Portland Day 3 - Columbia Gorge - Sheperd's Dell + La Tourell Falls + Vista Point and the scenic overlook

Despite the road closure on the Historic Columbia River Highway...

we figured we could see a few of the waterfalls below the road closure...

Portland Day 3 - Elk Rock Garden at the Bishop's Close

After our morning coffee from Either/Or,

and headed back across the bridge...

Carpinteria Day 3 - Return to Lucky Llama Coffee House + the Wardholme Pine

As is our custom during our trip...

we left pretty early to get a headstart, but first, we had to have our coffeee...

Carpinteria Day 2 - Casitas pier, Carpinteria Seal Sanctuary, Tar Pits Park + dinner at Sushi Teri

It was a short drive back to the bluffs area,

where we crossed the tracks...

Return to Lookout Park + Red Kettle Coffee, Summerland

Traffic back to Carp wasn't so bad.

we had a few short detours before heading back to explore...

Carpinteria Day 2 - The Franklin Trail

We were up pretty damn early...

to make our way to a formerly defunct trail that had recently reopened after four decades...

Portland Day 2 - Council Crest Park

Every guide to Portland mentions this park...

located in one of the highest points in the Tualatin mountains...

Sunset @ Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve

We were on the outer edges of this very preserve earlier this afternoon...

and wanted to catch the few remaining rays of light.

Carpinteria Summer 2017

We were finally back in Carp...

having been there the previous year...

Portland Day 1 - Joseph Wood Hill Park at Rocky Butte Park

Our first stop after our breakfast at Elmer's ...

was at this park which sits on top of...

Bayshore Bikeway revisit 7 months later

The bike shop had just opened...

with neighbor Trident Coffee open a little more than a month earlier...

We thought we would pay Bikeway Village development a visit...

Trident Coffee

There's a new coffee place in IB...

It's about time too...

So we waited patiently at the light at Palm Ave and 13th...

University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley

Cal has a world class botanical garden attached to it's name...

Of all the times we've visited Berkeley, we hadn't been here before...

and TC was excited to take photos of the different plants here...

Redwood Regional Park

We had the whole morning ahead of us...

as we headed from the hills of El Cerrito...

(protester statues on the University St. bridge as seen from the 580)

over to the hills in Oakland...

Bay views from top of Moeser Lane

Everything seemed greener up here...

including our friend's nicely landscaped garden bed...

He suggested that we go up this hill in his neighborhood...

There was a natural hillside area where we could see this...

Carpinteria Road Trip - Day 2 Highlights

We began the morning at a nearby trail...

Their local high school had an awesome 3D head of their mascot...

Carpinteria Road Trip - Day 1 Highlights

It was still dark the morning we headed out to Carpinteria...

First stop was, as usual, the Starbucks on Red Hill Dr. in Tustin. Gone is the cigar store and replaced by a poke place...poke is everywhere now it seems...

Spring Break Trip 2017 - Day 2 Highlights

Near Thane's home was a local coffee shop...

(that's an espresso con panna, my new favorite drink)

where Bert and I enjoyed our first caffeine of the day...

Hub Coffee Roasters + Truckee River Walk

Here is another view of the mountains from another section of the parking lot of Bert's hotel.

Another classmate recommended Hub Coffee Roaster, as did I, after having looked up the hipsterish coffee shops in the area.

It's the small brick building in the middle...

Revisit - The future home of the Bayshore Bikeway Village

From this...

(photo from my "Bayshore Bikeway, Imperial Beach" post, May 2016)