The gray winters of Portland often leave me looking – and yearning – both forward and back. Ahead, I imagine the adventures of the coming summer and its long, sun-filled days. Looking back, I often return to my family’s August 2012 trip to the oldest, the biggest and the tallest trees on Earth, a trip my pun-friendly parents christened “The Treefecta.”

We sandwiched our eco-tour between my sister’s wedding in Oregon and a cousin’s wedding in Southern California. Circumstances allowed both my parents and me to take off the two weeks between these family celebrations, so I traveled with my father (a forester, ecologist and incorrigible tree geek) and my mother (a primary school teacher with an eye for birdwatching). [Read more…]