Photo of the Day: Multnomah Falls, Oregon, USA

Multnomah Falls, Oregon, USA (photo by Luis Bastardo)

Last July, one of our friends decided to cycle from Seattle, WA to Portland, OR in the annual STP race. Luis and I promised to meet her at the finish line and decided to make a long weekend of the trip. We drove the four hours down to Portland, Oregon, stopping on the way to explore the area. One of our stops was the stunningly beautiful Columbia River Gorge, a 4,000 foot (1219 meters) deep section of the Columbia River, the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The area is under federal protection as the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area, which spans two states, Washington and Oregon and encompasses 292,500 acres.   

Multnomah Falls, a double cascade on the Historic Columbia River Highway, is the second highest year-round waterfall in the United States at 620 feet (189 meters). One of the most popular attractions in Oregon, the falls receive almost 2 million visitors a year. Although the falls can be seen from below, they are even more impressive up close. Luis and I hiked up to Benson Bridge, which sits atop the first tier, then continued the hike up to the top of the falls, which has a lookout that allows visitors to experience a dizzying look at the entire cascade, as well as spectacular views of the gorge.

Photo of the Day: Lupin and Bee, Junin de Los Andes, Argentina

Lupin and bee, Junin de los Andes, Argentina (photo by Luis Bastardo)

In the summer of 2010, after living for almost five years in Buenos Aires, Luis and I decided that it was time to return to the United States the following spring, so decided to spend our last months exploring as much of Argentina and Chile as we could. We bought our first tent together, deciding to go for the smallest, lightest two-person version since we would be backpacking and would need to carry all of our supplies and gear on our backs while potentially hiking for hours or wandering around new towns trying to find an available campsite. With only the loosest of travel plans (as usual), we took a series of long-distance buses first to the west, then to the south of Argentina, with the objective of crossing paths at the beginning of January with our fellow globe-trotting friends from New York, who, at that very moment, were making their own way down through Bolivia and Chile to arrive at Torres del Paine National Park in the southern end of Patagonia.

On the way to our rendezvous, we found ourselves in the lovely town of Junin de los Andes on Christmas Day. Junin (pronounced hoo-NEEN) is a cozy community of tidy, colorful homes with flower-filled cottage gardens, a leafy central square bordered by cafes and crystal clear, frigid, fast-running rivers swimming with fat, shimmering trout. Our campsite was carpeted with roses of every variety and we woke each morning to the lovely perfumed air and the hypnotic collective hum of buzzing bees. Every home and storefront was edged with flowerbeds of every variety, scent and color; especially prevalent were the lupins, usually deep royal blue or purple, but also seen in lemon yellow, pale pink or deep fuchsia. Luis caught one of the bees in action pollinating a lupin one afternoon and snapped this lovely photo which, even in its simplicity (or perhaps, especially), captures the mood of Junin exactly.       

Photo of the Day: Independence Day, Buenos Aires, Argentina

At the celebrations at el Obilisco, avenida 9 de Julio, Buenos Aires, Argentina (photo by Luis Bastardo) 

On May 25, 2010, Argentina celebrated its Bicentennial, the 200th anniversary of the first truly Argentine government. The date commemorates when Argentinians gathered together in the May Revolution (la Revolución de Mayo) and decided to oust the Spanish rulers, replacing them with la Primera Junta, the first national government.

 We were living in Buenos Aires at the time and parties and celebrations started months ahead of the official date. It all exploded (well, in the cultured way of Argentinians, meaning symphony concerts, elaborate wine-drenched parilla grilled steak dinners and tasteful firework displays and parades) on the actual anniversary. It was an unseasonably warm and sunny autumn day (since Argentina lies in the Southern Hemisphere, the seasons are the reverse of the Northern Hemisphere), and the crowds were out in full force. Luis captured the moment when this young girl decided to shield herself from the light, heat and crowds with the Argentine Flag, an unintentionally dramatic and patriotic action on her part.   

