Welcome to Chaos !!

Although I have been living in Portland for years, I had not been to Multnomah Falls until today. Located in the Pacific Columbia Gorge it is the most visited natural recreation location in the Pacific Northwest. The falls are spectacular.

A friend was in town for a few days, so a perfect time to go see some sights.

There is a bridge, the Benson Footbridge that you can stand on if you so wish, (not me, I thought it was scary plus I am scared of heights so I hurried across) it takes you to a trail that leads to the top.

"The waterfall formed around 15,000 years ago at the end of a hanging valley, and was created by the Missoula floods. 
According to the creation story from the Multnomah tribe (from whom the falls take their name), the waterfall was formed after a young woman sacrificed herself to the Great Spirit to save Multnomah village from a plague by jumping from the cliff, and the Multnomah peoples were saved. After her death, water began to flow from above the cliff, creating the waterfall." That is according to Wikipedia. Not a super happy story....poor girl.

Eleven switchbacks later and you can watch the waterfalls from above. The hike is not hard, one mile one way. So I recommend that you go for it but please do not torture your dog/s and drag them up there as well. Like seriously.

We did a sightseeing tour on an open-air trolley, it was fun and relaxing.

There are more waterfalls to see and many hikes to do so I am planning on going back soon. I need to explore this beautiful area, I live here after all!

Well.....I am back home in Portland since a few days now. Everything is blooming here so it is gorgeous outside and warm. One of my flights was delayed for several hours, I wish I could had spent those hours in Tokyo instead of at the concrete airport in Honolulu. I left Japan out of Haneda Terminal 3 and that airport is NICE. 
I have worked twice since I got back, finally unpacked the last bag and put it away today and my sleep or lack thereof has been all over the place. I might be back to feeling normal tomorrow.
So I made Brazilian Lemonade twice and it is super frothy, tangy, sweet and yummy. Limes, sweet and condensed milk, sugar, water and ice. The recipe can be altered of course. You should try making this too. You will need a blender.

I also planted this little tree in Gabriel Park that I got on Christmas. It spent almost five months in my back yard but it now lives in the forest with other trees, I hope it will do well there. Five months......went by so fast. Two weeks in Japan went by so fast that when I arrived  back at the airport in Portland it felt like I had never been away. Travel to me sometimes feels unreal, I feel like I was never even gone. It is a weird feeling. I still have several more blog posts to put up about my time in Japan.
I miss it.

I had to go to see the tallest tower in Tokyo and the third tallest structure in the world, the Tokyo Skytree. You can take an elevator up to the top and get an amazing view of the city, I stayed on the ground though. There is an aquarium on the 4th floor, Sumida Aquarium that looks like it is worth a visit as well. The aquarium closes at 20.00 (that is 8 pm) so make sure you get there in time. The admission to the Skytree observation decks also closes at a certain time, keep that in mind if you are planning a visit here.

Tonight I had traditional soba (Japanese buckwheat noodle) at the restaurant where my friend Kazumi works. First I got green tea, then miso soup. The soba was served with a dipping sauce (soba tsuyu), thinly sliced onions and wasabi.
The soba I had was cold and got served on a bamboo tray (zaru). When I finished the soba I got some water that soba had been cooked in to add to the dipping sauce so I could drink it. A traditional meal that I very much enjoyed.
The restaurant is called Kayabacho Sarachina (Kayabacho subway station) and is a family owned place that has been around for 55 years.
The soba is made right there so it is fresh, I watched them make it. Soba is very nutritous and so is miso (I read up on it, very interesting).

The other day I had Korean pizza (?), I think it was.

The first day I got here I had some soup with noodles. I gave the pork to my brother.

I've had Indian food a few times (I love Indian food) and the naan they serve here are huge. Good!
I've had all kinds of things to eat while in Tokyo, I have no complaints. There is so much stuff to choose from here.

I got a massage today. A 90 minute body massage. In a small place located underneath a subway station so I heard the subway rattle by the every other minute or so which did not bother me at all, I find that soothing almost like a white noise. The massage was average, like below average actually. Meh. I've had better but it felt good to get my flesh squeezed and my muscles stretched. I have been walking a lot here (good!), what I really need is a foot spa for like two hours but I am saving that for another time. Probably for when I am back in Portland.

I LOVE massage. Ideally I would like a weekly full body massage for at least 90 minutes. And a two hour foot spa twice a month. Then add a quality 90 minutes minimum facial with a face massage included once a month and that is the ultimate body care package in my book.
Anyhow.....I recall some massages that I had in the past. One in Poland by some guy massage therapist that thought he was hot. I was 23 I think and he thought that I could be in better shape.....I was like? OK dude I like ice cream and food, plus I don't care what you think of my shape. 
Then I had a massage in Anchorage (that is in Alaska in case you do not know), towards the end the massage therapist decided to turn off the llight and crawled up on the table and straddled me (I was face down). Never had that type of massage before.....she also went over the time cause I had a facial booked after the massage and the esthetician had to knock on the door to announce that it was time for my facial. That massage was a bit different.
Then in Kenai (also Alaska) I had my one and only thai massage (so far). That lady said she thought I had a nice body so therefore my boyfriend was lucky. In Salem OR I had a massage that started out with the massage therapist massaging my ears, she stuck her finger into my ear and stretched my ear somehow and that felt really goodl I highly recommend that move. In Vegas at the Korean spa I had a body scrub/massage and the lady scrubbed me so hard that I though she would peel my skin off. When the session was done she announced it by giving me a hearty slap on my bare butt (I was down to my underwear). You have to be OK with some new experinces when it comes to massage. As long as the person rubbing me doesn't do something creepy I am good (like do not touch my boobs and in between my legs, I do not need massage there OK). Everywhere else yes please! And hard.
And now to my absolute fave massage ever..... At a foot spa in Vegas. I visited a lady there several times, she called herself Kathy. She was from China so it was not her real name. Kathy is the only woman that I daydream about......she was that AMAZING. I would get a two hour massage and schedule it around 9 pm so I could just go home and crawl into bed afterwards. Two hours of pure bliss.

Hachiko (Hachi) was the name of a Japanese Akita dog that was born 100 years ago.....in 1923. There is a bronze statue in his likeness standing in Shibuya. Hachiko was like all dogs loving and loyal. He would see his owner off every morming at the Shibuya train station and wait for him when he got back, until one day Hachiko's owner did not show up. But Hachiko still waited.....and waited. Yea, heartbreaking truly. It gets me teary eyed and achy inside because I know that dogs are just so amazing. There is a reason why God spelled backwards is dog. Yoy can also visit Hachiko's grave at the Aoyama cemetery.
I got to see the Hachiko statue today and that made me happy.

There are even little community buses driving around in Shihuya called Hachiko. Kawaii!