portland.....part 1

portland......part 1

finally, some pictures from my trip to portland, oregon. i've considerably narrowed down the pictures to give ya a little overview. and since i tried my hardest to pack a lot in the 5 days i was there, i will be breaking my trip up into a few parts. starting with the first few days, i will then expand on the rest in another post and leave the foodie stuff to a post in itself. so here goes....

day #1
arrive wednesday early afternoon

mama picked me up at the airport and then we headed over to meet up with sister for lunch. after that mama still needed to get some work done, so we went to her house to rest for the remainder of the day. mama lives on sauvie island right outside portland. pretty much once you drive over the bridge you hit kruger's farm (pictured above).

so you know we had to stop to pick up some yummy foods.

next stop was mama's house where i admired her peas growing in a container on her deck.

then i sat and enjoyed the view while mama finished working for the day.

when mama was done working, we took a drive around the island and spotted some sheep and,

kite surfers.
(we skipped the clothing optional beach)

day #2
thursday: mama and sister at work
on my own for the day

after drinking a strawberry shake and eating a "dutch taco" the night before, i decided i really needed to do some walking, so i got up a bit early and took a long walk around st. johns where sister lives. i admired all the folks doing the edible landscapes. grass bad, veggies good.

check out that squash!!!!!!

sweet buddha belly.

then i hit the public transportation, and at the recommendation of my super cool bus driver, went to check out the rose gardens.

purple rose!!!! i love it!!!!

from there you can see the mountains. mount hood maybe???

then i enjoyed some peaceful time at the japanese gardens.

aahhh.... so relaxing.

and so pretty.

then sister picked me up at the gardens and we headed to voodoo donuts since the guy i met at lunch said it was a must.

maple and bacon bar.
yummy!!!!

then we headed back out to mama's to enjoy a concert at kruger's farm. (see auntie, mama uses her pack you made).

everyone having a good time at the farm.

local organic beer.....gooood!

me and the mama enjoying a hay ride.

again.....relaxing.

i could totally live there!!!!!

good idea.... set the yard birds loose in the greenhouse to eat the bugs and amend the soil.

this piggie is tired.

day #3
friday: meeting up with my friend guen and her family for a day out and then a sleepover.

mama picked me up that morning and i headed out with her to the sand in the city sand carving competition. mama was carving with a team from her work.

isobel enjoying lunch out with the girls.
after lunch, guen, isobel, and i walked around portland for a bit, hit a little water park and had ice cream, went back to check in on mama at the sand carve, took isobel to her swim lesson, checked out the new season grocery store, and then topped the day off at guen's groovy house for a super lamb dinner and pounded down some sangria before hitting the hay. that makes me tired all over again just thinking about it.

well that's all for now. it's getting late and gotta get up in the morning for a half day at work, then lots of gardening and house cleaning to do before i pick ray up at the airport tomorrow evening.

p.s. the in ground tomatoes survived just fine while i was away on both vacations, however, the container tomatoes are leaving something to be desired (well that is my polite way of saying they are utter crap) and are being pulled from their pots this weekend to make way for some fall garden planting.