Christmas Vacation & New Years in Oregon

We spent the first two days of our trip in Portland. Very cool "little-big" town. Of course it rained a lot, but we took the opportunity to talk about wedding plans, and just enjoy each other's company.
We found a very hip little coffee shop that would make cute designs in your mochas. A heart and a leaf. Awwww.
I couldn't resist modifying it a little bit.

Had some Cuban food. D-lish.
We checked out the very cool and trendy Doug Fir bar.
No caption needed.

We then traveled over Mt. Hood to Bend. In a snow storm.


On New Years Eve day, we got really lucky and caught a "Bluebird Day" skiing at Mt. Bachelor. Fresh snow and blue skies, it doesn't get much better than this!
Take me to your leader. (L to R - Doug, Dan, Chris)
Tatiana and Andrea had their very first day of skiing together. They had a blast!

We met up with Doug & Andrea, Doug's brother Kevin & wife Whitney, and friend Chris for a New Years Eve celebration.
Dan, Chris, Doug.
Tati, Whitney, Andrea.
Dan, Tati, & Kevin.
Whitney takes her broken femur in stride! And don't worry about the outfit, she was going to an '80's party.
Rock On Chris!


Tatiana then took me to Smith Rock State Park where she rock climbs in the summer. It's an amazing place, even in the winter. There were a couple of brave (& cold) climbers, but not many.

See that little rock in the center of the pic below? That's the top of Asterisk Pass. We hiked up there to check out the view.
View from the top of the pass looking back down to where we were standing. The sheer slab on the very left of the picture is where some of the climbs are. Incredible.
Sitting on the precipice of Asterisk Pass, looking over the other side.
Above Tati's head is that little rock from the first pic. Ugg boots were NOT made for climbing.
I was really impressed with climbs that she's previously done there. They literally go straight up a wall, 200, 300+ feet. It's crazy!

Like all good days in Bend, ours ended at the Deschutes Brewery.