I hate it When I get Behind!

Really!! I do!! It's been too long since I last posted and I am feeling the details fading. I'm going to try to remember....

I finally arrived at Mike and Kims after the LONG trip through and around Hells Canyon. Driving into Oregon, I followed the Columbia River and through the Columbia River Valley. Wow! I wish that I had realized that this area was as beautiful as it is! There seem to be many places along the way with interesting sites and stops. I did none of them... I will someday now that I know I need too!! I had already spent too much time wandering around in Hells Canyon and it was approaching dark when I finally drove into Portland and made my way to Mike and Kims.

Again, I was blessed with wonderful hosts!! Although very busy with normal weekday activities ie; work and school, they were wonderful and I felt very at home there. We shared some great wine during my trip which I really need to remember to start writing down to remember! I can never pick a good wine and need to learn to 'steal' the names from those that know how to pick it!! ;o)

I took a day while in Portland to go exploring. I visited the Voodoo Donut shop. I've seen it featured on many a travel/food channel program and it just looked like a fun place to visit and have a taste!

I had my taste's set on a maple and bacon (yep! BACON) donut. I ended up with an 'old dirty bastard' instead. I was told that if a person wants a 'maple and bacon' you must arrive long before I am even awake....my loss!!

Portland is a somewhat 'gritty' city, but I really liked it. I wandered around mostly lost looking for the food carts that I was told to check out and unfortunately, never found them. Aco and I walked along the riverfront park for a bit

then I ended my day at Elliott's bookstore,

WOW! Loved it! I think I spent about 2 hours there and probably could have spent even more time if I hadn't been worried about Aco in the truck all alone. Bookstores are BAD for me!! I ended up purchasing some reading material for the next week or so on the road. I really didn't do too bad. It's the first real money that I've spent on the trip other than the dreaded 'feeding of the Explorer'.

I found some great Graffiti along my route:

And saw the coolest building with artwork along the outside walls. I realized after I uploaded the photos that the artwork is actually the window blinds. There are tracks that the canvas slide along to cover the windows! How cool is that?!

Bikes!! Lots of bikes in Portland....some normal and some quite interesting:

Then, for you bike lovers out there....there is this....

What is it? It's some sort of weird cover for bikes!! I guess it's to keep the bike from getting wet/dirty, pretty awesome!!

Aco was pretty docile during our day-trip through Portland. She did enjoy getting out at the riverfront and exploring. After we arrived back home (Mike and Kims) she enjoyed playing with Bently. He's a little too excited for her most of the time but I think she got used to his excitement and they played together some.

A great day exploring Portland and definitely someplace that I have hopes to return....