The Best Destinations in Oregon

My family has been fortunate enough to have gone to the snow twice in the past two weekends.  This got me thinking about some of the best places to travel to in Oregon, so here are my thoughts on the subject.  

Favorite Coastal Town:  Cannon Beach

My wife and I discovered Cannon Beach a several years ago and have since wanted to visit anytime we thought of going to the Oregon Coast.  If you have never been to the Oregon Coast you should take time to see it.  It is not your typical beach environment since the weather is never too hot there, so getting in the water is almost never an option.  More often than not it is raining or at least very overcast but on those rare days when the skies are clear and the sun is out, it is one of the greatest places to be.  Cannon Beach is great for these days because it has a long strip of beach with plenty of houses to look at along the coast line as well as a monolith for viewing, which I believe is the same section of rocks from the movie "The Goonies" that leads them on their adventure.  The town of Cannon Beach is one of the smallest that the coast has to offer but it is full of shops and a few great restaurants to experience. The laid back lifestyle of coastal living paired with the great environment of that area makes for a fun weekend getaway.

Favorite Mountain Retreat: Sunriver, Mt. Bachelor

We recently had the opportunity to spend a weekend at Mt. Hood about 20 miles south of Timberline Lodge and then this past weekend spent our time at Sunriver at a house which is about 30 miles from Mt. Bachelor.  Having been to both of them within a weeks time made it easy to compare the two so here is my verdict.  While Timberline Lodge is a historic site among mountain goers and has some amazing scenery, I would have to say that Mt. Bachelor wins this one by a slight margin.  First of all the drive to Sunriver is longer than the drive to Timberline, but you get to go over some amazing mountain ranges with incredible views of snow capped peaks, burnt woods and some stunning lakes.  Once you are there, Sunriver has many things to offer for entertainment if you are not at the slopes.  They have fitness centers, swimming pools, outdoor water slides, golf courses, bike and jogging paths, restaurants and shops.  The feeling of Sunriver is that you are part of a tiny mountain community enjoying life away from the daily grind we are most accustomed to.  I don't have a lot of experience snowboarding or skiing but Mt. Bachelor seems to be a good place to learn and along the way there you will pass Hoodoo which is probably the best beginner slopes in Oregon if you want a slower transition to the bigger mountains.  Bend, Oregon which is the closest town near Sunriver, does not have much to offer in my opinion, but that is generally the least of my concerns since Sunriver has so many things to do and maybe best of all, just relaxing and enjoying the company you are with and the high desert and mountain views.

Favorite Big City Getaway:  Portland

Do I really need to say anymore?  Portland is really the only big city in Oregon and even at that, it doesn't have too much of a "big city" feel.  Maybe that's just because I lived nearby for a couple years and got to know it pretty well.  Portland has great things to offer, particularly some amazing restaurants and galleries.  They have many hotels to stay at that range from being classy to ones that are more quaint.  We have enjoyed staying at the Nines and the Heathman Hotel when we visit.  The Portland Trail Blazers are also a good attraction, even if they are not an elite team in the NBA but they are good enough to make most games great to watch, no matter who they are playing.

Pictures taken from the following sites in respective order: http://www.flickriver.com/places/United+States/Oregon/Cannon+Beach/;http://www.relocatinginformation.com/states/Oregon.html;http://www.budgethotels.com/budget-hotels-in-portland/

Getting Paid To Sit Around

In my job as a crisis counselor I have many tasks, most of which come in a moments notice that I need to manage.  This makes for some very interesting days full of excitement and sometimes tense situations...that is when we are busy.  Because I am a crisis counselor I do not have any clients of my own which means I go into each and every day without a single thing scheduled.  This is one thing I love about my job.  I don't have the opportunity to stress out about a particular appointment or worry how I might handle a specific client.  Instead I just go with the flow of the day and manage crisis situations as they come along.

