Fun in Portland!

A few quick photos from my trip to the Pacific Northwest -so far! In an hour or so, I'm meeting up with my dad and going to his log cabin northwest of Portland, and tomorrow we're headed to Olympic National Park (my favorite in the US-and I've been to a lot!) Sat through Monday. Unfortunately the forecast calls for rain... so I'm calling on the Lord to supernaturally clear the rain! :) I'm coming back to Portland Tuesday morn, and then driving to the Missoula, Montana for the Society of Environmental Journalists conference.

My dear friend, environmental reporter, Terri Hansen graciously is hosting me while I'm in town. We went out to get some coffee at the Fresh Pot and then took our annual photo at Ben & Jerry's!
Our two mochas from The Fresh Pot. So yum- especially with the double chocolate flourless cookie.
Me outside Fresh Pot!
Inside... funny thing that on Beth Moore's blog, she just wrote about how her daughter's favorite coffee is Stumptown Roasters from Portland and that's what they serve here! Good taste! :)
I made Terri and her roommate Amy this delicious Vegetarian Times magazine soup I'd been wanting to make - spinach zucchini soup and like almost every recipe I've tried from their magazine it didn't disappoint! As the website says, "This light soup is full of sunny flavors like lemon, zucchini, and dill." Ironically the recipe ingredients did not list dill so I didn't include it but after the fact I realized it would have been delightful in it! We did not have white beans so we subbed red potatoes as a starch, which were great but I would recommend peeling them.
Sauteeing onions, scallions, and garlic. The recipe only calls for onion but I always add garlic and they had some scallion on hand so I added that too.
We served it up with a yummy salad - a most excellent meal!
We had a little get together at the Laughing Planet Cafe on SE Woodstock, one of my favorite places to eat in Portland. They have an assortment of plastic dinosaurs on the tables... for fun and entertainment. This is writer Bill Lascher, me and Terri. Plus dinos. The stegosaurus has special meaning for me because in my Beth Moore bible study workbook she talks about how stego is Greek for "protection" in the 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 bible verse that is so famous "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." - the "protects" word has stego as a root.
Terri looking beautiful as always!
My high school sweetheart Jimmy and me.
Bev, my dad and me! It was so great to see them! I was here last August for their wedding - they are soul mates! I'm headed out right now to meet my dad and Bev for a long weekend. I'll be back with photos! If it does not rain too much, that is...