Happy Birthday and Happy Retirement

Merry Christmas from the Davis family

The Davis family has literally adopted Pokie and me as part of their family, we are very grateful for that. The holiday seasons are always very special for all of us, a sense of belonging and love.

It all started as a humble beginning when I took the train and met Joan and a group of fine folks in the wee hours of the day. That was almost 15 years ago, one day we were invited to their Thanksgiving dinner party and it was indeed the start of a very loving friendship that we all cherish.

Now, Joan is retiring, no more waking up early, this she will have to get use to it. Christmas is also her birthday, so Happy Birthday dear Joan.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/joan

Merry Christmas 2013

Bridgeport Village

This evening was not raining, so it’s a good day to take picture outside, the temperature was also mild. I got this idea from a person who took some pictures about a week ago, but he was not using a tripod and used a very high ISO that I am sure make the images a bit grainy (noise). So I decided to use a tripod with a remote switch, but it drew attention to the security guard of the mall who came to me and told me not to take any buildings, just the lights, so I quickly agreed and I made sure to tell him that I have no commercial intent, just a hobby. Here are some of the images outside; otherwise my camera will in the storage, hibernating until spring comes. I wish you a Merry Christmas.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/xmas

Holiday Cookies 2013



Moonstruck Chocolate

The highlight of the Beaverton Culinary Institute is the yearly Holiday baking where we make variety of cookies and swap them when done. This year is no difference when it comes to the excitement; but I think we make more cookies than any other years that I can think of. Here are some of the cookies that we make.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/bci/cookie2013




Talgo - the new train on the block

Mt. Jefferson

I can’t ask for a better weather to venture around Union Station this morning. In fact there is no rain in sight for the next week. I am talking about the Northwest here and I am also talking about the later part of October. That’s a treat if you ask me.

I was too anxious to see this new train; I went last weekend without checking the date. The show was only open for two hours from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM, so I came just before it was open and way too crowded.

It’s good to see the new train will be in service soon, the only sad part if this is European technology. The US only make freight trains.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/talgo

Autumn 2013

Autumn 2013

Welcome to the autumn season 2013. I almost always go to the same spots year after year, but yet, the colors are strikingly different from one year to the next. I usually do not venture too far from home. This morning I took a drive seeking the first colors of the fall season. Can you guess the number one enemy to the fall colors in the Northwest area? If you say the rain, then you can give yourself 100 points. So, before the rain came this morning, I managed to take a few images, this would be the first of the series, I hope to take more pictures next week. Oh, by the way when I went to the New England states, I read, “ Autumn is the second spring when the leaves turn colors”. It is so true. Enjoy!


http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/autumn

Snapshots

Lobster Roll

Well, I do hope that you enjoy our two-week vacation. Thank you for taking along with us exploring the entire New England states plus one province in Canada. It was certainly a trip that would be hard to forget. I think overall we drove about 1,500 miles, which was not bad considering the many places that we visited. Thank you to many of our friends who give us suggestions what to bring and what to see during our trip. We now know how to travel light and yet still have more than what we need.

In this “Snapshots” section, most of the images I did not see with my regular camera and was taken with our mini iPad. It has a decent quality. Pokie had the control of such device. Enjoy!

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/newengland/snap.html

Here’s the whole trip:

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/newengland

Newport, Rhode Island

The Elms

Newport, Rhode Island was the last stop of our two weeks fun filled and tired trip, I have to say that we saw a lot of places in that duration, we could not cover everything, there are many places that I wanted to see but just did not have time such as Kennebunk Port, Maine, Gloucester, Massachusetts and many other places.

Newport, Rhode Island is famous for its mansion row, I did ask for just one mansion to see and I was told to go to explore The Elms. This particular mansion was to become a parking lot if the Society did not come and rescue it in 1961 when the last of the Berwind died.

In its heyday, this mansion was the most modern in all of Newport; electricity was present in the early1900s, and telephone was used throughout the mansion as intercom. Modern plumbing was present as well.

