Well, after deferring for a year and 18 months of planning later Jay and I are off to Manhattan to tackle bustle of the big city, the challenges of being a Columbia University grad student and this big American life.

The past few weeks have been a mix of extreme, uncontrollable excitement at the new adventure and the fulfillment of a number of dreams we thought were too big to even dream, as well as a healthy dose of nerves, heart aching goodbyes and a plethora of shed tears.  Through it all we have been so overwhelmed and awed by the outpouring of love from our family and friends.  The ceaseless show of support and encouragement has left us with such a sense of thankfulness that I don’t think we will ever be able to fully express.

So after a chaotic few weeks of last minute planning, we left our cozy, west coast island town of Victoria and arrived in Portland Oregon the same evening.  We only have a limited amount of time, and a lot on our PDX to do list before we set out to Idaho the very next morning.  So this is the highlights of our time and our top to do list of things to do and see if you only have brief moments to explore the Portland Area: Continue reading “16 hours in Portland”