Anniversaries and Centuries

As many of you know our 1 year anniversary was on August 11. The weekend before, we decided to take a long weekend in Portland and enjoy the lights of the city! We went to a "churrascaria", which is a Brazilian-style steakhouse that Jill's been trying to take me to since...we first met. We stuffed ourselves silly with filet mignon (funny, I thought that was French?), bacon-wrapped chicken, pineapple, and much more. Not only are these establishments All-You-Can-Eat, but they bring the meat to you on long skewers, and you just tell them how big of a slice you want, hot off the grill!

On Saturday, we woke up early (first to finish Harry Potter #7...AMAZING!) and then run down to Portland's Farmer's Market and later the Saturday Market.
Needless to say, Jill was beside herself!

The Farmer's Market was great! It had an incredible selection, live music, beautiful flowers, and went on for several city blocks.

The Saturday Market was also amazing. We ended up grabbing some lunch and just sitting down, imagining we were back in the French Quarter.


Though the restaurants, open markets, and entertainment were perks, our favorite part of Portland was the public transportation system. We arrived on Friday night, and didn't move our car until Sunday afternoon when we left.
So after the market lunch, we decided to grab our
discount ice cream from Cold Stone (Jill is the master of coupons. Our entire weekend was on sale!).




Come Sunday, we went home via northern Oregon. We drove through the Columbia River Gorge and played in waterfalls, then on past countless vineyards and farms (where we picked some groceries......picked our produce that is!)














It's a dream come true to have a good camera to play with!!
The Wakheena Falls, in the Columbia River Gorge, Ore.
And out of nowhere, Mt. Hood suprised us!







Of course, this was still a week before our official 1 year. So, on the true day, we went out to eat at the best place Klamath Falls has to offer. Applebees!...just kidding.

I think it's called Bel Tramonto. It's a quaint Italian restaurant that caters to the palate and the atmosphere. The fancy evening was a treat, but we had a real dessert waiting at home!
A 1 year old cake top!!!




After peeling away all the tin foil, tape, seran wrap, marshmellows, and....TIME!, we still had a cake!







I won't lie though, it tasted like, well, a one year old cake. We finished our slices, but didn't even make a dent in the whole cake. However, I strongly recommend saving the top from the wedding. It totally made the lack of freezer space worthwhile.




To make up for that cake, Jill decided to spoil me with a different cake. A birthday cake!




I worked extra hard to put that day's wildfires to make it home. I was pretty late, but I made it!








Jill made it a very special day, even though she felt pretty awkward singing "Happy Birthday" all by herself.



When Jill asked what I wanted for my birthday meal, my sole response was "To GRILL!" We spent days fixing this spread, and we only had to postpone it once because of fires.
Jerk and La. spicy buffalo wings, pineapple, smoked Gouda Mac&Cheese, stuffed chili peppers, and bacon wrapped green beans.








All made possible by Sarah and Chris Holeman!! Thanks again for the grill!


Luckily, I had the Crater Lake Century to burn off all these calories!

100 Miles
Over 6 hours
7,540 vertical feet to climb
2 gallons of gatorade and water
1 cracked seat post!!!!!!
Countless moments pleading my bike not to break down














I had to represent, of course!!
I think I had a few riders comment, but I was usually passing them so fast I could never understand what they were saying! HAHAHA!!


The race was long, but everyone was in high spirits and I randomly found a local riding buddy to share the miles with. I had a good showing at first, but he eventually exhausted me.













As usual, Jill took the gold for being the best spouse/cheerleader/supportcrew/photographer/aid station. Couldn't have done it without her!

(Between that gravel and the heat, I almost bit it right there at the end!!)

It eventually finished, no thanks to my broken seatpost, and even had a small trophy waiting on me!!

A guy that I met during the ride had a ice cold "Dad's" root beer in his car for the end of the race. He ended up giving it to me!!






Sorry this was such a delayed and lengthy post, but I hope you've enjoyed some of our latest adventures.
We miss y'all! Give us a shout soon!