Portland

In May, Jeff qualified for a trip to Portland for AllState. Kamden stayed with Grandma & Grandpa while Ethan stayed with his Aunt Kristen in LaGrande. When we got to Portland we went on a Lunch Cruise on the Columbia River.
During the two hour cruise we saw downtown Portland, Ross Island, the Old Palantine Water Pumping Station, and a lot of beautiful homes. There was an open deck on the upper level and we braved the rain for a while before returning to our table. After the cruise, we found our hotel and checked in, then took to the streets and explored the city. That evening there was a banquet hosted by AllState and Jeff won a $200 gift card to Sears!
On Saturday we got up early and went in search of some breakfast and ended up at a cute little resturaunt called Mama's Corner Cafe. It was recommended by the man at the front desk of the hotel, but it must have been recommended by a lot of other people. When we found the place, there was still over half an hour until it opened and there was already a line. By the time they started letting people in, the line went around the corner. Luckily, we were pretty close to the front of the line.
After breakfast we walked to the Saturday Morning Market. There was a lot of interesting stuff to look at, and even more interesting people. We bought a few things before going back to the hotel to check out.


After finding our way out of the city, we made our way to the Oregon Zoo. There were so many people there that we had to park about a mile away and caught a bus. We got t-shirts for the boys there and, of course, a magnet for the fridge. Now I have magnets from New York, Cancun, New Orleans, San Francisco, Sea World, Florida, DisneyLand, and Puerto Rico.






On our way out of town we drove to Lake Oswego and had lunch at a little cafe. Then we drove a few miles and found the Portland Temple. We got out and stretched our legs while we walked around the temple grounds and looked at the beautiful flowers. We watched a couple come out and get their wedding pictures taken. We can hardly beleive that was us just four years ago!
Even though it was a short trip, we had fun and the drive was beautiful. I loved how green everything was and I've always liked the rain, but I don't know if I could live somewhere that it rained that much!