Andy’s Blog

I was finally able to persuade Andy to start a blog after he ranted to me yet again about the North American Organic Beer Festival we volunteered at yesterday. Truth be told, he has a lot of valid arguments. Although it was much cooler this year, the festival just wasn’t as good as last years. Andy raises a good point about the line for Hopworks running parallel to the porta potties. The beer started to run out around the time we got off of our shift (6pm) so we didn’t get to try a few. But for volunteering we did get a cup and 13 drink tickets. So that wasn’t so bad.

Here is a photo of us on our way to the festival being silly:

Check out Andy’s blog and leave him a comment. Cheers!

Oysters, Anchors, and Beer

After spending time with Andy’s amazing family, he and I left Des Moines, Washington for Astoria, Oregon. As usual, we had a fantastic time getting there. It’s great traveling with Andy because he likes to stop for the same things I do: beer, roadside food, and historical markers. Along the way, we found Raymond, Washington which is a wonderful cool little town with an awesome bar called Top Notch.

After enjoying a beer, we cruised along the main drag and found a visitor area complete with an old firetruck.

From Raymond, WA, we took Highway 101 to South Bend, Washington which is the self proclaimed “Oyster Capital of the World.”

For those of you who don’t know, Andy is a huge fan of oysters. I mean, I love oysters but Andy LOVES oysters. We bought two shooters from East Point Seafood Market

Usually an oyster shooter is one oyster. The oyster shooters from East Point Seafood Market contained 7 oysters in a plastic cup. And they were fantastic!!
I had to literally pull Andy away from the market. He wanted to stay–probably forever. He even talked about us getting jobs in the area. He would be an oyster farmer and I could find a job somewhere in the area providing valuable marketing services.
So away we went to Astoria, Oregon. I read that at the height of Astoria’s glory in the 1800′s over half of the people in Astoria could claim to be Finnish. My Swedish ancestors lived in Finland, so this was somewhat interesting to me.
We visited the Fort George Brewery and enjoyed several different beers and some food. I highly recommend their seasonal fruit beer-they had a nice raspberry on tap. Andy liked their IPA. The beer, food, and service was verygood. If you are anywhere near Astoria, I recommend stopping in and saying hello.

We walked around Astoria taking photos and exploring the downtown area. Being that Astoria is a fishing/seaside town, there are old anchors all around town!


The next day, we visited the Astoria Column which is really, really interesting. It costs a dollar to park in the park but the view is spectacular. At the top, you can see the Columbia River (which is the biggest river I have ever seen. Not to hard when you consider that I grew up with the Rio Grande)

All in all it was a wonderful trip. But we are also very happy to be at home.

Open Fire Hydrant=Fun!

The City of Portland has been doing some work on something around our apartment. I’m not really sure what it all entails but the Water Bureau brings several trucks, a weird lookin’ backhoe, and several other cool tools including a jack hammer. And all at the wonderful convenient time of 8am.

After hours of jack hammer action outside, Andy and I decided to go for a bike ride. We noticed that there was a large volume of water cascading down the street and into the storm drains while several members of the Water Bureau stood quietly watching it disapear into the opening in the street. We rode our bikes up 57th to find out where it was coming from.

I think this photo says it all:

Ahhh!

Tomorrow afternoon, we are headed up to the Seattle area for the McCarthy family gathering. The McCarthy’s are Andy’s family on his mothers side. They are a fun bunch who know how to have a great time! On our way back, we will be taking a detour and visiting Astoria, Oregon (where the movie Goonies was filmed). We will visit Fort George Brewery and some other area attractions. Stayed tuned for some great photos and a good story.
Cheers!

Andy’s Graduation

On Friday June 12th, Andy graduated from Portland Community College with an Associate of Science degree.

Here is Andy!

Andy

While I was taking photos of him, Andy recounted all of the things he would not miss about junior college and the classes he would no longer have to endure. This last term he fulfilled the math requirements needed to obtain his Bachelor of Science degree so he was pretty happy when he realized that he wouldn’t have to take another calculus class.

No more calculus!

Andy’s mom Shannon was able to come into town to attend the ceremony as well.

Andy & Shannon

You can see where Andy gets his good looks.

Close up

What?

Once again, I apologize for my lack of communication lately. Andy and I have been really busy lately. And you all know that I can be kinda lazy sometimes. Especially during allergy season. This years pollen count is higher than the previous years and I look like I am either sick or hungover. It’s been lovely!

I’m curious as to why the most popular post on this blog is “Baba Ganoush Recipe”. It has gotten twice as many views as other posts. Anyway, I will be writing on Andy’s graduation, his hydrogen torch, and an update on what Andy and I are up to.

End of the Term

Yes, it is once again, the end of another term of school. Andy is in full swing getting all of his projects finished, papers written, and tests studied for. He graduates from Portland Community College with his Associates Degree on June 12th at 7pm. Both myself and Shannon, Andy’s mother will be in attendance. As soon as I am able to, I will post video of Andy’s hydrogen torch in action. I’m busy finishing up non-school projects and finishing up my InDesign class.