Scenes From Oregon

It seemed we were always on the go...or on our butts being lazy...so I didn't get much play-by-play of our Oregon experience recorded on the blog. You will have to go to Twitter for that. But here are a few memorable moments.

Basically, when you take me to Oregon, there are three simple things to keep in mind. 1. Trees, 2. Guns, and 3. Food. As follows:

Hiking in the Redwoods. Zempel lore tells me that this is the Forest of Endor from Return of the Jedi. By the end of the hike I was wishing for one of those nifty speeder bikes.


Moving deeper into the Endor Forest (aka Redwood National and State Parks) towards the waterfalls. I pretty much find myself oscillating between total nerd out and worshipful moments when I walk on these trails. God is the best creator ever!


And this is how you know it's been a good day. It's not quite the dirt level of my biological engineering days out in the sugar cane fields of Louisiana. But you know you are in Oregon when you can pull these jeans right back on the next day for another excursion without so much as brushing the dirt off.


Now onto the food. After the cold, wet forests of Endor, hot caffeine is good. Dutch Brothers Coffee- it's a Zempel Family tradition.


And...Spuds and Linguica pizza at Abby's. Another Zempel tradition. I prefer Papa Murphy's; this is Ryan's favorite.


And here come the guns. Out shooting stuff. I might have left a clay pigeon or two in the Valley.


And finally, the Christmas light display at Shore Acres.