1. Embassy Suites Historic Multnomah Hotel - Downtown, Portland, May 9-13, 2005. 2. The replica of Allen Woo's fountain reminds us of all the Long Island Ice Tea Happy Hours. 3. Embassy Suites entrance on Pine Street. (GS) Note: Photo Credits are initials in brackets. GS=Greg Slingerland, RB=Roger Britt 4. Embassy Suites lobby. Quite unlike the average Embassy Suites. (GS) Note: JM=Joanne McMillen & JP=Joachim Pomy 5. An aerial view of downtown Portland - at least it wasn't raining! (JP) 6. Touring this sub was on our list of things to do, but this is as close as any of us got. (JM) 7. On Sunday six of us headed down the Columbia River to Astoria. (GS) 8. Sea Lions are a familiar site on the west coast. (JP) 9. But they are so noisy! And they sound just like Joanne or the other way around? (JM) 10. The rhododendrons were everywhere & they were very intense. The Astoria Column was our first stop. (GS, JM) 11. The 125 foot tall column chronicles 14 important events in the history of Astoria, including Lewis & Clark in 1805. (RB, GS) 12. Efrain Guevara is looking up & Pierre Adornato is behind him. Only 164 spiral steps to go. (RB) 13. Roger Britt, Greg Slingerland, Pierre, Joachim Pomy, Joanne McMillen & Efrain atop the Column. 14. The view was impressive as the Columbia meets the Pacific Ocean. The Column is on a 600 ft hill. (GS, RB) 15. Next we went to a nice Maritime Museum. The Coast Guard faces some big waves where the Columbia meets the ocean. (GS) 16. Roger, Efrain, Pierre, Joachim & Joanne on a lighthouse boat, which is part of the museum. (GS) 17. By the time we had lunch is was raining so the view from the bridge to Washington State wasn't ideal. (GS) 18. World traveler Joanne, led us back down the Oregon coast to Cannon Beach & Haystack Rock. (JP) 19. Haystack Rock, at 235 feet high, is the third largest coastal monolith in the world. It is a marine & bird sanctuary. (RB) 20. Haystack Rock plus the usual suspects: Greg, Joanne, Joachim, Efrain & Pierre. (RB) 21. Roger is caught between a Rock & a pair of "Needles". (EF) 22. These tiny blue-colored relatives of the "Portuguese man-of-war" are called the "By-the-wind sailors". (JP) 23. They have a flat disc with a diagonal sail. They live on the surface of warm seas & sometimes get blown ashore. (GS, JP) 24. What in the world is Joanne up to out there in the Pacific Ocean? (JP) 25. Haw-ha! Joanne prepares to feed Efrain some jelly fish appetizers. Why is this man smiling? And why don't we live there?(JP) 26. Cannon Beach is named for a cannon found on the beach from the U.S. Navy schooner Shark, wrecked in 1846. (GS) 27. On Thursday Joachim celebrated his election as TR41.1 Vice Chair with rounds at the Tugboat. (RB) 28. After the plenary, some of us drove over to Mount Hood. At 11,237 ft, it is the tallest mountain in Oregon. (JP) 29. Mount Hood is a stratovolcano. The main cone of Mount Hood formed about 500,000 years ago. (JM) 30. Roger, Joanne & Joachim had lunch at Timberline Lodge, a ski lodge on Mt Hood. Mount Jefferson is in the background. (RB) 31. Afterwards, we drove around Mount Hood towards the Columbia River & found this lookout spot. (JP) 32. There are many waterfalls where Mount Hood meets the Columbia River. Joanne is relaxing at Horsetail Falls. (RB) 33. Joachim & Roger pose at Multnomah Falls, the second highest year-round waterfall in the US. (JM) 34. On the Benson Bridge, with 620 ft of plummeting water just behind them, Joanne & Joachim are only thinking of TR-41! (RB)