Portland

Paul and I had talked about going to Portland for years. It finally happened and I got to add another state to my list of states I've been to. We got in late Wednesday night. Thursday we decided to spend time in the city. We loved the public transportation for the most part. We got a little messed up at one point and we ended up doing a walking tour of downtown. We made it to the water front where we watched joggers, seagulls and Canadian Geese.

We were both just stunned at how amazingly bright the colors on the trees were. I love autumn so this was a real treat.

We hit Powell's which is rumored to be one of the largest book stores in the world. It took up a whole block. It was awesome!


After Paul took me to Thai food. It was so good and spicy. This is only the second time in our marriage that he has gone to Thai with me.
Friday we drove out to Tillamook. It was a blast. Their cheese has always been a favorite of mine.
We got to see them processing some of it. They were working on colby jack, my all time fav, so it was even more exciting.

Look at me and all the cheese!
We got lunch in their cafe and then sampled their ice cream. Oh my gosh where have you been all my life? Their ice cream was sooo sooo good.
I had to get a cup with three flavors because I couldn't narrow it down any more than that. They have 38 flavors to choose from. I got chocolate and peanut butter, Tillamook Mudslide and mocha fudge. Yummo!
I wanted to press a penny and handed Paul the camera and discovered that he did this with it.
This is a full scale replica of the boat that they used in 1855.
It was a misty, foggy day in Tillamook especially on the bay.
That didn't stop us from going to Cape Meares to see the lighthouse. It was little itty bitty.
But oh so cute.
On Saturday we drove to Multnomah Falls. To say it was raining is an understatement. It was POURING!!! We got out and walked up to see it. I rolled my pants and wore my flip flops. People looked at me like I was nuts. It was in the mid 60's though so it wasn't too bad.

Take the picture quick!!! I'm getting wet here.


Paul got really wet.
We found out his coat isn't very waterproof and neither were his shoes.
Later that day it cleared up and we drove by the temple.

I wanted a skyline picture but had no idea where to go so this is about as good as it got.
We went by the rose test garden but it was getting dark so we didn't spend much time there.
Sunday was the day we were coming home. I was determined to get pictures, lots and lots of pictures. This is the view that we had each morning while eating breakfast at the hotel. Could the trees be any prettier?
I snapped this while stopped at a red light. We were heading back into the city for another trip to Powell's.
Some huge boats had come in during the night. I love big boats.
We headed up to Pittock Mansion for some amazing views of the city.
THe mansion wasn't bad either. We didn't take the tour but the grounds were very impressive.
Yeah, I could live like this.

We had a couple of hours to spare before we needed to get to the airport. I persuaded Paul to take me to the Japanese Tea Garden. It was so gorgeous. This was a great time of year to be there.

I never get tired of koi.




We decided that we needed to kiss on the bridge.

This is about the only time we saw Mt. Hood, from the plane.
This was our dinner Sunday night.
We had a great trip. I really liked Oregon. I like that they pump your gas, I like the beautiful trees and I loved the tax free shopping. I could totally get used to that. We will definitely want to go back.

Oops, I forgot to post more pics

This is a little out of whack. I didn't feel like moving all the pictures today so they are mixed in with my post and captions. Oh well, I know what I am talking about. ;)

Oh how I love me some characters!

My Disney Crocs and me getting ready to go through A Small World.

We hadn't seen monorail orange until this trip. We never got to ride it though. We were always on red.

It was so hot that we had to get cold drinks at Rainforest Cafe Thursday afternoon.

This is Drew and Drew is awesome! His voice is the voice you hear when you are about to take off on California Screamin'. He also did the voice for the Hymlick that comes out of the giant candy corn during Halloween. He had so much info and was just great to visit with.

Astro Orbiters

This was right before Emma and I left the park. The guy who took this was from Rexburg.

You can't have a trip to Disneyland without ice cream!

Paul bought his first trading pin. It's all downhill from here.

I'm sure it didn't bother anyone but I realized I didn't journal my trip very well.

Wednesday night we headed up to the airport. Everything went smoothly and we got into Orange County about 30 minutes early. It was still after 10:00 pm California time so we drove to our hotel and went to bed pretty quickly. Our hotel had a great view of the park. It was awesome looking out over Space Mountain and the Matterhorn.

We could see the monorail zoom by. We were very excited. This is looking down from our balcony to the top of a lower level of the hotel. The kids thought it was so cool that they put this on a roof.

The next morning Paul got up early and left for work. The kids and I woke up a little later and got ready at a pretty leisurely pace. This was going to be a first for me. I was going in the park with the kids all by myself. I felt pretty good about it though since we have done this so many times.

We started out with breakfast at McDonald's and then walked into Disneyland.

We rode Indiana Jones first and then Pirates of the Caribbean. There is no flash photography on the ride so I had my camera settings all figured out (Yeah right) but some dude behind me shot a picture with his flash at the exact moment I did. Because of his flash one of my legal shots inside the ride turned out. The rest, not so much.

We were having a really good time! It was also nice that even though it wasn't officially Halloweentime in the park they already had up some Halloween stuff.

It warmed my heart!

We found this cute little guy making popcorn near the Matterhorn.

Paul joined us pretty close to lunch time. After that we rode more rides, got the kids their hats, stalked characters and just had fun. We left the park for dinner and went to the mall where we had Claim Jumper. We got back just in time to watch some of the fireworks from our balcony.

The next day, Friday, we went into California Adventure.

It was HOT. I had worn thin pants incase I wanted to go on Grizzly River Rapids. I let the others go first and when they came back barely sprinkled I decided I could go, once. Of course the time I go we get drenched. I was so uncomfortable. I felt like I had peed my pants. It pretty much sucked for a couple of hours.

While we were there we did the Tower of Terror, Soared over California, watched Aladdin and caught the bug show. Aladdin was great! I highly recommend going in if you are ever there.

Saturday we did the beach and then went back into the park later. It was awfully crowded at that time. We road the monorail to Rainforest Cafe for dinner and as we were returning to the park the firework show was going on. We were looping through the park, on a monorail, watching the firework show. It was amazing! It is one of the awesome moments that I will never forget. After that Andrew was done. He and Paul went back to the hotel and Emma and I stayed in Disneyland and got Dole whips. Yum, yum, yum.

There was a lot we didn't do but it was okay because we have done it all before. I'm also pretty sure that we will do it again some other day.

Sunday we ate at Goofy's Kitchen where we had a lot of fun meeting characters and taking pictures. The kids really enjoyed themselves. They got up and danced with Goofy each chance they got. We had a little bit of time to kill before we left so we hit another mall in Costa Mesa. I did some more damage at H&M. Paul accused me of buying too much. He said there was no way I was going to be able to get everything home. Well guess what. I could have bought seven more pounds of clothes LOL! What can I say, I'm a pro at shopping and overpacking.

We got home safe and sound to a house that was just the way we left it. Marius was alive and well. The trip was a great success.