Portland Proper
Okay, I agree to switch posts with Val and this time, I thought I'd post a few pictures from my new living situation! Only took a little less than three months to post pictures of my arrival so by the time I move out, I should have my apartment pictures up. 😉
To start, driving into the Columbia River Gorge was breathtaking itself, only having visited the Pacific Northwest once before (and um, briefly and ten years ago)!
The outside of our apartment building, from when we first arrived!
This is the outside of our apartment. We're right off the parking lot and right by the laundry room and garbage cans on one side, so we joke that we're the perfect spot for spying on everyone's business. The other side is off the courtyard though.
The view from our spying window in the kitchen. ;)
I've been reading about the three nor'easters in a row hammering my old town on the opposite coast while the residents in my new city hunker down over their "big storm" of four inches... I actually found it so beautiful to walk around in, so most of my pictures of the local streets are from then! I've never lived in a city like this before and honestly... I love it. I've always been a pedestrian and just... never lived somewhere where I actually could get around by foot.
The local pigs on 23rd. I really need to take some pictures of the usual streets I walk to get to the local shops, Thurman and 23rd. They're so routine by now that I never think to snap a picture!
For times when I get burned out by the noise of city life though, the best part of our apartment is the location. It's only a block away from the entrance to the biggest park system in the city: Forest Park. Big enough to provide more trails than I could ever walk!
Just getting used to a whole different climate has been a thing for me. I've only ever lived on the east coast, so this isn't my usual kind of forest!
It's really gotten me into better walking shape though! The local trailhead has been closed the month of March, so my latest hike was a new six mile loop! It's funny, with all the evergreens and moss and ferns year round, I almost hadn't realized how much greener it's gotten until I looked at my newer photos compared to my first ones. It always feels green here. 💗
Spring has very much sprung already. Everyone must take the identical pictures of the flowering trees along the street but that's not going to stop me. 😊
Thurman from the other side, walking back home. Just underneath this bridge is the usual entrance I take to Forest Park, my apartment is down and to the left one block. If you look in the distance straight ahead, you can see Mount Hood! Visible volcanoes from home: also very novel for me!
Last week, I went with my mom and dad to see Sauvie Island, where we almost bought a floating home right near except it fell through at the last minute. It was kind of bittersweet because it would have been somewhere near home and now that plan is probably out of the running. One side of the island is "beach", beach being the shore of the Columbia River. While admittedly I DID expect there to be an ocean as I crossed over the dune, I bounced back pretty quickly and appreciated it for what it was. It's really nice to walk there and in the summer, you can swim, which is a big draw for me to come back. 😊
I need to try and remember to take more pictures in my every day life, lol. Give you an impression of what it's like to be on the bus and the giant backpack I use to ferry home my groceries, that would be the most honest representation. 😉
I'm going to try and do a part two post of what my room looks like now that it's decorated. I mean, soon, not wait until next December. 💗
This entry was originally posted at https://topazera.dreamwidth.org/41496.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
To start, driving into the Columbia River Gorge was breathtaking itself, only having visited the Pacific Northwest once before (and um, briefly and ten years ago)!
The outside of our apartment building, from when we first arrived!
This is the outside of our apartment. We're right off the parking lot and right by the laundry room and garbage cans on one side, so we joke that we're the perfect spot for spying on everyone's business. The other side is off the courtyard though.
The view from our spying window in the kitchen. ;)
I've been reading about the three nor'easters in a row hammering my old town on the opposite coast while the residents in my new city hunker down over their "big storm" of four inches... I actually found it so beautiful to walk around in, so most of my pictures of the local streets are from then! I've never lived in a city like this before and honestly... I love it. I've always been a pedestrian and just... never lived somewhere where I actually could get around by foot.
The local pigs on 23rd. I really need to take some pictures of the usual streets I walk to get to the local shops, Thurman and 23rd. They're so routine by now that I never think to snap a picture!
For times when I get burned out by the noise of city life though, the best part of our apartment is the location. It's only a block away from the entrance to the biggest park system in the city: Forest Park. Big enough to provide more trails than I could ever walk!
Just getting used to a whole different climate has been a thing for me. I've only ever lived on the east coast, so this isn't my usual kind of forest!
It's really gotten me into better walking shape though! The local trailhead has been closed the month of March, so my latest hike was a new six mile loop! It's funny, with all the evergreens and moss and ferns year round, I almost hadn't realized how much greener it's gotten until I looked at my newer photos compared to my first ones. It always feels green here. 💗
Spring has very much sprung already. Everyone must take the identical pictures of the flowering trees along the street but that's not going to stop me. 😊
Thurman from the other side, walking back home. Just underneath this bridge is the usual entrance I take to Forest Park, my apartment is down and to the left one block. If you look in the distance straight ahead, you can see Mount Hood! Visible volcanoes from home: also very novel for me!
Last week, I went with my mom and dad to see Sauvie Island, where we almost bought a floating home right near except it fell through at the last minute. It was kind of bittersweet because it would have been somewhere near home and now that plan is probably out of the running. One side of the island is "beach", beach being the shore of the Columbia River. While admittedly I DID expect there to be an ocean as I crossed over the dune, I bounced back pretty quickly and appreciated it for what it was. It's really nice to walk there and in the summer, you can swim, which is a big draw for me to come back. 😊
I need to try and remember to take more pictures in my every day life, lol. Give you an impression of what it's like to be on the bus and the giant backpack I use to ferry home my groceries, that would be the most honest representation. 😉
I'm going to try and do a part two post of what my room looks like now that it's decorated. I mean, soon, not wait until next December. 💗
This entry was originally posted at https://topazera.dreamwidth.org/41496.html. Please comment there using OpenID.