The Berwind family made the money in the coal industry, at the time the mansion was built for slightly over $1.0 million or about $36.0 million in today’s dollar. Oh, I forgot to mention, there are two entrances in the mansion, the front was for the distinguish guests and the side entrance was used for service and the maids.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/newengland/newport.html

John F. Kennedy Museum, Hyannis

Young JFK

Upon returning from Martha’s Vineyard, we went straight to John F. Kennedy Museum in Hyannis Port. Pokie is fascinated with the Kennedy story and wants to explore more. The museum entrance ticket is $8.00 and I think it is over rated since most of the information you can find them in the Internet.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/newengland/jfk.html

Martha's Vineyard

Edgartown, MA

Our idea of vacation is still not lounging in a five-star hotel sipping “Mai Tai” or “Pina Colada”, our style is get up and go and see as many places as we can. With that, we woke up at 5:00 A.M, get ready for the hotel breakfast at six and drive to Woods Hole to take the 8:15 A.M. ship to Martha’s Vineyard.

The drive from Hyannis to Woods Hole was not bad considering it is not a freeway but a regular street; this is not even a highway. The traffic was getting busier and we saw school buses to get ready since this was a school day.

We got to Woods Hole with 45 minutes to spare, ticket was $8.00 one way, not bad considering Martha’s Vineyard is the play ground for the rich.

Once we reached Vineyard Haven, I asked around and we were told to take the bus to Edgartown with a municipal bus. But, most of the businesses were close for the seasons. We only spent three hours and we were back at the dock for the noon ferry back.


http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/newengland/martha.html

Provincetown, Cape Cod

Race Point Beach

We are done with big cities. Today, (Tuesday September 17^th) we drove more than 100 miles to Provincetown, the very tip of Cape Cod. We went to Race Point Beach, the last beach and the most eastward we could go.

We found Pilgrim Tower, which rises 252 feet or about 25 floors; I have to say that I was proud of myself having climbed all the way to the top and able to take a few photographs. The wind was furious and constant. It was indeed a cold day.

We had lunch at Lobster Pot, but the lobster roll was not a good match for Pokie, it has too much mayonnaise, from the entire trip this was the worst according to Pokie. The town was full of people despite the season was over for the summer.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/newengland/capecod.html

Boston, Massachusetts

Boston Skyline

I am halfway now in term of looking at the images. Welcome to Boston, a city full of history. This city was founded in 1630, almost four centuries ago. We stayed in Braintree, a suburb of Boston to the south. Do not drive your car into downtown, traffic is a mess plus you can buy many dinners with the parking fees. Instead we took the “T” line (subway) from Quincy Adams to Park Avenue downtown; the hotel shuttle took us to the station.

Our walking tour starts at the visitor center and we followed the RED line, this is the Freedom Trail. It was almost lunchtime so we went straight to the Quincy Market, which in my opinion is like a food court in a mall, and the foods are not that great. It is kind of over-rated. We went to Little Italy to get some pastries that everyone was carrying at that time. It is just Okay, nothing special.

The second day, the weather turned for the worst in the morning, wind and light rain. This condition was not ideal especially when we took the first Boston Harbor Cruise. It was plain cold. We were smarter when it comes to lunch now; we went to an 1826 Union Oyster House, an established restaurant. Pokie had a cup of New England clam chowder and a plate of Fried Oyster and I was able to order Mac and Cheese.  If I could eat in the seafood restaurant, then it is good. Hey, I am not the only one who ordered Mac and Cheese; the next person to me ordered the same thing because she was allergic to shellfish.

We also visited the site of Boston Marathon bombing, not much left and no sign, we need to ask around for the exact location, we just want to see where it was since Pokie recognized the area from the news back in April. It was quite a walk. By three o’clock we were tired and ready to get back to the hotel. Overall impression, Boston is a big city, we only explored a small part of it where the tourists flocked like migrating birds. We still want to go back to see JFK Library next time around.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/newengland/boston.html

To Portland, Maine

The Penobscot Narrows Bridge

After a gastronomic adventure of lobster, we continued south via Highway 1 to Freeport, home of L.L. Bean that opens 365 days a year and 24 hours a day. No kidding! We passed this beautiful bridge complete with its observatory but we did not take the tour. It is the tallest of its kind in the world.

