October Has Been a Good Month.....

October 1 - Mtn. biking w/ a classmate at Powell Butte nature park in NE Portland. It was absolutely gorgeous & a pretty good ride too.

October 3 - I was introduced to the caramel apple spice at Starbucks. Delicious. I may just need another 1 or 2 in the next few weeks.

October 8 - Went through a corn maze at Sauvie Island's pumpkin patch. It was a tricky one. This maze had sports trivia questions along the way to direct you in the right direction. Good thing I had a sports wiz with me. Too bad we couldn't have seen the layout beforehand. Might have avoided our utter confusion in the first half. MJ's "Beat It" blaring through the corn stalks inspired us to move on & conquer.

October 12 - So I bought a bag of candy corn to keep me studying for my test that week and I made a huge discovery....... Candy corn really is NOT that good. Definitely not worth the calories and sugar. Man, what is happening?? I used to love that stuff. Remember this post?

October 15 - Mtn. biking with a couple of friends from the ward at Brown's Camp, about an hour drive towards the coast. 3 and 1/2 hrs. of biking. Booyah! The trail was absolutely GORGEOUS, not to mention a FABULOUS ride. Some good climbs, tricky technical sections, and amazing downhill. It's definitely my new favorite (yes, even more than Lambert Park in UT). These pictures don't do it justice, but it's just SO green here. Towering trees, ferns, lush vegetation, moss, etc. Oh man, it never ceases to take my breath away.

October 21 - Mtn. biking w/ a classmate at Cooper Mountain Nature Park. It was a LAMO trail compared to the previous one. It's like otter pops to Magnum bars. No comparison really. Well, come to find out bikes are NOT allowed on the trail (what can I say? I'm a rebel). No wonder the trail wasn't that great. Full of gravel and extremely short. Never climbed such a monstrous hill in my life though. It's 5 min. from my house so it was worth checking out. Too bad it wasn't a better trail. All the good ones are so far away.....

Later that night I went out with my classmates to Typhoon (delicious Thai food) to celebrate a birthday. I was entertained by some new dudes I met along with red wine glasses falling & spilling on people :) Not mine of course, but there's never a dull moment with my classmates! I love them!

October 27 - Introduced a friend to Portland for the first time. It was an adventure in downtown. Started out by eating some delicious authentic tacos (carnitas & carne asada) from the world famous food carts while longboarding across the Hawthorne Bridge. We caught a spectacular view of downtown Portland (one of my favorite skylines) from the other side and then boarded back over the Burnside Bridge. I had no idea the Portland Oregon sign was just on the other side. Some homeless lady complimented our longboards. Who knew there could be so many friendly bums in Portland? It's the place to be. We picked up some tasty donuts from the famous Voodoo Donuts and enjoyed them in this cute little alley w/ lights while listening to one of the many street musicians trying to make their way. She was actually pretty good - a jazzy beautiful voice like Adele on the ukulele. Perfect. To finish it off we wandered through the many, many aisles of Powell's Books. I could spend hours in there.....one whole city block w/ multiple levels of great reads. We happened upon this one for example. "Stuff White People Like." Hilarious! You have to read the link. I love it. Once again.....I love Portland. I might be here to stay.....

(I one day aspire to taking pictures such as these.)