Dahlia Festival
Armed with our new Oregon drivers licenses (see yesterday’s post), the misses and I hit the road with friends for our first official outside of Portland excursion. Canby Oregon was the spot for the annual Swan Island Dahlia Festival. If you like dahlias, then this is your Holy Mecca. Fields of dahlias stretch out as far as the eye can see, covering the terra in columns of color. The varieties are endless. Each one has been painstakingly named, like a prize race horse, to assist you when ordering your bulbs. We ordered Pooh, Tiki Torch, Gitts Respect, and some Gladiators. We passed on the Dot-Coms, Mrs, Blacks, and Bee Happys.

Last night, we met friends and had drinks at the Kennedy School, which has to be, hands down, the best concept for a bar/restaurant/hotel/theater ever. Essentially it was an abandoned historic elementary school before the McMenamins renovated into an amazing lodging and social community. The attention to detail is astonishing and the many relics that they kept from when it was still an operational school makes it seem like you’re drinking on the set of the Dead Poets Society.

Today, it being the Sabbath and all, I’ve decided to take a break from the plumbing projects and other not-so-fun household chores and put all my attention and efforts into setting up the wireless home stereo system. I’ve already got Airtunes running wirelessly into the Great Room and with any luck I’ll have the speakers set up and rocking the Sabbath by sundown.