Taking highway 1 turned out to be a slow going, plus I did not charge my camera battery last night. Stopping at Freeport, Maine was a bonus. Pokie had her first lobster roll at Linda Bean, which turned out to be the best of its kind. Enjoy the short trip!

A small note, we got lost a few times trying to listen to our GPS and looking at the map. Mo more of this highway in the future endeavor.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/newengland/portland.html

Acadia National Park

Cadillac Mountain

Yesterday was September 11^th and we spend the whole day traveling some 230 miles from Quebec City, Canada to Bangor, Maine, not all the roads are freeway, plus the there were too many questions at the US border, the agent even asked for the car rental agreement. Basically, it takes longer to come back to your own country than to go to Canada.

Today, we drove just an hour from Bangor to Acadia National Park, I was not too impressed with the scenic drive until we went up to the Cadillac Mountain, the view is impressive, and the town of Bar Harbor is visible. The threat of rain remains high but that was just a threat. No rain came down on our visit.

Pokie found the lobster pound; it was her highlight for the day. This was her second lobster in the trip. “Number 4, your lobster is ready”

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/newengland/acadia.html

Quebec City Tour

I remember

The next day we decided to take a bus tour, we were glad we decided this alternative rather than driving back to the Vieux Quebec. It is a mess and the drivers there are some of the worst, we witnessed two drivers not wanting to yield, although it has become one lane. Just plain crazy! The rain was still prominent that morning, plus all the tour bus had to yield to the bicycle race, resulting to some areas that we had to miss. One of the places that we wanted to see is “La Citadelle de Quebec”, the rain just would not let up for us to go there.

The city tour was done in the morning and continue the suburbs of Quebec after we had lunch, a new bus took us to the Montmorency falls, “Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre” and ‘Ile de d’Orleans” or Orleans Island, plus some of the TOULIST TLAP, but overall were good destinations.

Pokie was a bit disappointed that the gift shop at the Sainte Anne church was closed at that time. The weather was much better in the afternoon. Guess what, when we left Quebec the next day, it was bright and sunny! What a trip to this part of the country, I felt that I went to Europe without crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

PS: The tour guide told us that there are only two seasons in Quebec, construction and winter. I thought that was very funny.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/newengland/quebec.html

Vieux Quebec

The artists quarter

We continued north-bound and proceed to cross the Canadian border, spending only a few minutes at the border crossing with a hardly any questions; coming back to the U.S. is completely different story. Pokie wanted to press on and continue to Quebec City, but I said “No”. She was too excited to see and feel the city, we ended up staying overnight in Drummondville, some 90 miles shy of “Ville de Quebec”. We stayed in Comfort Inn, this is the worst motel from our entire trip, it was still under construction and the smell of the new carpet drove me nuts.

The next morning, we drove east to Quebec, using our GPS set close to the “Vieux Quebec”, but too many streets were closed due to the bike race the next day. We ended up going through the “Old Quebec” and were caught in the traffic for awhile. Finally we were able to find a parking structure away from the city wall and parked our car there. The weather turned ugly. It was raining and miserable but it makes good photographs.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/newengland/vieux.html



Mount Washington Cog Railway

Mount Washington Cog Railway

Remember, when it comes to train is all about me. This was the second cog railway that I rode, the first being the Pike’s Peak Cog Railway in Colorado some years ago. This is also the third train ride for the year, that’s a bonus for me since my allowance is usually two train rides per year. The Mount Washington Cog Railway was the first mountain climbing cog railway in the world. The building of the railway began in 1866, with the first excursion to the top on July 3^rd, 1869.

There is no “coupler” between the coach and the locomotive, the engine simply push and hold the coach, plus you do not want 20 tons locomotive to drag you down the mountain in case there is an emergency. We missed the steam train ride by a few minutes, but that’s OK since I could take a rather amazing train steaming up the mountain. But the weather turns for the worst at the peak.

