Greetings from Portland!
A lot has happened since we last updated the blog. After completing a very painful, misty, and cold Portland Marathon in October, we were happy when John was offered a software engineering position in Portland Oregon. We loved Moscow and knew we would miss the small town feel, but felt it was time to move on. It was right about this time that we also found out a new Doroshenk will be entering the world sometime around June 6th!
He started the job in November and I stayed behind to get the Moscow house packed up and ready to sell. I was finally able to make the move to Portland in the beginning of December and we now are renting a 2 bedroom apartment in SE Portland. We are walking distance to fun restaurants, breweries (of which I cannot partake L), and small shops/boutiques. Christmas shopping was fun! There are so many stores in Portland (chains and independent) that we didn’t have to rely on the internet this year. We spent the holidays celebrating with Tiff and Jeremy and had a great time. Thanks to everyone for the wonderful gifts!
Our Christmas tree (Chester is tired out from destuffing his toy).
Margo enjoying her new Christmas present!
We’re still getting organized and familiar with the area, but have no complaints so far. Now, let’s all cross our fingers and hope the Moscow house sells soon!
Chester checking himself out in Kelly's new mirror in the dining room.
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Bikes, Bridges, and Beer: Our Portland Adventure
As part of our summer fun, we decided to sign up for the Providence Bridge Pedal in Portland with friends Tiff and Jeremy, who recently moved there. For this bike ride, they block traffic on all the major bridges and streets connecting them, including a portion of I-84. We chose to do the 10 bridge ride, about 36 miles in length, cause we’re extreme like that. To start off our weekend, Tiff and Jeremy took us out on a brew tour of Portland on Saturday, where we hit up such breweries as Amnesia, the HUB bike bar, Mash Tun, Cascades, and Breakside. Along the way, we checked out nifty shops, street festivals, and hipsters and also had some good tots (yup, you can find tater tots on most menus here). The beer was pretty delicious, too! The weather for most of the day was overcast, but the sun peaked out a bit in the afternoon. All in all, a good start to our trip and an excellent way to carbo-load for our bike ride the next morning!
The gang outside the new Hopworks Urban Brewery Bike Bar.
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Fourth of July In Glacier
For the 4th of July weekend this year, John and I decided to take a trip to one of the last remaining parts of Glacier National Park that we haven't seen: the upper NW. We decided to leave after work Thursday, drive half-way to Glacier, and stop at a campground in the Lolo National Forest. The next morning, we got an early start on the long drive to the Polebridge Ranger Station. The road from the ranger station to the trailhead was only 15 miles but ended up taking almost an hour to drive due to the rugged terrain. Good thing we took the xTerra because the Prius would not have been happy with that road.
Kintla Lake
Getting out of the car at the trailhead, we were immediately swarmed by mosquitoes. We got our gear ready as fast as we could and headed down the trail. About 7 minutes in, we realized...we forgot the beer! Back to the car we went, braving mosquitoes all the way, to grab it (a necessity for post-hiking celebrations).
Our first leg of backpacking was along Kintla Lake, about a 6.3 mile hike along rolling hills. The hike followed the shoreline of Kintla Lake with a few sections up into the woods. We got to our campsite, set up our tents, enjoyed our dinner and the company of fellow campers, and finally headed to bed after a long day of driving and hiking.
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Cleaning out the Closet
So this past weekend Kelly and I were gathering all our old ill-fitting clothes to take to the donation center and I found my suit pants that I haven't worn since moving to Idaho.
All I can say is if you want to lose weight, move to Idaho, start running, marry Kelly, and become a vegetarian. You, too, will have this sort of success.
Who wore these pants?
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Caballo Blanco Comes to Moscow
Saturday, the Palouse Road Runners sponsored a presentation by Caballo Blanco here in Moscow. He is one of the central people in the book Born To Run. His talk went over his personal running history and his affection for the Tarahumara, the legendary ultra runners from the Copper Canyon in Mexico, and how and why he started the Copper Canyon Ultra. It was great seeing a mystical "character" from a book in person, and see how down to earth and truly caring of a person he is. Today, John and I did a ten mile run, and I'm sure that after listening to him speak, we both felt motivated by the Tarahumara!
Kelly, Caballo Blanco, and John, born to run
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Mom Has A Gallery
Mom now has her own camera and her own Picasa Web Gallery. Check out the link at the top to see all her pictures!
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The Parents Birthday Weekend
This past weekend the family got together for a giant weekend celebration for Mom and Dad's 70th Birthdays. We ended up renting a great house down at Lake Anna in order to get family pictures not taken in our living room.
The Family at the Lake
The outside of the house had a big deck, a basketball/tennis court, a football field, kayaks, putting greens, a dock, a fire pit, and was situated on a peninsula that was about 1/2 mile when you go around the perimeter. So we were constantly being seen running in circles trying to burn off all the cookies we were eating.
A view from the porch of the peninsula
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Starting To Look Like Christmas In Idaho
This weekend we went out into the forest with our $5 National Forest Pass and cut down our own Christmas Tree. It took us a while to wander through the pines till we spotted this beauty from a distance. While it might not look like your standard parking lot, perfectly manicured blue spruce that most people long for in a tree, this one has got that fresh from the wild, untamed craziness that goes well with our North Pole Christmas Village that we put on display this year.
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Turkey Day
November was lots of fun. John came to visit us, birthdays for Mary and Becca, Thanksgiving, a family/friends bus trip to Charles Town for a little gambling followed by a birthday party at our house for Mary's 40th.
John spent 5 days with us and while Joe and his family were here to be entertained by John, everyday was an adventure and a trip to Total Beverage to keep the laundry room refrigerator full.
For Thanksgiving there were 13 of us at the table. On Saturday was the bus trip to Charles Town for some slot machine playing. We had a big winner who shall remain nameless. Afterwards a bunch of Mary's friends came to our house to help her celebrate. They all brought their kids who got into the Wei and air hockey games in the TV room. 
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Glacier NP
John and I finally got to head off on a much needed week-long vacation to Glacier National Park over Labor Day weekend. This could be our most favorite place in the world and we were excited to take the trip with friends Tiff and Jeremy, who both had never been. We started our journey on Thursday with plans to car camp in Two Medicine Campground, on the eastern side of the park. After a very chilly night that included owl, beaver, and fantastic star sightings near Two Medicine Lake, we got up early the next morning to begin our backcountry adventures. Jeremy spied a black bear on the hillside from the parking lot and I (finally!) got a glimpse of a mountain goat on the same hill. We knew it was going to be an awesome trip!
Ready for backpacking
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