We woke up in the hotel and scrambled around getting ready to go down and get the cute little breakfast buffet. It was lovely and the Bald Kid even made his own Belgian Waffle. Yummo. I had cereal because I’m just a simple gal at heart. I didn’t actually take any pictures of the hotel…except this one. So it will have to do.
Then we jumped in the car and headed out on the road again.
Anybody hearing old Willie Nelson singing right now or is it just me?
As we approached Portland, I got in the habit of taking a picture of anything that was new or different or strange to me. In fact, I don’t even know what this thing is, but I took it’s picture alright.
This spooky little guy was just sitting there minding his own business so I captured him for posterity too.
I really loved the fire escapes too. Oh, sure the cities in Utah have them too, but these ones were very Jason Bourne-ish, or Burn Notice-y. Can’t you just picture a wild bad guy chase going on here? Well, I can.
We were excited to go to this famous donut shop but then, after doing a bit of research, we decided that it wasn’t exactly family friendly. Plus that crazy line coming out the door was a bit much. We skipped it and ate Cheetoes instead.
I thought for a second that we were headed straight to Chinatown, but Jacob turned left right before we got to the gateway. No Chinatown today.
Tons of lovely lampposts made even lovelier by the hanging flower baskets. Why don’t we do this? Hmmmm? I’m calling the mayor.
We parked the car and found that the only way to the ground floor was down allllll those stairs. Y.I.K.E.S.
But we survived. Jacob found this Hebrew inscription outside the biggest bookstore in the universe.
Yes. We went inside.
We all pretty much went our own separate ways for about 2 hours.
 A cute little lady was staring up at the books in the same “Crochet” aisle as I was in. She said, “Isn’t this just Heaven?”
I said, “Positively. Heaven. I’m never leaving.”
Of course, that was a fib because eventually we did leave, most reluctantly. These fun street performers were playing right outside the store.
I would say that this is certainly a church, but since I don’t know for sure, and I don’t want someone to make a comment saying, “Silly rabbit–that’s our city hall,” I’ll just call it a tower thingy. Can’t go wrong with that.
So charming to see the little community gardens all over town–very green and friendly looking.
April and Jacob found a quilt shop so that was the end of them. The Bald Kid and Lily and Beck and I stayed behind resting our tootsies in the car. I spotted this sweet little flowery tree. It reminded me of the Bougainvillea trees that are beautiful but positively impossible to grow outdoors in Utah…at least for me. Maybe I’ll try again. I need a pink tree in my life.
Oh, sure. They come in purple as well. I’ll be needing that one too.
Total tootsie resting…
until we found this natural food market. We went a bit wild because, well, for starters they had gorgeous fruit and so we were rendered powerless. We bought grapes, and cherries and yogurt and crackers and 9.5 water and some other stuff that I can’t remember. It was a glorious place.
Funny name, and totally untrue, as I am not, in fact, yoga. Honestly.
The quaint neighborhood that we parked in had colorful spots painted all up and down the street for no reason other than cuteness. I bet if we tried this at home we’d get arrested. But it was very whimsical and fun.
Might be worth a try…
sometime…
late at night.
Scribbled on the sidewalk of the same neighborhood. No mincing words here.
Proof that the zombie apocalypse is totally real…at least on this street.
So naturally, we left–for our own safety.
After wandering around for a while, taking in the sights, we found Jacob and Lily sitting under a red umbrella eating…
I don’t even know what.
But he is brave and I didn’t ask. Go Jacob.
A bit more driving…
A trip to the local Costco. Yeah, we like eggs…a lot.
A few more car games and finally, FINALLY–
We arrived at the beach house. Our home for the next week.
Ummmmm….at last.
Wanna see inside?
Be brave and I’ll show you next.