Portland in fall

After months of planning (and postponing) and impatiently waiting, at the end of October we - me, Tim, Tumbles - finally took a road trip up to Portland for a week. This was a combination of vacation and "do we want to live here?" research - I worked remotely and Tim took time off work for the first time in ages.

The timing ended up being perfect. It was intensely autumn while we were there, and aside from being ill-prepared jacket-wise and both having to buy coats, Tim and I adored the cool, rainy weather. Such a nice contrast to SF's endless warm, dry weather this past year or two (it gets old).

I really loved it there in a lot of ways, especially the glorious fall leaves and gloomy weather. I get so many feelings looking back at this! That said, we also came to the conclusion that we probably don't want to move there. While the bustle of SF exhausts me sometimes, I think Portland swings a bit too far in the other direction for our tastes, and I'm hoping we can find a happy medium elsewhere. No rush, since a move doesn't seem to be in the cards for at least another year! (To my dismay..)

This was also Tumbles's first ever road trip, and it was a doozy - 10 hours driving each direction, with an extra hour of combined stops along the way. The ride up was rough, with a very stressed corgi for the first several hours, but she was perfect for the entire trip back a week later! I also realized how much I rely on daycare and the dog park we live near for tiring her out at home - without those, she was a very bored pup during our week there. Fortunately she got to play with her new pals Kiwi the aussie and Buttesr the corgi a few times, but boy do I take for granted how very much exercise she gets every day when we're in SF.

the drive is gorgeous, if a bit long

fall look

we found a dog park! really pretty but damp and muddy

 

a few of Tim's favorite things....

 

me n my girl

leaves & layers <3

corgi love (with new friend Butters)

friends and beer and a fire pit - the coziest way to spend a fall evening

saying goodbye to Portland, but not without caffeine and pre-holiday festivity

Also - I've decided to relearn how to use my DLSR and move away from the phone pics sometimes. I haven't gotten as far as editing yet (maybe someday!) but here are some raw shots from my actual camera.

I also instagrammed with a dedicated hashtag - lots of overlap with these photos but some differences (and more Tumbles over there!).