Living in the rainy state of Hillsboro, Oregon

Living In The Rainy State Of Hillsboro, Oregon

In the town of Hillsboro, Oregon

Our decision to live in Hillsboro, Oregon was not a hard one. We knew we wanted to go to a colder state, we both had never really thought of Oregon before and jumped at the opportunity since it was just one state above us. From there we chose to move to Hillsboro which is about twenty minutes from Portland. We preferred not to live in the city, but wanted the opportunity to go into the city whenever we wanted.

We eventually packed everything up and headed to Hillsboro, Oregon where we set off for another adventure without our RV this time. After vigorously searching for the right apartment to pick, we chose one called Palladia. Conveniently, Palladia was less than a mile from my new Starbucks store I was located at, we were also right across the street from a well sized outlet mall with many restaurants. Our favorite restaurant was called the Thirsty Lion, one of the best places to get a great meal and a great drink if you are even in Hillsboro. Coming from California, where at the time there was not much green we were amazed with all the trees and forests around us.

Now we changed our lifestyle a lot when we moved to Oregon. It was kind of hard not to with all the organic life around us and how close everything was. So we decided to get rid of our Ford F-250 and just make due with a motorcycle for Justin and a bicycle for me. We had our challenges with this decision and since the weather that time of year, well almost all year is either rain or snow. We had our moments of feeling like it was a terrible decision to not have a vehicle. I would ride my bike to work in the both rain and snow, normally at two thirty in the morning since my Starbucks store opened at three AM. Yes you read that correctly three in the morning, and I loved every minute of that early shift.

Living In The Rainy State Of Hillsboro, Oregon

Justin was lucky enough to work from home and we did quite well with being indoors for the season. I remember one time though, when Justin wanted to ride his motorcycle in the snow (great idea) and said he would be back in a bit. Fast forward three minutes later, he comes back in the house and said “nope F that”. He managed to get around the corner and kept doing doughnuts because there was no traction for the bike tires.

So many people to meet, so many places to see

Living In The Rainy State Of Hillsboro, Oregon

On to our adventures we had in Oregon. We stayed in Hillsboro, Oregon for one week shy of a year so we had a good amount of experience in Oregon. Many of the things we were able to do were because of the amazing people we met. My good friend Kristen, who I had met while working out at the apartment gym. What a way to make a friend. She took me on a hike up in Mt. Hood right after I had just worked a seven hour shift, an opening shift from two thirty AM to nine thirty.  We had an amazing time in the cold mist surrounding the mountain. As tired as I was there was nothing that could stop me from enjoying the beauty that Mt. Hood was showing me. The greatest moment though was when we were chased and stung by bees on our way out of the trail. I had never been stung by a bee so I simply said “whelp we will find out now” thankfully I had not reaction nor did anyone else. Justin and I also accompanied Kristen on a trip with a few other friends to The Oregon Garden, where there were Christmas lights everywhere and a mini ice skating rink. We spent the evening in a cabin lodge drinking hot chocolate and staying warm from the rain Oregon never seems to run out of.

Living In The Rainy State Of Hillsboro, Oregon

One of the best experiences we had in Oregon was riding on Justin’s motorcycle in all the crazy weather no matter how cold. We found amazing friends to ride with. One of them being Jeremiah who has the same name as Justin. ( Justin’s first name is Jeremiah, he just chooses to go by his middle name). With that funny coincidence they became great riding friends and Jeremiah took us on amazing rides with views of Oregon we wouldn’t have seen if he had not shown us. Be mindful if you ride motorcycles Oregon is no joke with thick mist and heavy rain, there were many times we underestimated nature and got caught in heavy rain and nearly froze our butts off. There was this one time we rode in a group and the mist was so thick we all had to turn back because we could not even see the rider in front of us.

Living In The Rainy State Of Hillsboro, Oregon

The best long distance trip we took with our Motorcycle was when we rode to the coast, Cape Kiwanda with our friend Louis who was on a bike and our two friends Matt and Deanna who were in a car behind us and Louis. Justin and I had always talked about seeing the West coast in Oregon since we knew how the coast was in the East, and once Louis had mentioned he wanted to do a ride to Cape Kiwanda we said yes. We spent the whole day attempting to just put our feet in the freezing cold ocean water and climbing the sand dunes experiencing the amazing ocean view. The closest restaurant which was basically on the beach was called Pelican Brewing. Great place just really busy, so don’t forget snacks!!

An Unexpected Surprise

During our time in Oregon we changed many things in our lives to be where we are today. We stopped eating meat and started exercising regularly, the people we surround ourselves with where the people we found genuine, and encouraged our dreams as supportive friends. Of course the most amazing change in our lives is finding out we are going to be parents.

Living In The Rainy State Of Hillsboro, Oregon

Justin and I had been talking about adding a new addition to our family, and unbeknownst to us we found out we were going to be parents the week of our three year anniversary. I had found out a few days before and decided to surprise Justin on the day of our anniversary and he unknowingly recorded his own surprise pregnancy announcement. He records random events in our lives all the time and thankfully this was one of them.

We were very nervous and excited since we had a miscarriage two years before and hoped for the best. Thankfully we are now 33 weeks in and almost there, and we can not wait to meet our little Emma.

We had asked our OBGYN about traveling during our pregnancy since we knew we wanted to move again once our lease ended but that wasn’t until the middle of our pregnancy. She had said it was best earlier in the pregnancy since the stress could be harder later on in the trimesters. Once she said that I put my two weeks in to transfer to a new Starbucks store in Tampa, Florida and ended our lease early. We sold basically everything in our apartment and took the pets and headed to Tampa, Florida where we currently reside until we have Emma.

We have had so many experiences in Oregon and can’t wait to come back with an RV and have many more adventures.

Actually, the best gift you could have given her was a lifetime of adventures…

-Lewis Carroll-


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