We ventured out of our comfort zone and decided to travel to uncharted territory for us.
Destination: Oregon
Both Ryan and I have been to Oregon before (Bend and Crater Lake) but we've never been to Portland or the Oregon Coast. So off we went!
We decided to break the drive to Portland into two days...our first stop was Boise, ID. We arrived right at rush hour, so downtown was pretty busy. We opted to grab some food at the market and picnic in a nearby park.
We're big on picnics...it saves us some serious cash with a big family!
The park is connected to the Boise Riverwalk on the Boise River.
There were fish, geese and we even saw a crane. For people who don't know the city well, we were lucky to stumble on such a nice park!
We decided to camp our first night outside of Boise at a little campground called Ten Mile. It was such a beautiful spot and so quiet!
We camped right along side a river.
Oatmeal for breakfast!
The next day we left Boise to finish making our way to Portland.
We took a lunch stop in Baker City, Oregon at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. A pretty neat museum detailing everything the pioneers went through. It was really interesting, plus it's located at the very top of a hill and you get an amazing view of the actual Oregon trail and the town below.
I won't lie, the drive to Portland seemed to take forever!!
But we made it. We went straight to the city to find some dinner, plus we booked a hotel that night in the city as well...so downtown it was! We were not a fan of our hotel in the city though...we had to pay to park (and it was not even a secure lot, someone had their car broken into recently), the pool wasn't heated, the staff weren't very helpful, and the breakfast was just okay, and being in the city is just plain loud when trying to sleep. I think we would have been better off out of town. However, the kids had a ball, they didn't care about the pool water (swam their little hearts out!) and breakfast was awesome to them. I love their attitudes!
The next morning we visited Powell's Bookstore. I knew this was going to be a big bookstore, but wow, it is HUGE! It takes up an entire city block and it's several stories...they even have maps of the store so you can find your way around! We really loved it and could have easily spent hours there!
Trying to navigate a suburban in a busy city with small streets is pretty challenging (especially when you can't see out the back window because of all our bags and camping gear). So when we found a parking spot we left it and walked everywhere and didn't dare try to re park!
We decided to head over to VooDoo doughnuts after the bookstore and see what the hype is all about.
There was a little bit of a line, but it moves fast. And yes, they have all kinds of crazy doughnuts to chose from. And yes, they're pretty good. But between you and me...I wasn't that blown away. The doughnuts at the market next to our house I think are way better. But, now we can say we've been there, ha!
Haley said as we were walking around the city, "This town is great, except everyone's homeless and it smells like pee." and then right after, "I would love to live here!" She is a city girl, that's for sure!
After doughnuts we walked to the market to pick up some food for lunch and then drove to Forest Park, which I'll leave for another post.
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