for dinner and we hit it off wonderfully.

Saturday, LSU played a close but very exciting game, which ended it a beautiful victory, bumping the Baton Rouge Tigers to #3. To make the weekend even better, the Redskins also had a big win on Sunday! After last weekend, this was a great football weekend for us.

Sunday we went to Phil & Michelle's house. We went on a nice short hike in Forest Park (biggest city park in the nation). We took the rest of the night easy, ate tacos from a local place (YUM!) and watched a movie at their house. (Now we have Portland friends! YIPPEE!)

Today, we went to Powell's (the biggest bookstore in the nation) and we had Mio Gelato (the best gelato in the city!) Tonight we are going to meet up with Phil & Michelle. Nate leaves tomorrow. We fly back to the RIC on Wednesday!

So finally we have awesome shots of Mt. Hood. I know these pictures were promised long ago, but with the weather being cloudy we haven't been able to see as well as we could today. The high was 71 and so clear. So here you go finally. I kind of tried to take pictures as you could see them from our balcony to show how close Mt. Hood really is to the city. I particularly like the last picture because you can see the moon as well. Enjoy!







Can't wait to see everybody in the RIC!

Love,
your favorite ex-richmonders.

Ps. With Kaira's wedding this weekend, then Halloween, then the Alabama game... We are going to be pretty busy in Richmond. I wouldn't expect postings with any frequency.

We will definitely try and write some before we leave for our cross-country trip (around November 7 or 8). We should have our trip planned out by then with which city we will be in on what dates. If anybody is interested in meeting up with us at some point or wants to take a couple days off to travel feel free to let us know.

We plan to post daily on the trip but can't guarantee anything because we won't know when we can find internet access.

its been awhile. sorry.

It has been about a week, but honestly you aren't missing much. We have slowed down a lot on our touristness. In fact, I'm kind of itching for a dose of Richmond, a hug from my mother & father, and a glass of wine with the girls. But hey, only 6 days til I can do all 3.

On the exciting side, we went to a show at Doug Fir again. About two weeks ago, we met a guy, Jim, at the Black Francis show and we ended up really hitting it off. Jim told us about this gig he was doing in a few weeks for a magazine, interviewing Bob Mould. Bob Mould, the front man for Husker Du and Sugar, played a small show, did an on-stage interview with Jim, and a viewing of his DVD. It was very intimate and very cool. So cool we not only got Bob's autograph, but because we knew Jim, we also got to hang out and chat it up, about life and music.

Here is Rick with Bob.


We also have been riding our bikes a lot! Which is a good workout and an easy way to get to spots in the city that are far from the streetcar & max. Unfortunately for me, it has been over 5 years since I have ridden a bike. Needless to say, Rick has been very patient with my uneasiness on my bike, that does not mean though, that my bike has been patient with me.

Two days ago, my bike thought it would be funny to get into a fight with the wet streetcar tracks on the way home from the grocery store. The bike won, totally outfighting the tracks but more importantly my leg...


Please be aware scrolling down... Viewer discretion is advised...



Yeah, the bruise is as big as my hand. Aside from a brief break on the side of the road, I finished the ride with a little discomfort, it was cleaning it that wasn't any fun at all. I have not been on my bike since.

That is all for us now. Keep my leg in your prayers as so I won't destroy my sister's wedding having to stand in front of a group of people with the nastiness showing. Hopefully it will heal by then. :)

Love you all,
your homesick portlanders

Ps. We get a piece of Richmond with us tonight. Nate flies in tonight and is staying with us until Tuesday!!

we are very, very sad. boo to green bay.

we are very sad. boo to kentucky.

seattle on a dry day

We just returned from Seattle this afternoon after a great two days. At first we were a little disappointed with the city itself, but after spending all day yesterday there we found we really did enjoy it.

