Voodoo Donuts

While my friend Carol was visiting, I finally got around to trying some of the touristy things in Portland. One of the top 10, according to Time.com, is Voodoo Donuts. The enormous line I typically see there corroborates its popularity. Interestingly, the local media only ranks their donuts number 12 (last place) in Portland in a blind taste test.

I went for fun over flavor and got the Voodoo Doll, which I proceeded to stab multiple times and then behead. The red fruit filling was certainly a nice touch for the ensuing donut violence. I’m sure it wasn’t the tastiest donut I’ve had but it was probably the most fun. Another bonus: we got lucky and there was no line.

Memorial Day Camping

The last big event in May was a camping trip at Little Lava Lake with my parents and Hendrik’s parents.

Chilling by the lake. But seriously, it was cold. (I know because I went swimming.)

It was even colder when we hiked to Moraine Lake. (We tried to summit the South Sister but gave up when we got to the tree line on account of the snow.)

Bacardi didn’t mind the cold water, though.

We also visited the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. We went to Newberry Caldera and saw the Big Obsidian Flow and hiked to the top of Paulina Peak.

Next year we might have to select somewhere warmer to go for Memorial Day but aside from being cold it was a fantastic camping trip.

Climbing at Ozone

Another weekend activity from May was climbing at Ozone, a crag in the Columbia River Gorge, with Nell and Brian. I got to lead a nice 5.8 sport route called Numb Nuts. My Summer is getting booked up fast but hopefully I’ll find some time for more climbing.

LeVar Burton Reads

One of the reasons I’ve been distracted from blogging is that I discovered the LeVar Burton Reads podcast, which I have been listening to during my commute instead of writing posts. LeVar Burton, the star of Reading Rainbow of PBS fame and also Geordi La Forge from Star Trek: The Next Generation, now has a podcast in which he reads short fiction of his choosing. So far I have really been enjoying hearing the stories he selects and of course listening to his voice again. But don’t take my word for it. Take a look.

Bike to work month

It was not a stretch to participate in this because I already bike to work (or at least to the Max, which totally counts). However, I stepped up my efforts, biking to a more distant Max stop on most mornings and even biking all the way back over the hill, or as I call it, the “Mountain,” twice. Overall, I managed to log 150 miles for the month of May!

Coming home from work.

The “Mountain.”