The base is located at 2,700 feet above sea level and the peak is at 6,288 feet, there is no restroom in the coach, the round trip takes about three hours. So, all aboard!

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/newengland/cog.html

Ben & Jerry Creamery and Morse Farm

Ben & Jerry Creamery, Waterbury, Vermont

After the Old Sturbridge Village, we drove west then north to Vermont, we visited Basketville which turns out to be a TOULIST TLAP, then we visited King Arthur Flour before a stop to Ben & Jerry Factory and Morse Farm Maple Syrup. Vermont is the only state that we never stay overnight, we ended up in Littleton, New Hampshire for the next tour of Cog Railway. Stay tune!

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/newengland/ben.html

Old Sturbridge Village

The Towne House

Welcome to The Old Sturbridge Village, home of the 1830s New England living history museum. From Noank, Connecticut, we drove about 84 miles to the north to Sturbridge, Massachusetts. We got here just before 10:00 AM, we felt refresh from a full night sleep. By this time we have covered three states. We walked a lot on this tour, by 3:00 o’clock we were ready to hit “home”. This is truly a fascinating place to explore the history for that period.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/newengland/osv.html

Noank, Connecticut

Damn Good Lobstha

This was our first destination, well actually it was supposed to be Mystic, CT, but we missed the turn and we ended up in Noank. I did remember that there is a lobster pound in this vicinity, so we stopped and I asked some folks to give me direction to go to this place, as a result Pokie had her first taste of  “Damn good lobstha”. It was on a Saturday, so there were many people and we were lucky to find a parking spot. Houses around here were built in the mid 1800s; roads are narrow and sidewalk are almost to a non-existence. Oh…by the way, I learned how to spell Connecticut, I just simple remember that you “Connect-I-cut”, got it? Next installment is Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/newengland/noank.html

New England Trip Highlights

Vieux Quebec

We are home to a gray and dark Sunday morning, but the best of all is we are home safe and sound from a “two-week”, fun filled trip, running like chicken with no heads at times, for example, we had to wake up at 5:00 o’clock in the morning to get ready and catch the ferry ride to Martha’s Vineyard at 8:15 AM. We walked a lot for sure, exploring Quebec City and Boston.

Pokie drove most of the way and I was the so-called navigator in training. I made a cardinal mistake one time when I entered the wrong city into our GPS, it should have been Braintree as the city, but I entered it as Boston instead. The result was harrowing, we went into some of the roughest neighborhood and we went through a huge cemetery. A good thing I realized it quickly and it was a fifteen-minute mistake.

We took the red-eye flight to Providence, Rhode Island from Portland, Oregon resulting in no sleep and a tired day when we got there, but we recovered rather quickly. I think we drove about 1,500 miles in total all in all, covering six states in the US and one province in Canada, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Quebec Province and Maine in that order.

We were hoping for “fall colors” as an added bonus, but we were about three weeks too early. The peak for fall colors starts the first week of October, so we will visit again the next time around.

We mostly stay in the “Hampton Inn and Suites”. There are two things that are certain about this hotel chain managed by Hilton, the cleanliness of the room and the consistent complimentary breakfast served from 6:00 AM to 10:00 AM. When you are traveling, it is a great help and we save some money along the way. I also belong to Hilton Honors, earning some free nights along the way.

We went as far as Provincetown, Cape Cod and Edgartown in Martha’s Vineyard. Along the way I took some 1,350 images, thus it will take me sometime to sort these out. Here’s some of the highlighted from this New England trip. I will do a website on each segment of the trips later on bit by bit.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/ne

Dahlia Festival 2013

Swan Island Dahlia Festival 2013

As with any photography I prefer when the lighting is soft or the day is cloudy. Today we visited Swan Island Dahlia Festival 2013, the day was cloudless and the sun is shinning, the result is too high of a contrast, but we managed to take a few pictures. There are about 350 to 400 varieties of Dahlias; it is just simply amazing. Probably this would be the last flower festival before fall comes and winter shroud Portland, so enjoy it. We also visited the same place three years ago, so you can compare the lighting.