Travel Photo of the Day: Snoqualmie Falls, Fall City, Wa, USA

Snoqualmie Falls in the Snow, Fall City, WA, USA (photo by Simone Cannon) 

This week in Puget Sound, we had the first snowfall of 2012 and so decided to drive down to Snoqualmie Falls to see the winter wonderland with our friend, Elyse, who was visiting from the other Washington (D.C.) For those of you old enough to remember, the falls were the setting for the popular 1980's TV show, Twin Peaks, and they are still one of the most popular tourist destinations in Washington with 1.5 million visitors a year. The tall cascades are spectacular, the highest in Washington State and just as beautiful in the winter as in the summer.

I snapped this shot from one of the few overviews still open in the winter and decided to send it to NWCN local news, who added it to their newscast and showed it every half  hour for the rest of the day...my 15 minutes (or so) of fame! Sitting (quite literally) over the falls, is the lovely, cozy Salish Lodge, a popular romantic weekend getaway for local couples. The falls also serves Puget Sound Energy, providing electricity to area residents. Washington's Snoqualmie Tribe considers the site of the falls sacred and central to their belief system; the falls traditionally served as a burial site where prayers were carried to the Great Creator via the waterfall's ethereal mists.

Life in the USA, Part One: Luis Goes Into Sensory Overload

Luis weighing his options in the dairy aisle (photo by Simone Cannon)

First of all, huge apologies to our followers for not posting in such a long time, but since we relocated to the Pacific Northwest, we've been incredibly busy getting settled in and adjusting to life in the U.S. I will be continuing my series on Real Mexican Food next week, but for now, an intermezzo. Just because we haven't been traveling internationally doesn't mean that Luis has stopped taking photos...oh, no, far from it. Come to think of it, if anything, he has accelerated his photo-snapping rate exponentially since he's been stateside. He's now in a brand new place with new people, new sights and a new and strange culture to explore. I've started looking at my own country through his eyes, and let me tell you, it's a pretty bizarre place. Funny how I never noticed before.

Emu eggs at Whole Foods, one of the many varieties available to confound the unsuspecting foreigner (photo courtesy of KarenP at Flickr.com) 

  

 For example, when we first arrived, he was completely overwhelmed by the variety of items available in the stores, something I had never given much thought to. We took our first grocery shopping trip to Whole Foods and I sent him off to buy eggs while I looked for laundry detergent. He returned to the detergent aisle ten minutes later with no eggs and a shell-shocked look on his face. "Where are the eggs?" I understandably asked. To which he responded, "¡Coño! (the Venezuelan equivalent of "Holy Shit!")..."there were brown eggs, white eggs, pastel-colored eggs, organic eggs, non-organic eggs, cage-free eggs, caged eggs, eggs from chickens named Betty, eggs from chickens named Sue, omega 3 fatty acid-enhanced eggs, extra calcium eggs, duck eggs, emu eggs, ostrich eggs, crocodile eggs, salmon eggs and chocolate eggs (white, milk, semi-sweet and dark)! So I went to buy milk instead and there was fat-free, 1%, 2%, whole, organic, non-organic, extra calcium, extra protein, extra calcium and protein, goat, cow, sheep, soy, low-fat soy, rice, oat, buttermilk and chocolate milk (white, milk, semi-sweet and dark)." He was almost in tears. "All I want to buy is a dozen eggs and a gallon of milk...Sweet Jesus!" Keep in mind that, in Venezuela, you're having an excellent day if you find one unexpired liter of milk and a half a dozen eggs only a week past their expiration date.  

So many pillows, so little time... (photo courtesy of www.belladimora.com)

The next day, I made the unfortunate decision to visit Ikea with him to buy pillows. When we finally wound our way through the massive, labyrinthine store and arrived at the linen section, we found that an entire wall of bedding was occupied by pillows filled with foam, down, half foam/half down, gel, anti-allergic and non-anti-allergic stuffings. There were ergonomic pillows, pillows for side-sleepers, back sleepers, stomach sleepers, front/side sleepers, back/stomach sleepers and troubled sleepers. They came in varying levels of firmness: extra-extra soft, extra soft, soft, soft-medium, medium, medium-firm, firm, extra firm, extra-extra firm and rock. Sizes ranged from twin, double, queen, king and California king. I glanced back at Luis for his opinion on which pillow to buy, but, sadly, it was too late. He had already slipped into an irreversible catatonic state.