At the last minute, as in Friday at 2 o'clock, we decided to do something fun and different this weekend . . . . be tourists in our town! We booked a hotel, made a list of things that were very "Portland" (many of which we had never done before -- even though we have lived in the area for 11 years), woke up saturday morning, packed, and were on our way.
Here are our adventures . . . . week in the life style.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
83 degrees
8:25 am -- packing
8:45am - drying Anna's hair
10:13am - checking out the hotel room. I've never actually seen an episode of Portlandia (a show that pokes fun at Portland), but here's a pretty funny clip about birds.
10:24 am - ready to explore the city
11:21 am -- awesome 4-person, continuously flowing, drinking fountain. You can find these all around downtown.
11:41 am - Portland Saturday Market
12:06 pm - lunch by the fountain. Pizza for Anna. Chicago hot dogs for the boys.
12:20 pm - we sat and listened to the Supa Dupa Marimba Bros. play for a while. Very cool music.
12:50 pm - the boys picked out some arrow head gear from the Spoon Man Creations booth.
1:44 pm - found some food carts for the grown-up's lunch. I had Korean BBQ and Scott had Thai food.
2:28 pm - checking the transit maps . . . about to hop on the MAX
3:18 pm -- riding Portland's aerial tram. Love that the lady in the other car is taking my picture, and I'm taking hers. :)
3:25 pm -- cute boy. And now we're on the Portland Streetcar. Other than the buses, I think we covered just about every public transportation available to us.
3:46 pm -- fountain at PSU. Our kids love, love, love fountains.
3:51 pm - waiting for the MAX
4:10 pm - get in line for VooDoo Doughnuts. We have never partaken of the VooDoo, but it's a Portland favorite. "The magic is in the hole."
4:17 pm - This sign is directly across the street from VooDoo doughnuts. This is the mission statement for many Portlanders, and they do a pretty good job at it.
4:34 pm - While waiting in line we suddenly hear a chorus of "arrrghh!" and giant pirate flag leading a group of 30-40 people decked out in elaborate pirate garb. Earlier in the day we saw them filling a bar. We're guessing, that they were walking towards the waterfront for Brewfest this weekend. Quite a scurvy bunch.
4:40 pm -- Our first glimpses at the famous VooDoo doughnuts. We selected a one dozen assortment including the maple bar with bacon, fruit loops doughnut, captain crunch donut, and their famous Portland creme doughnut. Altogether, a 35 minute wait.
5:09 pm -- had the experience of being sandwiched like sardines on the MAX. Conner said, "this is a death trap." Photo was taken after the majority of people exited at the last stop in the fare-less square.
5:45 pm - ahhh, adjoining rooms.
5:52 pm - my treasure from the Saturday Market. I have the perfect spot for it.
7:00 pm - hotel swimming
About an hour later I got horribly sick (massive headache, nauseous, & other stuff) -- I'm guessing from something that I ate today. Scott took the kids out for pizza and frozen yogurt. I hunkered down in the hotel room. Thankfully, I was feeling okay by the next morning.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
80-something degrees
9:16 am -- breakfast. Just 2 bites of my glazed doughnut . . . trying to be kind to my stomach.
9:44 am - the morning routine
10:04 am -- this photo reminds me of a comment Scott made on Saturday, "I thought we ordered normal children."
10:47 am - checking out of the hotel
12:20 pm -- driving across the I-205 bridge following church. Great view of Mt. Hood.
2:00 pm - lunch picnic in Washington Park
2:32 pm - meandering around the Rose Gardens
2:48 pm - Loved overhearing this conversation. Scott to the boys: "Sometimes you just do things to humor the ladies."
4:57 pm -- Home. Watching Shark Week, napping, reading blogs on my ipad.
6:48 pm -- Yes, the bedroom is finished and it is heavenly. (Before and after blog post coming soon.)
7:25 pm -- Dinner. Waffles with raspberries & whipped cream & nutella. Very tasty combination.
8:17 pm -- goodnight kisses.
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And that, my friends, is a week in the life of little ol' me.
