Oregon vacation days 1 & 2: Travel and Portland

We left for Portland on August 4th. Our flight out was uneventful (LOVE the Austin airport) and we arrived on Saturday night around 7pm PST. 

YAY, vacation time!

The great Salt Lake from the plane

After getting off the plane, Evie started saying “do something cool! do something cool!” -- so much for her being tired!  She did pass out in the rental car on the way to our hotel, but woke up soon after we checked in and cried for food until our room service arrived.  We were all starving... bad planning on our parts!  We hadn’t eaten since lunch, a couple hours before we arrived at the airport.  We all went to sleep with full bellies.  Evie even slept in the complimentary pack and play for a few hours before waking up and getting into bed with us. Our hotel was really nice and they took good care of us!

The Benson Hotel

We were all up around 8am on Sunday.  I ventured out to find coffee while Scott bathed Evie and dressed them both.  We were staying in the Pearl District of Portland, which was conveniently located in walking distance of everywhere we wanted to go.  I enjoyed the walk, the sights, and the crisp morning air.  There weren’t many people around, and most everything was closed.  I noticed a TON of food trailers: way more than I’ve ever seen in Austin! 

Stumptown coffee, mmmm

I made my way back eventually and we all went to breakfast at Kenny and Zuke’s Deli.  I had some delicious eggs benedict with pastrami.  Scott and Evie ordered way too much french toast. It was all delicious!  After that, we walked over to Powell’s bookstore:  the largest bookstore IN THE WORLD. It was awesome. Unfortunately, we had a two year old with us and couldn’t spend as much time there as we would’ve liked.  But given the amount of money we spent there, it’s probably a good thing we were only able to stay for an hour.

Kenny and Zuke's for breakfast

Powell's Books

inside Powell's Books

For lunch, we met up with a friend of Scott’s at a place called Le Bistro Montage.  The food was excellent!  We tried to head to the Rose Test Garden afterwards, but google maps sent us astray and Evie fell asleep in the car anyhow.  We thought it best to head to Rockaway Beach and check into our hotel.

Lunch at Le Bistro Montage

The drive to Rockaway Beach was about two hours, most of which was through the Tillamook forest.  Talk about gorgeous!  Trees everywhere that stood higher than we could crane our necks to see.  It really was an awesome sight to behold. 

Stopped to get pictures of Queen Anne's lace for my mom and stretch our legs

Forests and farms

The closer we got to the coast, the cooler it got.  We experienced a drop of 30 degrees in a matter of hours: from 98 degrees (unseasonably warm in Portland, but nothing we weren’t used to!) to 68!  The beach was very foggy when we arrived, and didn’t clear until a couple hours later, after we’d settled in and unpacked.  We were all very pleased with our accomodations and our fabulous view!  We made our way to a seafood restaurant for dinner: Evie and I had some fresh fish and chips.  Yum!  We headed to the town market after for food for the house.  We picked up a few things, but the store was very small and picked over, so we only got snack foods at waffles for breakfast.

We have arrived!