2013:

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/dahlia

2010:
http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2010/dahlia

2010 Close Ups:
http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2010/dahlia2

Harmony Lakeside RV Resort

Site #60

I wanted to stay two nights at this resort, it is a quiet place and tranquil. There is one problem – you have to put coins when taking shower, the owner did not tell us when we checked in, luckily Pokie read the fine prints, so we prepare with quarters in our hands. For the price that we pay for a deluxe RV resort, showers should be free. This reminds us when we travel in Canada and Alaska. In addition to that we accomplish what we wanted – ride that steam trains. So, we left Sunday morning under the cloudy sky.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/harmony

Chehalis Steam Train Rides

Chehalis Steam Train Rides

I think my limit to ride any kind of trains is two per year, but when Pokie agreed to go to Chehalis Steam Train Rides, some 100 miles to the north, I am sure that I over my quota to my delight. We still plan to ride one more train ride in September in our big vacation in the New England states. I decided to ride this train after I purchased a DVD about steam train rides from OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting). We stayed one night in Silver Creek some 30 miles to the southeast from Chehalis. I wanted to stay two nights, but we decided to leave Sunday morning. I will tell you later.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/chehalis

Lavender Festival

Yamhill Lavender Festival

As I mentioned it before, summer here is extremely short, so every chance we get we go out and enjoy the sun and the good weather. This weekend we off to a Lavender Festival in Yamhill, Oregon, some thirty miles away from home, not a bad drive at all. We went to two farms and the festival itself. What a perfect day that is. On the way home we told our GPS to “Go Home”. OMG (Oh My God)…it took us to where we have never been before, rolling hills, to a mountain that I guess close to a thousand feet and down the hill again and we ended up in a farm, we made a quick stop for a Blackberry-Lavender milkshake. Yummy.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/lavender

Oregon Coast Aquarium

Passages of the Deep

Sometimes, we ignore the local attraction with the connotation that we can go anytime since it is relatively close by. Since we stayed three nights at the coast, this time we force ourselves to explore this little jewel in Newport. The result is extraordinary; we really enjoyed the atmosphere and the setting. 

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/aquarium

July 4th mini vacation

Tillamook Cheese

I am always looking forward for July to come, not only we have a one-day holiday, but I also get three Personal Business (PB) days that I could add to July 4^th Holiday and we have an instant mini vacation. This time I wanted to try to take fireworks display at the Siletz Bay, Lincoln City, so off we went back to the coast, this time we make a loop by going to Tillamook first, home of the world best medium cheddar cheese. Along the way we discover Blue Herron Cheese Factory, which I really like.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/fourth

And, here is the fireworks display, mostly trial and error….

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/fire

Premier RV Resort

Inn at Spanish Head

Premier RV Resort is our favorite place to stay every time we need “Salty Air Treatment”, we stayed here even when it was Ocean View RV Resort. This is some of the best-managed park, we even met one of the investor named “Larry”, and he designed the reservation software. A short walk to Inn at Spanish Head to access the beach area, we do not need to cross the Highway 101, which could be very busy at times.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/premier

Kite Festival, Lincoln City, Oregon

29th Kite Festival, Lincoln City, Oregon

Summer is extremely short here, the Northwest folks can attest to that. So, I try to fill each weekend with activity. This weekend we went to Lincoln City to see the 29^th kite festival, which takes place in June and October each year. But, this time the worst enemy of the kite flyer is the lack of wind. Nonetheless, after spending more than four hours I was able to capture some images to present to you, here it is.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/kite

Railroads in the Garden

Colorado Southern Railroad

The Colorado Southern is a steam railroad set in the 1930’s built for operations with 60 turnouts. The layout is a single track requiring five passing sidings so trains traveling in opposite directions can get around each other. The Northern division climbs to the summit of a 5-foot brim. The rocky mountain landscape, forest, lake and 50-foot long whitewater river and waterfall that move 250 gallons of water per minute challenged the engineers to find a 2% grade route to the future town at the summit. To accomplish this feat, they employed several bridges and three tunnels totaling 90 feet in length.

The Southern division is the larger lower loop and contains many sidings for industries yet to be built to switch freight cars.

