May 24th, 2025 marked a whole year since booking it from San Francisco all the way to our new Portland apartment! We have been so happy with this move to Portland. We were really quickly reassured that it was the right choice and found our spot to settle down for a bit. These tired tumbleweeds are setting down some roots. We found a great friend group right away, some through mutual collie love, some through my gym, some through pedalpalooza rides... i
In this year, we saw at least 11 concerts, which was honestly way more than I expected we'd seen. I'd kind of imagined we wouldn't actually wind up going to too many. I was super surprised with just how much there is too. I think that was part of the overwhelm when we first got here, trying to figure out who to see because there were constant options.
We saw more movies in the theater (and ate the most popcorn) than maybe ever. The Hollywood Theater is a really cozy one that shows a lot of old films and often has little events around them. Let's see how many I can remember. If anyone has tips on self control with not geting popcorn, lemme know.
Drive (with a pre-show concert with the people that did the soundtrack)
Beetlejuice II
Ghostbusters
The Shining
Life Acquatic
Dazed and Confused (not a fan. That humor/culture did not hold up. I was cringing the whole time).
Royal Tenenbaums
Pulp Fiction
Moulin Rouge (at the Tomorrow Theater during their Millennial March Movie Madness event).
The Goonies
Mad Max Furiosa
Warfare
Sinners
I saw my first Thorns game, Portland's women's soccer team, and it was quite the energy. Flags flying. Fireworks blasting. Scarves flailing...
We made it to the coast for more trips than I imagined too. Dylan got way more surfing in even being about 1.5-2 hours away. It kind of added a nice touch, over the rivers and through the woods to grandmother's house we go. the Oregon Coast we go.
On our actual 1 year anniversary here, we attempted a camping trip to Eastern Oregon to see the John Day area and the Painted Hills-- a trip that I'd dreamed of since we moved here the first time in 2020. As the last minute planners we are, we decided on Friday, packed up the car and headed out Saturday morning. I did not take into account that my car's AC was broken, and also did not take into account that apparently 73 degrees in the desert does not feel like 73 degrees but more like 90. So we got to the campsite (that was full anyway), got out of our heated car, into the dry desert air and quickly realized it may not be the best camping experience. At least the dogs got a freshreshing frolic in the John Day river. We squeezed in a mini hike, then ended up driving back via a long, meandering route that showcased some stunning shifts in the landscape. Starting along the river, some looked like the moon, some had desert sand adjacent to bright green farmland... We learned that you pass through at least 7 weather types just driving on the Columbia River Gorge.
We'll be back another time for sure. Maybe thinking October would be cool. Oh and Toulouse got giardia from the river. Poor ol' John Day would've been able to empathize with that. (John Day was a man that set out from New York on John Jacob Asshole Aster's search to start an empire with the poor beavers' pelts, who had a helluva time on his overland expedition-- read Astoria if you wanna know more-- I'm legit thinking of writing a blog just about how much that book along with the Wager and The Four Winds changed how I see a moldy strawberry and much much more.)
We went biking crazy. House warming brunch in another city/state? Let's do it! Ride along the springwater corridor until we can't anymore? Yes please! (Thankful for a nice dinner treat in Gresham on the way). Chris flew out for a whirlwind bike ride extravagnza-- he got in Friday night, we drove out to Laurance Lake by Mt. Hood for a ride (cut short by some leftober snow), then squeezed in a ride around Portland and lunch before flying back Saturday night! That is perfect Ross-Fashion activities/planning. Think about it-- do it. If I had the premium Strava app I could tell you a minimum of miles biked. I wonder! Maybe I'll try a trial soon and I'll come back and update you on this very important information.
Our bikes also took us on some fun open house hunting rides where we'd map out a few houses to scope out on our ride to wherever.
Skiing was great. Kind of like the concerts and beach time, it surprised me how much we went. I mostly had a blast but I did have some bigger falls (5 on one slope really) that threw off my mojo. Hopefully I'll have shaken that off by next year.
Dylan graduated with his Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners degree! Woohoo! We celebrated in Mobile, AL with family (both parents came up!). He passed all his boards and licensure and all that in December and got started with patients in May and not only rocking it but loving it! It has been a great, promising career change. Probably the last? If you didn't know, Dylan has a history of going back to school (3x now), so I wouln't be surprised if he found something new in the future too. So now you can call him Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practioner Dylan.
My initial job plans when we moved out here abruptly changed, but lead me to working back at the Northwest Regional ESD (Early childhood program with birth-5year olds). It was the same organization I worked with in Florida last year remotely serving Tillamook County, but this year with Columbia County (St. Helens, Warren, Scappoose-- St. Helen's is where Halloweentown was filled for all you Disney Original fans). I worked with an incredible team and felt really honored to work with these kids and families. and I'll actually get to work in the same position next year too, so that's wonderful.
The city has been exactly what we were hoping for and much more with the community of a city and surrounded by nature with the beautiful coast and Mt. Hood so close, hiking all over, even right in the city. The summer was an absolute blast, fall was strikingly colorful, winter was not as bad as expected, and spring was truly delightful. Walking down our streets to new blooms each day was incredible. Some just looked like aliens, some cartoons, the poppies all blow me away, and now the roses are poppin'. We're really lucky with our friend group here already too, thanks to collies and Pacific Crest Crossfit for soem good characters.
We, of course, wish we could move all of our East Coasters out here too and we'll keep trying, for now you guys can come visit in our HOME! :)
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