PNW: Oregon

Posted on by Ian C.

While we flew in to Portland, we didn’t actually visit that city – too many warnings – so we stayed bit east in Troutdale in a nice rental place on an Alpaca farm, with views of Mt Hood!

Early next morning we drove to the Columbia River Gorge and explored the waterfalls there, including Multnomah Falls which we got to early enough to beat the crowds!

We also visited Bonneville Dam and fish ladder, in the same area …

In the evening we ventured closer to Portland (though not into the city), close enough to meet a friend Bridgett for great pizza dinner!

Next morning we left Troutdale, first visiting the Ole Bolle Troll:

We drove on, to the Oregon coast, which was surprisingly cold and foggy …

More driving next day, heading north along the still foggy coast, past Haystack Rock before eventually arriving in Astoria for a night with sea lions (which were in the harbor outside our room!):

The next day we left Oregon, driving to Seattle to hit our third PNW state …

PNW: Idaho

Posted on by Ian C.

Our big annual vacation started with flying to Boise in Idaho, with a goal of checking off three Pacific North West states that we’ve never previously visited. We chose a well located downtown hotel for our one day visit, which began with a walk to dinner at The Warehouse a sort of food mall …

Next morning we walked more, including to the state Capitol, along the river – we also found many steam tractors, in the very walkable downtown!

We also visited Freak Alley, with many murals:

Cirque Du Soleil Drawn

Posted on by Ian C.

For many years there was a Cirque Du Soleil show in Disney Springs called La Nouba, which we saw many times (11, I think) but before Covid it was to be replaced – and Covid canceled the first showing of the replacement before it happened (we had it booked for April 2020, never went of course).

However the new show Drawn To Life did eventually open and of course we’ve seen it (5 times so far); it’s an interesting performance mixing Disney theming with Cirque acrobatics with a story that isn’t hard to follow (unlike some Cirque shows!)

Photography isn’t allowed during the performance, but there’s a pre-show that gives opportunities, as well as all the performers coming on stage at the end – so here’s some views to give a flavor of the costumes and colors, at least! The photos are from multiple visits, multiple locations – and interestingly hint at changes to the show (for example in last night’s show we did not see the stilt walkers!) … there’s also a couple of “accidental” photos of my favorite part of the show the “wheel of death” …