Refresher: Project Explore Washington is my way of getting the kids “travel ready” by taking mini trips to destinations in our area for a night or two. The first trip was to my step siblings cabin in Crystal Mountain in an attempt to give the kids a taste of winter.
I declared, to a super excited husband, that our second trip should be to Portland because it’s not too far and my lovely ex-daycare-assistant-who-I-wish-was-my-age-so-we-could-be-best-friends-even-though-I’m-friends-with-her-on-Facebook-and-can-tell-she’s-a-lot-more-drunk-than-she-portrays-herself-to-be-in-real-life lives there.
It’s an easy three hour drive from Seattle with plenty of river and fields of cattle to look at. It’s even easier if your two year old loves to sit in his car seat for three hours. Ours does not. It’s also easier if you have a bag of suckers to keep yappy children quiet. We did not.
It’s even more easier if your husband doesn’t have to drive and read directions while you finish your book, but he’ll survive.
I also chose Portland because every year at this time they have something called The Rose Festival which celebrates the Pacific Northwest with parades and concerts and a carnival on the waterfront every year from late May to mid June. My sister and her family agreed to join us and our quaint mini vacay turned into a family event.
Our hotel was smack dab in the city and just a few scenic blocks away from the waterfront festival.
Seriously. When will I learn that carnivals are not my thing? I suppose it was fine, but there were torrential downpours the night before and we were literally squeezing our way through clouds in a thick mess of mud.
We all decided we could live in Portland. It’s like Seattle’s cleaner big sister. The one who showers. We all have one right? Anyways, great big green leafy trees line the large open roadways,
trolley’s make their rounds at stops all over the city and take you to any destination within X number of miles for free, and it is far less crowded. As we rode I dreamt of biking through the city ala Anne of Green Gables while The Men worked on figuring out how to get us as far away from food as possible for dinner.
The best part of the trip was watching the girls navigate their way through a mirror maze in a Fun House. To my delight they ran head first into glass at least three times. We couldn’t stop laughing.
The worst part of the trip was that time I watched Kainoa sink to the bottom of the pool…and the drive home…and wandering around the city at 8 o clock at night looking for dinner.
Those aside, I hereby deem the trip a resounding success.
And we never did see my lovely ex-daycare-assistant-who-I-wish-was-my-age-so-we-could-be-best-friends-even-though-I’m-friends-with-her-on-Facebook-and-can-tell-she’s-a-lot-more-drunk-than-she-portrays-herself-in-real-life.
All the more reason to go again.