2011 [part II]

 Second half of my “year in review.” I’m back in Delft now after a pretty brutal day of flying, delays, turbulence and multiple landing attempts. Glad to be on the ground for a while. I love to travel but flying is not my favourite… was just reminded of that fact yesterday.

[1] made it back to Vancouver and spent a day downtown with my mom and sister [2] nothing beats driving on the Sea to Sky Highway after a great weekend camping [3] did a West Coast road trip with my family and stopped at Deception Pass [4] we spent a few days at Cannon Beach in Oregon, watching the fog roll in and out [5] and exploring the beach a bit [6] then it was off to Portland.. it was great, and pretty close to Vancouver.. will have to visit more often [7] my mom and I made a trip to Salt on my last full day in Vancouver [8] my sister came back to NL with me and we made a trip to London [9] back in NL we spent a day biking in the Hoge Veluwe Park and it was stunning [10] tired of lame/overpriced sushi in Delft we made our own [11] I went to Hong Kong with my studio and it was a sensory overload.. loved it! [12] on our last day we went to Tai O, a fishing village, which was an amazing contrast to the city.

Will share more photos from Tai O soon.. they turned out to be some of my favourite from the trip. Hope everyone is enjoying 2012 so far.

hawthorne

 I think this is pretty much the last set of photos from my trip to Portland in early August. There are a few more lying around but I’m getting some rolls of film developed tomorrow so I hope to share some new stuff, like the trip my sister and I made to London a few weeks back as well as the Hoge Veluwe park I visited while she was here. School is getting busy and I already have a pile of readings to get through for next week. I’m quite excited about this year although I think it will probably be pretty challenging.

Anyways the Hawthorne area of Portland was great, so many neat stores and some really awesome street food [we had Mexican and it was delicious!]. I’m glad Vancouver is getting on board with the whole food cart movement too, it’s just too bad I’m not around to enjoy it.

It’s really starting to feel like fall here!

 

voodoo

 I’m not usually much of a doughnut person but I kind of had to go to Voodoo Doughnut in Portland. I had heard a lot about it, it was pretty much right across the street from our hotel and there was almost always a line. I mean, people lining up for doughnuts must mean they’re good right? It was a crazy place.. with the glitter covered bricks and bright neon sign. I opted for a bright blue+pink doughnut and it was pretty darn good. Some of the flavours seemed a little out there but I suppose that’s part of the appeal. I would say it’s definitely a place to check out if you’re ever in Portland.

Anyways, I’m still sick and craving some junk food [hence the doughnut post], but there’s none to be found around the apartment. I hope to update soon with more recent adventures!

portland + powell’s

 I took these photos in Portland on our first afternoon there. We walked around the city centre and checked out the Saturday Market and the infamous Powell’s Books [amazing!]. I was pretty overwhelmed by that place.. the architecture and design section alone was huge!

It’s been a while but I’ve been super busy getting ready to head back to Europe, getting things sorted back here in Delft and doing a bit of traveling with my sister. I have a few days now to rest and hopefully accomplish some of the things I need to get done before school starts again in a week. Hope everyone is enjoying the last few weeks of August!

keller fountain

It was hot when we were in Portland, so it made a trip to the Ira Keller Fountain very necessary and totally worth while. I always like seeing things that I’ve studied in design classes in person.. I could have spent a good part of the afternoon relaxing by one of the pools in the shade.

I’m leaving for Delft tomorrow already! I can’t believe how fast 2 months has gone by.. but I’m excited to spend the next two weeks over there with my sister! Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend.

cannon beach afternoon

 Cannon Beach was a wonderful place to spend a few days. At some point I’d like to see more of the Oregon coast but for this trip it was pretty much perfect just to spend my time here. One thing that was really neat about being on the Pacific coast was this ever-present fog bank that would engulf the beach in the morning and move to hover off shore for the rest of the afternoon, only to move back in later in the evening.

Five days and counting!

on the street in portland

 I had a really good time in Portland just over a week ago. I was able to see a lot of things that were on my list and the weather was amazing.. great for walking around and exploring the city.

I’m really going to try to make the most my last week here in Vancouver, there are still a few things I need to cross off my summer “to-do” list. Hope you all have a nice weekend!