CURRENT MISSION

To meet people, travel and explore new cultures

ABOUT ME

Mike and I live in Hillsboro, OR, about 45 minutes west of Portland. I am a documentary and travel photographer with a small side business in cookbooks (www.saraharnoff.com and savorcookbooks.com). I used to work as a linguistic researcher with Shoshone communities in Utah and Nevada. Mike spent some time in the Marine Corps and now works as an electrician. We currently want to travel as much as possible and see all the natural wonders of our new home state. We are originally from Utah and have lived in Oregon for five years.
If we can't travel for a long period of time, we like to take road trips that let us meander through the empty, wild areas around our home, like taking 10 hours to get from Bryce Canyon to Salt Lake. Or sometimes we can pull off a little spontaneous trip, like driving to Idaho in the middle of the night to (not) see the Aurora Borealis.
We like to talk about anything--whatever interests you, we'd enjoy talking about it.

PHILOSOPHY

Be willing to go anywhere, talk to anyone, and eat anything.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have couchsurfed in Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Jordan, and have had fantastic experiences. I met some great people and had some pretty interesting adventures. Mike and I also stayed with many fabulous people couchsurfing in Germany, the Czech Republic and Australia.

Interests

nature, photographing things and people, language, indigenous cultures, gin, animals, nick-knacks, travel, road trips, stories

• animals
• photography
• documentaries
• dining
• cooking
• beer
• politics
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• piano
• drums
• business
• languages
• road trips

Music, Movies, and Books

Oh so many things... We have a big sci-fi book library in our house. We don't watch a ton of movies, but we do get to see one once in awhile. Classic comedies like Caddy Shack, Ghostbusters and Rush Hour are always good. We're currently on an X-Files and Portlandia binge.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I racketeered around in the back of a rickety pickup in the Jordanian desert.
Mike slept in a hole for 7 months in Afghanistan.

Teach, Learn, Share

Photography, endangered language facts, language acquisition, linguistic theory, Utah secrets, I know some Shoshoni and tidbits of other native languages, I can maybe teach drums and piano. Mike knows a lot about electrician stuff, politics, ask him about his time in the military and you'll definitely get a story. We love to show people around our home state, especially Southern Utah.
We like to learn about all different cultures from around the world, food, music and language.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Would love to take your portrait if you're cool with that. We've found that some hosts like to practice their English with us, so if English is not your first language and you just want to talk, we'd love to be of service. We can also do whatever needs doing around the house to help out. Cook you a meal? Take you out for a beer? Let us know if there's anything you'd like from the US

Countries I’ve Visited

Afghanistan, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Montenegro, Philippines, Qatar, Slovenia, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, United States