After our two nights in the Deschutes NF, we drove north to spend time with our friends in Portland, OR. Spencer and Annah were gracious enough to host us for the second time in less than a year. They now have a beautiful home nestled under some huge sequoias in the southwest corner of the city. An unexpected bonus, was that Brad Buckelew was also in town the same week and also staying at S&A's place. He quickly became Hudson and Sybil's favorite playmate.
We spent most of our time catching up with old friends and sleep. Here are some of the highlights!
Our first visit was with Chuck and Harriet and their two kids. They invited us out to the Portland Children's Museum and an early dinner afterwards. As Chuck said, "it's awesome to think that we've known each other since kindergarten and now our kids hang out together." Perfectly said. There's something really special about long time friends.
Hud and I snuck away late morning during a Syb nap to have a trail run in Forest Park. Zilker is great, but this feels like a National Park in your city with endless miles of trials to explore.
Although it was a brief visit, we were able to stop in with Chelsea's family for dinner and SO MUCH PLAY! Her awesomely rambunctious brood of three quickly brought Sybil into the fold and were so gracious with sharing their toys and playing together.
As Tom Petty said, "It's time to move on. Time to get going..." Hud was clearly ready to head to Claire's beach house for the weekend.
Our first stop was at Pronto Pup. The home of the corn dog!
It was a beautiful day when we arrived, but the kids were tuckered from the drive and went down for naps giving Hud and me an opening to sneak out for a beach run. Over 4 miles of off leash smiles and chasing sea gulls.
Kids woke up. It's time for the beach!
Claire, Cara, and Claire's awesome beach house. Cara and the house were really repping their U.S.A. pride.
The next day, we went for a train ride with Sybil along the Oregon coast. It was a quick fun 30 minute ride between Garibaldi and Rockaway Beach, OR. Train ride combined with ice cream had Syb pretty pumped.
One of the views along HWY 101 north of Rockaway Beach
On our final day, Cara found another cool beach for us to explore. This is Oswald West State Park.
After some tidal pool hunting and exploring we headed back to the large beach. Since we didn't bring any beach toys, we asked some friendly strangers if we could borrow theirs. Sybil's favorite beach activity is to fill a bucket, completely to the top, with sand and water.
Our time in Oregon ended at the beach. We drove north the next day to spend a night with Deb and Chris in Seattle and pushed off the next day to head to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island to meet more good friends. Portland was a great reminder of how fortunate we are to have so many good friends in our lives. We can't express how much we appreciate and love you.
1 comment:
Our Pleasure sir. It is always a blast to catch up with you and we wouldn't have it any other way than to house you any time you're in town. Safe travels and we are already looking forward to the next time we get to hang out. Hugs and love. -Spencer & Annah
Post a Comment