I know, I know, terrible pun. But there have been a few fun things that we've done (or crazy things that we've seen) that seem uniquely Oregonian (at least to us non-natives). I've meant to write this post for a while, but sometimes it's hard to just sit down and do it when you're not sure you have enough in your head to make up a decent-sized blog post. But better small than never, right?
1) Taprooms, breweries, and growler stations, oh my!
According to my much more savvy sister-in-law, Virginia law has recently changed in this area, but it used to be that establishments that served alcohol were also required to serve food. Not so here in Oregon. We got to visit a taproom over in Oregon City with our new friends Chris and Andrea a few weeks ago and while they had over 40 types of alcohol available to try, they had exactly 0 food items. This was brought even more starkly into perspective when about halfway through our visit, a pizza delivery person walked in with an order for another couple sitting in the booth. The bartender joked with the delivery guy, everything was chill and everyone was happy. But I have to admit, I was like, "What just happened?! Am I imagining this right now?" Chris and Andrea informed us there's also a little Mexican place that is just down the street which also delivers. In their words, you're just having a beer and voila! quesadillas arrive! It's pretty much magical. All that to say, it's good to check out where you're going before you hit the road just in case you need to eat dinner before or order in once you get there.
2) Tattoos, piercings, and some serious facial hair...
Are totally normal. In fact, there's a joke at our church (which is also pretty casual) that at Downtown Bible, the midweek, lunch-hour class in downtown Portland, it can be hard to tell the business men from the guys that are down on their luck - the beards look pretty similar. I was also admonished by the bartender I mentioned above that to be a true Oregonian, it's basically requisite to have a tattoo. I'm not against tattoos at all, for the record, however, for those of you who might be, don't worry - I'm pretty certain my unnecessary pain avoidance mechanism is functioning properly, so that's unlikely to happen anytime soon.
3) Everyone is an athlete
Ok, that may be a Nike slogan (with whom Josh is now working, praise the Lord!), but seriously, just about everyone is seriously committed to one or multiple active activities - from walking to running to gardening, to biking - people here don't play around (well, maybe they do) and they certainly don't make excuses. I guess you can't if you're serious about being fit and you live somewhere where it's more likely to rain than not. On this note though, Josh has gotten involved with a competitive basketball league hosted at our church and I have joined a weekend ladies running group that's training for a 10K and/or a half marathon coming up in May. That's been good motivation for us to try to be active during the rest of the week. We don't have that 100% down yet though because sharing a car has gotten a little more complicated with Josh working in Beaverton. We are super thankful for his job, but it does mean leaving the house at 7:30ish and not getting home most days until 6pm, so that can make working out hard to fit in. But we're working on it.
Well, that's all for now folks. The only other news of note is that we have found ourselves a pet. :) Thorin, our new rabbit friend, is a pretty cute addition to the family and has been a really good bonding opportunity for Josh and me.
1) Taprooms, breweries, and growler stations, oh my!
According to my much more savvy sister-in-law, Virginia law has recently changed in this area, but it used to be that establishments that served alcohol were also required to serve food. Not so here in Oregon. We got to visit a taproom over in Oregon City with our new friends Chris and Andrea a few weeks ago and while they had over 40 types of alcohol available to try, they had exactly 0 food items. This was brought even more starkly into perspective when about halfway through our visit, a pizza delivery person walked in with an order for another couple sitting in the booth. The bartender joked with the delivery guy, everything was chill and everyone was happy. But I have to admit, I was like, "What just happened?! Am I imagining this right now?" Chris and Andrea informed us there's also a little Mexican place that is just down the street which also delivers. In their words, you're just having a beer and voila! quesadillas arrive! It's pretty much magical. All that to say, it's good to check out where you're going before you hit the road just in case you need to eat dinner before or order in once you get there.
2) Tattoos, piercings, and some serious facial hair...
Are totally normal. In fact, there's a joke at our church (which is also pretty casual) that at Downtown Bible, the midweek, lunch-hour class in downtown Portland, it can be hard to tell the business men from the guys that are down on their luck - the beards look pretty similar. I was also admonished by the bartender I mentioned above that to be a true Oregonian, it's basically requisite to have a tattoo. I'm not against tattoos at all, for the record, however, for those of you who might be, don't worry - I'm pretty certain my unnecessary pain avoidance mechanism is functioning properly, so that's unlikely to happen anytime soon.
3) Everyone is an athlete
Ok, that may be a Nike slogan (with whom Josh is now working, praise the Lord!), but seriously, just about everyone is seriously committed to one or multiple active activities - from walking to running to gardening, to biking - people here don't play around (well, maybe they do) and they certainly don't make excuses. I guess you can't if you're serious about being fit and you live somewhere where it's more likely to rain than not. On this note though, Josh has gotten involved with a competitive basketball league hosted at our church and I have joined a weekend ladies running group that's training for a 10K and/or a half marathon coming up in May. That's been good motivation for us to try to be active during the rest of the week. We don't have that 100% down yet though because sharing a car has gotten a little more complicated with Josh working in Beaverton. We are super thankful for his job, but it does mean leaving the house at 7:30ish and not getting home most days until 6pm, so that can make working out hard to fit in. But we're working on it.
Well, that's all for now folks. The only other news of note is that we have found ourselves a pet. :) Thorin, our new rabbit friend, is a pretty cute addition to the family and has been a really good bonding opportunity for Josh and me.
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