The Rest of Portland

Our trip to Portland was Jonah's first flight and the first time Scott was aware of being on a flight. Since there can only be one lap infant per row, they switched John to a seat behind us and Scott sat in his own chair, happy as can be. Then he looked out the window at the clouds and napped on my lap. It was a great 1 1/2 hour trip.

We tried to see and eat all that Portland had to offer. Powell's bookstore was great! John was laughing at the book a little more than Scott.

Salt & Straw ice cream was amazing! We shared a double scoop--sea salt & caramel and pear & gorgonzola.

We briefly walked around this charming part of town and saw a cool old theater renovated as a restaurant, movies and billiards now. 

Lunch at the waffle window--so yummy. We couldn't try all of them, but we have some great ideas to try at home now.

Since it was literally freezing out, Karen volunteered to stay with a sleeping Jonah in the car (she hates cold as much as he does) while we took Scott for a quick hike.

We walked to the top of Mt. Tabor, which is one of three volcanoes in Portland according to the patron at the Waffle Window whose brain we picked for suggestions and trivia.

It was a beautiful day, but about 30 degrees colder than we're used to in San Jose.

John and Scott chased each other down a trail back to the car.

The next day we went to the Portland Temple after church.

I was here when my brother and sister-in-law were married a few summers ago and just loved it. It's beautiful year round.

Their nativity is very different than ours in Oakland.

We went in the visitor's center to warm up a little and watch the Christmas Devotional broadcast.

They had some fun things in their visitor's center, too, like interactive games and quizzes on a touch-screen.

Scott was mesmerized by the talks and singing.

Portland has a lot of quirk that I thought was represented well by this crocheted pole. Scott liked hugging it.

We had some very spicy and delicious Mexican food.

This is where we had lunch. Almost every place we ate was a local, small business restaurant. They're everywhere and have some great food to offer, but they definitely have more of the hole-in-the-wall vibe going for them on the exteriors.

We went to the OMSI (for free with our Happy Hollow passes!) and Scott had a blast at the children's center.

They had a lot of really cool exhibits.

Cooking with two pans at once. Gotta get dinner on the table.

You can see his wet pants from the ball and water area that he played in for a good half hour.

He's crying because he tried to sit on this wooden plane and it didn't work. 

Then he found his reflection and all was well. 

We also went through the special Sherlock Holmes exhibit (no pictures allowed) and it was awesome! You go through a whole crime scene investigation at the end that was hands-on and fun. I didn't know what to expect going in and was blown away. We went to some other sections of the museum as well, but eventually had to leave because they were closing. 

The next day we took the air tram. Scott pointed out every truck (or "sruh") he could see. He didn't want to leave, so he waved bye-bye. He's been waving bye whenever something ends before he's ready. It's a coping tool I invented to distract him and it's been very helpful for him.

We stopped for some lunch. Jonah was so excited!

Scott ate almost a whole piece of pizza.

Then we went next door and he picked out a treat from voodoo doughnuts. 

Eating chocolate side first. We've trained him well.

John tried the mango tango and I had the city's official donut-the Portland Creme. They were all "nummy" as Scott says.

It was a really amazing trip and we want to go again during summer to see what Portland has to offer during warm weather.