Oregon vacation days 7 and 8: Centralia Washington and back home

On Friday we found a great breakfast spot, then headed to the Monarch Sculpture Park in Tenino to meet up with my old friend Misse and her two boys: Jacob (5.5) and James (9 months).  It was a beautiful day and we had a nice time visiting, walking, and letting the kids play!  

After we’d seen everything at the park, we headed to another park in town to let the kids play some more.  We had a quick lunch at Burgerville (not bad for fast food) then said our goodbyes.  Evie slept the whole drive to Portland (2 hours), our final destination before returning home.

After arriving at the hotel, I took Evie swimming while Scott showered.  Our hotel in Portland was right near the airport and rental car drop off, so we dropped our car off after a wonderful meal at Good World Chinese Restaurant.  I normally do not like Chinese food (I prefer Japanese or Thai), but this was great!  Good enough to eat again the next day at 5am before we left for the airport, even.  We were not digging that early wakeup, but in the end it helped us readjust to our 2 hour time difference back home pretty quickly.

Evie's fortune on top, mine on bottom

The airport return trip was by far the worst part of our vacation, so maybe I should just leave that part out. ;)  We did make it on our flight (barely!) and home on time, and with all of our luggage, so it was ultimately a success!  Scott’s parents picked us up and took us to lunch.  It was nice getting home so early in the day and having a couple full days to recover before going back to work.

holding hands through the long airport lines

I’d said to Scott before leaving that I didn’t understand how people could return to the same vacation spot year after year when there’s so much world to explore.  However, we definitely look forward to returning to the pacific northwest!  Oregon is pretty big and there’s a lot more of it (and Washington) for us to see. :)  I am already thinking about another trip in the not so far future.