Tuesday Links

Here in our college town it's finals week, so it feels somewhat dead compared to normal. If you're busy studying hard, why not take a break and check out these fun things? :D

Large-scale advertising? I'd love to take a tour of these places! They look so whimsical.

Glamour photos of chickens. I thought it was going to be a funny video from the title, but apparently it's a thing!

29-story Tetris! Did they have really loud sound effects too though??

Ladies in a carriage...or not? What a clever low-budget Chinese movie idea, ha!

Could you survive this traffic? I'll take traffic lights any day!

Dog Mountain

My husband and I have really gotten into hiking lately.  My husband hates working out and has a bad knee so working out together usually involves me running while he rides his bike behind me.  It's silly and I always get mad at the end of my run when we says he is tired...when clearly I was the one who was working hard!  Our first hike was Multnomah falls and since then we have been doing a hike every weekend and we love it! It's such a great activity for us to do together and to explore and get the most out of this beautiful state we live in.  This week my goal is to invest in some good hiking boots!  Anyhow, this weekend we hiked Dog Mountain with my friend Leslie.  

Dog Mountain is located in Washington and offers a beautiful view of the gorge.  During this time of year the wildflowers at the top of the mountain are in bloom and it literally looks like a scene from the sound of music.  The hike wasn't super long (3.8 miles up and 3.7 miles down) but it was extremely steep so it did require some endurance.  Also, the top of the mountain was quite windy and dusty since you don't have the shelter of the trees.  The very top has a great spot where you can picnic and have lunch with a gorgeous view of the gorge.  It was such an incredibly beautiful hike, even though it was tough getting up there it was so worth it!  Hope you enjoy the pics my husband took!

"The hills are alive, with the sound of music....."

This picture is my favorite, do you see Mt. Hood in the background?

Have a great Monday everyone!

-DD

Multnomah Falls

Our friend Michael came to visit us over Memorial Day Weekend and we decided to head out to Multnomah Falls for a short hike.  I had been to Multnomah Falls once before but only briefly.  The Falls are fed by underground springs from Larch Mountain, there are numerous trails around the Falls that have wonderful viewpoints, waterfalls and other things to see.  There are trails for all type of hikers beginners (like us) and long rough hikes for the more experienced hikers.

Below are some photos from our hike:

Wahkeena Falls

Peace, Columbia River Gorge

Fairy Falls

These are either Ecola Falls or Weisendanger Falls.  If anyone knows post down below!

Dutchman Falls, I think?

 I actually didn't cross that log in the pics above, just faking it! Makes for some cool shots though!

Multnomah Falls

Memorial Day weekend is probably one of the busiest times at the falls, look at that traffic!! Good thing our hike was over and we were headed the other direction!

Happy Friday everyone!! Have an amazing weekend!

-Diana

**All photos were taken by my husband, John :)

Oahu, Part 3

On the last leg of our trip we visited Pearl Harbor, did a ton of snorkeling, hiked up to Diamond Head and ate frozen treats.  It was such a fun trip and I can't wait to go back!

Me and the famous Crossroads of the Pacific Sign.  Apparently back in the day all the boys in uniform would take a picture with this sign to send back home :)

Remnants of the sunken USS Arizona.  It was so interesting to see the sunken ship where it sunk in 1941.  In the picture above you see parts of the ship poking out of the water in all it's rusted glory. 

The memorial.  A ferry takes you out to the memorial that sits right above the USS Arizona.  If you stare down below you can see the ship.

The inside of the Memorial is all open and at the very end there is a room with names of the men who died aboard the ship.

Red, white and blue. Memorial from a different angle.

Snow Ice from Frost City.  When we told everyone we were going to Hawaii they raved about the Shaved Ice but I'm so glad our friend Eileen introduced us to SNOW ICE.  Hands down one of the best frozen desserts I have ever had.  They shave ice cream and pile it up like the picture you see above and garnish it with fruit, mochi and jellies.  It is AMAZING, super light, refreshing and fluffy (yes, fluffy)!  This dessert is definitely a must!!

Of course we also had to try the Shave Ice at Matsumoto.  They had a bunch of wonderful tropical flavors.  The big difference between this and a regular snowcone is you have the option to add condensed milk to it, which makes it very creamy and yummy once you get to the bottom half of it.

North Shore, I love all the rock formations

Turtle Bay Resort

North Shore

I love me some fruit!  Had to stop by the fruit stand to get some delicious goodies.

Hanauma Bay.  We stopped by to snorkel here one day, it was well worth it! Beautiful and clean but a very busy location so you definitely need to get here early to make it worthwhile.

Angry snorkel faces.  What!?

Highlight of my snorkeling experience, a TURTLE!!

We also went to a luau, it was pretty cool.  We made lei bracelets, had drinks, delicious food and watched a cool show.

Loved driving through here.

Beautiful Views.

View of the city from Diamond Head.

Diamond head.  Can you see the crater!?  Pretty cool it was formed from a volcanic eruption over 300,000 years ago.  

Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon on Waikiki

Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon on Waikiki

Aaaaaand, that's it, hope you enjoyed these!  Feels good to finally post these after almost a year!!

-Diana