Summer Vacay, Day 4

Stephen is officially on vacation today!  Woohoo!  We woke up this morning around 6:30, got ready, ate breakfast, checked out, and left Redmond around 8:30 AM.  We were headed for Portland, Oregon!  The trip was about 3 hours from Redmond (maybe 2.5 hours from Seattle), so it wasn't too terrible, but not a completely easy trek.  The kids were DVD-less, so I made sure they were stocked with crayons, coloring books, reading books, stickers, snacks, and more!

Thankfully, our trip to Oregon was adventure-less.  We stopped for a pizza lunch in Vancouver, Washington, and then did a little side-trip to Corbett, OR- a little town about 30 minutes east of Portland.  This city boasts the Vista House, an octagonal castle-like rest area at the start of the Columbia River Gorge region.  Lewis and Clark used the Columbia River as a guide to follow to reach the Pacific way back in the day.  The view. was. beautiful.!!  Jaw dropping.  I'm so thankful that we made this trip today.  (We were going to go on Thursday, but the Thursday forecast was bleak, and I read that you need a clear day to really get a good view.  So, we squeezed it in on Wednesday!)

After exploring the Vista House and taking some pictures of the beautiful scenery, we got back in the car and drove to Portland.  Our first stop there was Washington Park, a ginormous inner city park.  We first visited the playground.  The kids were having a great time until this other kid started chasing them, making growling monster noises.  At one point, Taylor ran over to us crying, thinking he might really be a monster.  The kid was actually pretty sweet, he came over to check on her, and we got to talking.  His name was Vladimir.  Vladimir kept chasing them, and finally Sydney said, "Mommy, I want to go to the hotel!"  I took the point and we got ready to leave.  (We still joke about Vladimir)  We went on a little hike on a trail, which was fun.  Then, we went to the International Rose Garden, still in Washington Park.  This was a beautiful area with... I know you'd never guess it... roses!  Rows and rows of roses.  The kids had fun running around, smelling the roses (literally), and we then decided to head to the hotel.

Running for dear life.

There's Vladimir chasing Parker.

Another cool mountain- Mt. Hood.

Our hotel in Portland was right smack downtown, not in the suburbs like in Seattle.  Downtown Portland was very unique.  The buildings looked like they hadn't changed since the 1970s, except for the designer shops that have filled them.  We used the valet (didn't have a choice at this hotel, kind of nice but also a little annoying), got checked in, got settled, and then headed out to walk around and grab some dinner!

The view from our hotel.

Portland is home to a ton of food trucks.

We settled back in the hotel for the night!

Here's day 5!