Trains are controlled by wireless remote control. The mainline is 450 feet with 750 feet of total track. Construction began in 1997.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/grr

I Love Sushi



Inari Sushi (VEGAN)



It’s that time again when we gather around at the Beaverton Culinary Institute or we are well known as simply BCI. This time we try to make sushi, it takes twenty years to make a sushi chef, but we try it in just twenty minutes. Come and see how we did.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/bci/sushi



$400.00 Cheeseburger, really?



Willamette River Rapids



How much does a hamburger cost? How about if I tell you close to $400.00? Well, the closest In-N-Out Hamburger joint is more than 450 miles away from Portland in Redding, California. We drove three hours more to the south from Klamath Falls so Pokie could have her favorite hamburger, the $400.00 is the cost to travel to Redding plus some other places we visited along the way.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/inout



Festival of Flowers 2013

Pioneer Courthouse Square

This “Festival of Flowers” is an annual event at the Portland Living Room namely Pioneer Courthouse Square. Some years are more elaborate than others, but it always attracts a lot of visitors. This year theme is Tattoo Portland. This year, it was designed by Lango Hansen Landscape Architects.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/pioneer

Klamath & Western Railroad

Klamath & Western Railroad

I promise this is the last train ride for a while, I can only do two train rides in a year, otherwise it will be a torture for Pokie. But I have to say that she really enjoys the ride other than the Train Mountain ride in which she needs to push and finds her way to go get help. This is really fun for the kid like myself. All aboard……………

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/knwrr

Train Mountain Railroad

Train Mountain RR

I will always be a kid at heart when it comes to train, someone just said that maybe I was a train engineer in my previous life, I agree. This is Train Mountain Railroad in Chiloquin, southern Oregon. Come, I will show you around.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/tmrr

Postcards from Klamath Falls, Oregon

Klamath Falls Amtrak station

Welcome to Klamath Falls, Oregon, population of 42,000 give or take. This is a neat small little town if you ask me. It has an Amtrak station where you can go north to Portland or as far north as Vancouver, British Columbia by changing train in Seattle, or you can go south to Los Angeles and of course San Francisco. It has also a small airport with two commercial flights per day serving to San Francisco and of course Portland to the north. Oh, almost forgot to mention, it has a decent RV Park as well.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/klamath

On the Road again

Train Mountain Railroad with Tom from Colorado

We have just completed a journey of 900 plus miles in five days and four nights to southern Oregon and northern California. With the last furlough day, a Memorial Day weekend plus one vacation day, I have a total of five days, so off we go. We encountered snow on the side of the road at 5,000 feet elevation, namely Santiam Pass, a below freezing night at Klamath Falls, it was registered at 31 degrees Fahrenheit, we had clear day in Redding, California with the steady rain the next day when we left. I was just a kid at heart again, visiting Train Mountain Railroad and Klamath & Western Railroad where they are situated side by side. On Pokie’s highlight, she had an expensive hamburger at $395.94 (well make that two, one for lunch and one for dinner). I was just joking of course, but that’s the total cost to get down to Redding some 450 miles south of Portland, it is the closest In-N-Out Burger joint. Enjoy the highlights; I will make separate websites for Train Mountain Railroad and Klamath & Western Railroad later in the week.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/ontheroad

My birthday - Seattle Waterfront

Seattle Waterfront

The sixty percent chance of rain in Seattle did not deter me from going north again to celebrate my birthday. I was hoping all week that the weather forecasters were dead wrong and indeed I proved them that I was right, just a few sprinkler throughout that special day. This time we explored the waterfront, we took the Ferris wheel and Washington State Ferry to Bainbridge Island. It turned out that the clouds really made it interesting to photograph. I took more than two hundreds images and I came up with about twenty that I think look presentable. Remember that I am a recreation photographer; by the way I like that title very much. Enjoy!

