DC Drive-By

We went to my best friend's baby's gender reveal party yesterday, and it was in Arlington. Unfortunately, since it took us 5 hours to get there, and we were leaving at 6pm (which means we got home at 10pm because traffic was relatively kind to us), we didn't have time to see the sights with Poe. But I-395 goes right past three fairly interesting things: the Pentagon, the Washington Monument, and the Air Force monument. So I did my best to get photos on the way past.

The Air Force monument is the curved upward lines... it looks truly amazing in person.
It's extremely well-designed. It looked like it was turning as we drove past it, but it wasn't.

The Pentagon is the low beige building, and the white stick behind it is the Washington Monument.

So, it's not proper sightseeing, but it's the best we could do yesterday.

Poe in Idaho

We went to Idaho for four days for a family reunion and funeral. Being from Virginia Beach (large, dense, humid, and green for the most part) it was... small, sparse, dry, and beige.

Some deer wandered pretty close at the state park after dinner one night.

Outside the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, they put fake tracks in the cement
so you can see what the trail would have looked like.

This is the ferry that the town, Glenns Ferry, was named after.

Poe reads about the ferry.

Poe samples a beer in the Oregon Trail Cafe and Bar.

Still thirsty? Huckleberry soda (huckleberries are big out there).

Sign recognizing the pioneers who braved the Oregon Trail.

A real live telephone booth! I don't know if any of you still have these around,
but I certainly haven't seen one in my adult life, so I was really amazed.
It was right outside our 9-room motel.

Close-up of Poe in the telephone booth.

Ruts made by the Oregon Trail, still there to this day!
(It probably helps that people walk down them to get to the ferry site.)

A map of the local falls. We visited Shoshone Falls Park (far left) and Twin Falls Park (far right).

Shoshone Falls. It use to be a whole horseshoe shape, but irrigation projects have
taken away a lot of water upriver.

Another view of Shoshone Falls.

One more of Shoshone Falls (the horseshoe used to extend to the right of what's there now).

Reading about the expansion project.

Twin Falls. There used to be two (thus the name) but one is dry now
(see irrigation projects upriver above).

Reading about the history of Twin Falls.

A recreation of a Conestoga wagon like those used on the Oregon Trail
(and painted in University of Oregon colors). The one to the left was built
for the bicentennial in 1976.

It was not easy getting home. (Have you ever had a flight delayed because you didn't have enough CUPS on board?... and then you left after an hour delay, still without the cups? And then, because of the whole cups debacle, you sprinted across the Atlanta airport only to arrive at the gate two minutes after your flight left two minutes early? Well, we hadn't either, until last night.) But we made it, and we're back to work now.

To Broadway and Back

No, we didn't go to NYC... we went to Broadway, VA, which is a little town near Harrisonburg. We helped our friends put up a fence in their backyard. I wouldn't let Poe help, because there was so much danger for an LV: red clay everywhere, sweat and sunscreen, wet concrete, power tools, plus so many bugs. But he enjoyed the car ride!

A scenic view of the Blue Ridge Mountains
(we've never stopped at this in all the times we've gone this way!)

Another shot of the Blue Ridge Mountains

Poe's seat in the car

From the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel
(usually I'm driving, so I can't get a good LV picture here!)

Heading into the tunnel

Hold your breath!
(The tunnel goes under the water, so that was the game
we played as kids... try to hold your breath through the tunnel.
It's 3.5 miles... we never succeeded.)

Here we go!

Fence building is very hard work, so we're taking it easy for a couple days, but this is actually a pretty busy week! Let's hope we remember to take pictures of all the fun things coming up...

PDX

And so we said goodbye to Portland and the rest of the Pacific Northwest... for now. We're going to Idaho this summer.

Let me tell you one of the funniest things I know about Portland. They love their airport's carpet. It's a little weird. I mean, I like the pattern too, but it's iconic to them. Well, PDX is pulling up the carpet this year. So, like any normal city, several companies are buying it (remember, this is decades-old airport carpet) and making stuff out of it (hey, what can I say, they're really into recycling) and selling it. Souvenir squares, tote bags, cat posts, whatever. And the pattern is all over the place. (I actually got Poe a souvenir with the PDX carpet pattern on it, and a necklace for myself, because I say embrace the weirdness!) But perhaps the best part is that a rolled up piece of this carpet with big googly eyes is going to be the grand marshal of the Starlight Parade (part of the Rose Festival) this year. I love that city.

Anyway, here is Poe's photo with the famed PDX carpet:

Visiting Vancouver

My mom suggested a little trip over the state line into Washington so we could visit a library in Vancouver! I'm collecting a photo of myself in front of a library in each state. (I might have to crawl inside a box with my Little Visitor at some point to get to some of them!) It turns out that Vancouver has a really cool public library!

Got a better shot of the "Boring / Oregon City" sign on the way out.

Another sign: Leaving Oregon! I didn't see a "welcome to Washington" sign so this'll have to do.

Can you see Mt. Hood from the road?

Big, bold sign out in front of the library.

The view from the outdoor terrace at the Vancouver Community Library.
If there were less hazy cloudy bits, you could see Mt. Hood pretty well.

Vancouver from the terrace of the library.

This cool wall is just inside the front door. This is looking straight up at the ceiling,
so the words stick out and face straight down. Awesome!

It was a fun little outing, and I never realized how close Portland and Vancouver actually were! We could also see Mt. St. Helens, but we couldn't get a good picture from the road (after she blew her lid a few decades ago, she isn't quite as tall as she used to be).

ACRL

The whole reason Poe and I came to Portland was for ACRL 2015 (the conference for the Association of College and Research Libraries). Poe learned all sorts of interesting things about my job, and he's ready to help me at work when we get back to Virginia!

Welcome to ACRL 2015!

This Sasquatch cut-out moved all over the convention center.
He always had little buttons on a tray next to him, and we were
encouraged to tweet photos of him with his hashtag (#acrlbigfoot).

I co-presented a poster session about how our libraries are supporting
interculturalism initiatives at our community college. Here, Poe gets us set up.

Portland Saturday Market

One thing I think is really cool in Portland is the Portland Saturday Market. It's the biggest consecutively-running open-air weekend market in the country, and it's full of handmade crafts, art, and local food.

It's hard to see during the day, but look carefully...
you can see the "Portland Oregon" sign.
It used to say "Made in Oregon" (a company that sold local goods)
but it was changed when the city bought the sign.

You can see the red banner advertising the Portland Saturday Market,
about half of which is behind that banner and off to the left. The rest is behind us. It's huge!

Benson bubblers are the iconic drinking fountains scattered around Portland.
Here, Poe stops for a drink at one after wandering the market for a while.

He looks closer in person, but this is Mt. Hood on our way back to Mom's house.

Portland Art Museum

Yesterday, Poe went to the Portland Art Museum with me and my mom! They have lots of different types of art. I tried to get a photo of Poe in each exhibit to show the museum's range.

This one is in the Chinese art exhibit. The placard said it took the artist 5 years to draw.

Japanese clay exhibit.

American art exhibit

Northwest American art exhibit (this is Mt Hood)

English silver exhibit

Transformation mask (raven to sun) in the Native American art exhibit

Hat in the Native American art exhibit

Sculpture exhibit (Poe is hiding in the middle)

Contemporary art exhibit (this one is called "Five Words in Orange Neon")

The sign outside the museum