On Wednesday, we went to the Experience Music Project and Hall of Fame. I don't know if you have heard of it but it is basically a museum that has the entire history of music, focusing mostly on the music that has come from the Northwest region. There was also a room of guitars starting from the first guitar all the way through the electric era. They even had a sound lab where we were able to play around on many different types of instruments and even had some jam rooms where you and some friends could record your own CD. We couldn't really take pictures inside but we did take some photographs of the crazy shaped colorful
building.


Also in this area, called the Seattle Center, is where the infamous Space Needle is located! We thought about going up to the top but some of us (namely Rick) are scared of things like this so we took pictures from the bottom.


That evening we went to the waterfront and had a crab feast at a restaurant called the Crab Pot and but feast I mean, snow crab legs, dungeness crab legs (because they don't have blue crabs out here), manila clams, mussels, andouille sausage, and corn on the cob.


We called it an early night our first night and got up early for our final day in Seattle.

On Thursday morning we went to the Seattle Aquarium which ended up being a bust since we had both been to the Baltimore Aquarium the Seattle one seemed pretty lame (and small). But us being the good sports that we are tried to make the best of the situation and ended up having a fun time.


After the aquarium we went on an hour long tour on an Argosy Cruise around Elliott Bay and the Puget Sound. Although it was chilly we had a nice time and learned a lot about the city.



One side we had the Olympus Mountains...


And on the other side we could see Mt. Rainier...(the picture really doesn't do it justice, but it was pretty neat to see).


We went to see Jimmy Eat World at the Showbox on 1st street. The show was awesome and we had a great time even though it was packed.


Other points of interest:

There is a street named Virginia in Seattle so of course we had to photograph it!


This is the tallest building on the West Coast.


Pike's Place Market is where the infamous fish throwing takes place. That was really neat seeing after we have seen so many movies with this taking place. We even got t-shirts!


Seattle's hybrid buses that run more like streetcars, makes for a lot less pollution and smog.


Quest Field, where the Seahawks play. The tour guide on the cruise told us this stadium has the most number of false starts by opponents because the clam shape makes the audience noise revert straight back to the players on the field. Sounds pretty wild, huh?


And finally Union Station in Portland. I just think the train station is neat and old school so I thought I would share it.


Well I think that is all we have to share. Hope this finds everybody well. We are off to watch LSU kick Kentucky butt.

Love,
R&E

making our way around all 50

It's official, although Rick is ahead of me by a long shot, he officially has 43 states under his built whereas, Washington is only my 27th.

We rode the train from Portland Union Station to the King St. Station in Seattle this morning.

So far we have had a good day but we have much to do before we head home on Friday.

I'd like to keep this short, but definitely be expecting a long, collage-like posting on Friday afternoon, probably evening for you East-coasters.

Two weeks from today we will be back there with you.

Love,
your traveling fools.

Ps. We saw Quest Stadium right off the train and it's pretty sick. Of course, Rick would never admit to that because he hates any team but the redskins, but I will be sure to take a picture before we leave town so you all...er I mean ya'll, can bask in the sweetness with me (behind is back, of course).

Back in the RIC!

Lots of people have been asking about when we will be back in the RIC so here is our current schedule. (Subject to change)

Wed Oct 24: Fly back into Richmond around 5pm
Thurs Oct 25: Drive to Charlotte for my sister's wedding, will be there until Oct 28.
Sun Oct 28 - Thurs Nov 1: Will be in Richmond, what is everybody doing for Halloween?
Fri Nov 2 - Sun Nov 4: In Alabama for Saban's butt-kicking by the tigers.
Sun Nov 4: Return to Richmond, pack up the U-haul, and begin our drive across the country around Nov 8 or 9.
(We will be returning for Christmas as well, not sure on the dates, will probably plan around LSU's national championship game on Jan 8)

So as confusing as that is, there you go. If you have any questions or would like to make reservations with us just drop us an email at eshelton269@yahoo.com OR jrickrice@yahoo.com. (totally kidding)

Thanks and Have a nice day.