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/seattle2

Red Carpet

The Red Carpet

I do not consider myself as a landscape or specialize photographer such as food, fashion or portrait. I just come up with a new term if I may – a “recreation photographer”, I do not wait for the sunset nor the sunrise for example, just take presentable photographs whenever I go and do the best I could at that point regardless the lighting condition, of course I prefer cloudy day or even lighting. Here I encounter the “red-carpet” that I did get a few shots last year, this is in a different place not far from where I took the photographs last year. Enjoy!

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/red

The Elevator

Oregon City Municipal Elevator

This is when I wish the day were cloudy to give me the even lighting since the direct sunlight makes the pictures too high of a contract, but since it is not raining, I can’t complain too much. I want to show you this elevator since it is unique, the only one in the United States and only four in the world.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/elevator

CHIHULY Garden and Glass

Persian Ceiling

I am still overwhelmed and speechless, so just enjoy the Chihuly Garden and Glass. Just a few words of warning, picture does not do any justice, you have to go and see it!

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/chihuly

One Rainy Day in Seattle

SeaTac Station

Last Friday was a furlough day for me, so I need to stay true to the motto – I got no pay, I go play. We decided to go to Seattle to see our newest family members and to see Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibition. It had been raining constantly while we were in Seattle, since we have webbed on our feet now, rain did not bother us too much. Here’s our journey three hours north of Portland.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/seattle

Ding....Ding..My New Toy

Vintage Trolley #514

After three years of hiatus (broken down trolley), I finally can get my hands dirty again with the lease of a vintage trolley from the City of Portland and Trimet. Today is the first orientation day of the trolley; the line is much shorter when we run again due to the construction of the Sellwood Bridge. We may not reach South Waterfront for a few years, and that’s just my estimate. The tunnel also needs some repair and we estimate that we can have revenue run after July fourth. On my initial assessment, this vintage trolley is smoother to operate and it feels heavier than what I used to operate. Overall it is a great day for me. I can’t wait.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/vt

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter 2013

Happy Easter!
The sun is shining; the weather is nice and warm, but best of all – no rain insight. So, off we go to the same site we visited last week, this time a different photo opportunity arises. We also try the newest Street Car line to OMSI, just for the ride on a special Sunday – Easter Sunday. Hope you enjoy what we captured.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/easter

Cherry Blossoms in the Hood

Cherry Blossoms in the Hood

I first noticed the cherry blossoms in this neighborhood last year, so when we passed by here a few days ago, I have to capture these short live flowers. This location is just less than two miles from where we live. So enjoy more cherry blossoms or Sakura in Japanese.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/cherry

Sakura - Portland Waterfront

Sakura - Portland Waterfront

When I looked through the front window of our bedroom, I saw frost on top of the car, I know the temperature is still freezing, but it only means one thing, that the threat of rain is gone. Arm with a hand warmer, we venture to Portland waterfront to capture the cherry bloom or Sakura in Japanese. In two weeks there will be a Japanese festival called Sakura Sunday, but I just want to capture it while the flowers are still fresh and almost fully bloom, who knows in two weeks what they will look like, I will try to come again, only if it’s not raining. I am not complaining.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2013/sakura

Soup, soup and more soups



Butternut Squash



What a proper way to close the winter by gathering and make some soups. We, at Beaverton Culinary Institute also known as BCI make four kinds of soups today. They are Gazpacho (cold soup), Tom Yum (Thai soup), Broccoli Potato Cheese Soup and Butternut Squash Soup. In addition to the soups, Joan made poppers served with butter and honey. Yummy…

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/bci/soup

The First Snow of 2013

The first snow of 2013

Happy New Year

Ok, now that the year 2013 is here, this would be my first blog – GET HEALTHY. It has been almost two years since my surgery but I still have the dizziness as one of the side effects. So this year I am trying the holistic approach – acupuncture! My regular acupuncturist has long gone to a retirement in San Francisco, so I ask around my co-worker Malavika if she knows any acupuncturist, so here I am under the care of Dr. Shuyi Dong. This is my first treatment and I have to say OUCH a few times when those needles went into my head. I certainly hope that it will help me in the long run; I just have to be patient and do the routine visit once a week at least.



OUCH OUCH



Under The care of Dr. Shuyi Dong

More needles for the back