One of the main tasks of my job requires me to go to local hospital E.R.'s and evaluate people there who have either been brought in, or have brought themselves, for suicidal/homicidal/psychotic symptoms and behaviors and then help the E.R. doctor to determine if the person is safe to go home or if they need to be placed in a psychiatric hospital.  When I recommend that a person goes to an inpatient psychiatric hospital, it is up to me to call the various hospital in Oregon to see if they have any bed space available and then to inform them of the reason the client needs that level of care.

Recently I was at one of our local hospitals and I had made the determination that the person needed to be placed in a psychiatric hospital so I set out on my list of calls to find a bed.  Unfortunately, this process usually entails looking at the closest hospital first and then if that gets denied you move on to the next closest hospital, since we also pay for the person to be transported.  So I called one hospital and waited about and hour and a half for an official response that they had no beds available.  Then I called the next one and waited two hours for them to tell me they had no beds.  Finally, I called another hospital and got the client placed after another two hour wait.  All-in-all I was at the hospital from about 1:30pm to 7:30pm and my evaluation of the client to determine placement took all of about 30 minutes. So most of my time was spent sitting in the E.R. waiting on hospitals to call me back, while I can literally do nothing more than to sit there and get paid.  Despite the beauty of not having to do much of anything and still earning money, it can be terribly boring and frustrating.

I do love working in the hospitals and getting to interact with the patients, nursing staff and physicians but the process can be remarkably slow, particularly in comparison to the day-to-day crisis situations I deal with in the office which my team is very efficient at managing.

I haven't posted in how long?!

I haven't posted on this blog since October of last year.  A lot has happened since then and I don't have a lot of time now to fill you in on the details but here it is in a nutshell.

Biggest News Since Last Post:  My wife and I are going to have another baby!  She is expected to deliver in the middle of July and we are all very excited.  Most of my excitement is of course to have another addition to our family, but I am also eager to see how our almost 2 year old son will respond to being a big brother.  I'm pretty hopeful that he will adapt wonderfully. 

Landon is also sleeping through the night entirely on his own.  For the longest time we had been either rocking him to sleep or laying next to him on his mattress until he fell asleep,  then we would sneak out.  If he woke up in the middle of the night we would bring him to bed with us because it just seemed easier than to put him back to sleep.  We have since adopted the strategy of getting him ready for bed, reading a story, singing some bedtime type of song, saying a prayer and then explaining to him how he is going to fall asleep on his own and that momma and daddy will be checking on him if he needs us.  Then we walk out and close the door.  He has been falling asleep anywhere from 5 minutes to 20 minutes after we leave, on average.  The first couple nights were terrible but it has been worth it.  He sleeps through the night almost every night too which is a huge relief. 

I am in another basketball league at the Timberhill Athletic Club.  I play with my two brother-in-laws and some of their friends.  We are not a very tall team and we often lose as a result of this and not being able to get many second chance opportunities.  Last season I averaged about 12 points per game and after three games in this season I'm averaging about 20.  Our record is 1-3 right now and I think we can win at least one or two more.  We are mostly playing for fun though, or at least my wife reminds me of that when I come home frustrated. 

My job is going very well.  I am a crisis counselor and recently had my evaluation with my supervisor and got very high marks.  Our agency was also audited by the state and the crisis team in particular, which is just myself and another counselor and our supervisor, received outstanding remarks for the service we provide. 

I have continued to work out regularly at the YMCA and have maintained my recent weight loss.  I had lost just over 30 pounds but gained about 8 pounds back between Thanksgiving and New Years.  I'd like to lose about 15 more pounds which would get me to about 175-180 which seems like a healthy weight for me. 

I finished the book "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and I really enjoyed it.  I had seen the american version of the movie and thought it was ok but the book was great.  Now I have started the Lord of the Rings books, starting with the Hobbit.  Not sure I will make it through but I will try.  There is something about the way they are written that makes it a little hard to get into.