Love,
us

the joys of living in an apartment building

Rick and I are standing on our balcony watching the rain, trying to decide if we are going to go for a bike ride.

And as we walk inside we realize the fire alarm in our building is going off.

Our building is in a square shape and having not used the steps as much as we should were a bit confused as to how to get out. Eventually we did.

Thinking it was just some kid playing around we figured it wouldn't take long until we could go back inside.

We were wrong.

It was some dumb kid, on our floor in fact, but instead they had caught something on fire on their stove.

Needless to say 2 fire trucks with 8 fire-people (I say that cause one was a woman) with 3 fans come running in to get rid of all the smoke.

Twenty minutes later we are allowed to go back in.

As we walk down our hallway we realize how smoky it is and there are two fire-people holding the door to our apartment open.

Of course Rick and I freak out thinking we did something, even though we know it couldn't have been us, we weren't cooking...

The fire-people told us they just needed our apartment to get the smoke out. It's a good thing we didn't have any furniture or else it would smell like smoke now too.

Everything happens for a reason. And in much an exciting way.

Love,
your thank-god-we-were-furniture-less oregonians

almost out of control

so.....i got a little irritated last night. not a big deal right? i think i might have a problem (atleast i can say it out loud and thats the first step)

so we are watching the game last night with some florida fans, not bad so far...except for the fact that they are winning. its starting to look bad for the tigers and then i look at the last play of usc-stanford game.....touchdown and game.....stanford!

2,569.72 miles away i could feel momentum shift in tiger stadium. we all could. 5 florida fans turn around and start chanting "overrated" at us all. (this is when i realized i could have a problem) i had an a aneurysm! (i heal quickly)

"overrated? OVERRATED??"

i calmly stood up, got everyones attention and repeated their own words, "overrated?" i kindly and loudly asked a florida fan to "hush" while i spoke,

"didnt you just lose to AUBURN?? you are lu-cky to still be top ten."

as silence overcame them applause came from our side. one guy actually had the nerve to change his story and told us that he was yelling "overrated" about florida not lsu. nevermind the fact that he was facing all of us as he said it.

none the less it was a good night and we all had a fun night.

and today was a good morning also. skins take detroit all day long. we watched the game with one skins fan so no drama there. i feel like everything is going to be okay for another week.

see everyone soon, i need a nap

2 posts in one day! WOW!

Due to the lack of internet, here are a few pictures off of our balcony we never shared with you.


This is a photo of our view off of our balcony to the right/west. Just over those hills is more hills and more hills all the way to the coast.


This is the view to the left/east off of our balcony. This is the Broadway Bridge that goes across the Willamette River and over to the east side. In real life on a clear day you can even see Mt. Hood in this direction. Unfortunately it has been cloudy so we haven't gotten a good picture of it yet. And probably won't for awhile, there is over 12 inches of snow on Mt. Hood now!


A beautiful night picture of Union Station, aka where the trains leave. We will be taking our first train ride out of this station next week to go to Seattle. The iron structures, or bridge towers are an old fashioned drawbridge. The part of the bridge that is in between them lifts entirely upwards instead of the box-opening shape like the drawbridges we are used to. There is also a little house that you can barely see that controls the other 3 drawbridges in this section of the Willamette.


The Portland streetcar, the main form of transportation for us right now seeing as how it stops right in front of our building's front door.


One last thing, we went local!
Here are our new phone numbers:

Apartment land line: 503-477-7401
Rick's cellular: 503-619-5867
Erin's cellular: 503-619-5873

Call them. Use them. Love them.

Love,
your trader-richmonders-for-getting-portland-numbers.

we are serious tourists.

We went to the Oregon Zoo today, only about a 10 minute ride on the MAX from our apartment. I would love to tell you how much fun we had and how incredibly ridiculous we were with the camera but it is probably best to just show you. (These aren't even all the pictures we took, just the best ones.)

Hope you enjoy our picture collage.

Love,
your animal-lover carnivores