Portland whirlwind

We went to Portland for 32 hours this weekend. Jeff had a foreign language teachers' conference to attend so the rest of us tagged along just like last year (in Wenatchee) to enjoy his free hotel room, swim in the hotel pool, and get a taste of city life. The teacher conference started on Thursday night, but Jeff was busy coaching his last middle school cross country meet at the same time, so we didn't leave for Portland until early Friday morning. By early, I mean we got up at 4am and rolled out at 4:45am to drive the 3ish hours to Portland in time for the 8am start time of the conference. We dropped Jeff off at the hotel just before 8am and then had seven hours to play before we could check in to the hotel. It was hard because we were already tired when we started! But we stopped at Target for an adventure treat (the kids picked tootsie pops), found the light rail train station, parked the van, packed our lunch into the bottom of the stroller, bought train tickets, and eventually boarded the train. Let the metropolitan adventure commence! Our destination was the Oregon Zoo in downtown Portland. It was a 50 minute train ride from where we parked near the hotel.

Waiting for the train. When the train came, I realized we were facing the wrong direction, so we had to cross the tracks and wait for another train. Keeping Amber off of the tracks during that time was a bit of a stressful challenge.

The weather was undecided and fitful, switching between rain, sun, and wind (sometimes all three at once) throughout the day.

In preparation for this trip, I bought three umbrellas from Goodwill. We don't get enough rain in our area to have umbrellas, and Jay and Rose were very excited about their thrifty umbrellas. It was a tad dangerous at times, the way they wielded those things!

The kids were ecstatic about riding a train for the first time. It was fun to watch them experience it and relish the newness. First, there were lots of exclamations and intent window-gazing. Then they got used to it and acted like seasoned public transit-riders, eventually even walking around some while the train rolled along. 

Excitement, anyone?

Relaxation

 At last we arrived at the ZOO! The last time we went to this zoo, Jay was 2.5 years old and Rose was not quite one yet. And we had Jeff with us! This time around it was me and three kids. It was fun but it also took a whole lot of vigilance to keep everyone from getting lost or eaten by bears. And my sense of direction is nothing compared to Jeff. We circled the primate loop at least three times before we found our way out, and we had to wander around in search of Africa for way too long. It didn't help that there was a lot of construction going on and barricades were blocking some signs, but still. It was hard for me to be the responsible adult when I just wanted to run around squealing and taking pictures of elephants all day. We stayed at the zoo for three entire hours, leaving around 1pm and catching a train that delivered us back to our van by 2pm.

I put Amber in her snowsuit for the first half of our zoo visit because it was wet and she falls a lot and I didn't want to be stuck an hour away from our car with a freezing wet one year old. I love kids in snowsuits. Those chunky swishy little legs pumping all over the place are adorable!

 Amber the eaglet!

My favorites were the elephants. They are so peaceful and calm, walking around on their padded feet.

I tried getting a picture of all three kids in front of the elephants, but they were quite overstimulated and exhausted by that point, so I was unsuccessful.

Can you believe that guy? Awesome.

Rose said her favorite animals were the giraffes. She decided to make a growling face for the picture.

Feeling tired on our way out, Jay climbed upon a rocky mountain goat statue to rest.

How sad and cute and tired are they? Draped on the goat in fatigue!

I made the mistake of saving the official zoo entrance picture for the end of the visit. Nobody was in the mood.

Those faces! Haha!

Waiting for the train. This is one of my top three favorite pictures from the whole weekend.

On the train ride back to our van, I quickly discovered that train rides during naptime are not easy. Amber was all OVER the place. I pulled out our adventure treats: Tootsie Pops to the rescue! Except Amber got incredibly sticky and started attacking everyone in the vicinity. We barely made it back to our van.

Amber fell asleep within 3 minutes of being buckled into her carseat. I googled directions to a park near-ish to the hotel, and we drove there to while away the last hour before hotel check-in. Fernhill Park was absolutely gorgeous. I hung out somewhat near the van while Amber slept and the big kids played.

The sleep of the exhausted child: Amber never sleeps through people getting out of the van, but she had a wonderful hour long nap in the quiet side street next to Fernhill park. Thank goodness! Being a nomad is tough on nap routines.

This street perpendicular to the park captured my heart with its tree-lined median and funky old houses with garages in their basements.

A word about footwear: I do not take it lightly. I adore shoes, but I only own a select few pairs because I am PICKY and must have the greatest ratio of comfort to style possible in every pair of shoes I own (except my Crocs--they're all comfort and convenience with zero cuteness). These Keen boots were perfect for exploring wet, chilly Portland. Supportive but not restrictive, waterproof, and rather cute, if I must say so myself. I have had them for a few years now and they're still going strong! Mmm, boots make me so happy. And those colorful leaves scattered around them in an artistic way was all Mother Nature, painting her autumnal pictures.

At 3pm (laaa! magical check-in time at the hotel!) it was starting to drizzle again so we loaded up, went back to the hotel, and texted Jeff "let us in!" He was in the middle of workshops and discussions with his phone on silent, and we received no reply. Trying my best NOT to feel peeved and misused in my exhausted state, I rallied and we went to Ikea to while away the next 90 minutes or so till the conference adjourned for the day at 5pm. Ikea on zero energy is like running a marathon without training for it. We were all so tired! We walked through the entire maze winding through the store, only pausing a few times to stock up on scrubby brushes, plastic dishes, and markers. Running on fumes, we emerged from the maze of Ikea into a torrential downpour that didn't start until we were halfway across the gargantuan parking lot. And I could not find our van ANYWHERE. We wandered up, down, and across rows for what felt like forever, all the while being pelted by a torrent of fat, cold raindrops. At last I located our vehicle and we climbed our wet tired bodies in. It was a low point. I did not want to drive back to the hotel to have Jeff be deaf to our pleas again. We needed FOOD (our 11am sandwiches and apples were long gone! So were our 1pm, 2pm, and 3pm snacks!). I risked calling Jeff and he ANSWERED! So we went back and got him and he drove us to get a giant Costco pizza and take it back to the hotel room, whereupon we devoured that entire giant cheesy za while watching an extended Harry Potter movie on TV.

Next up: bedtime circus. It took close to an hour and a half for everyone to stop running around, wrestling, and destroying the hotel room and go to sleep. We ended up tipping over two armchairs to box Amber in underneath the table. She did NOT like the arrangement, but we were at our wit's end! Eventually she fell asleep, after some comforting snuggling with Daddy in her cavern. Jeff and I passed out soon after.

Saturday, October 15th: Day #2. Hotel life: cartoons in bed early in the morning, then swimming in the pool. Even after their long day yesterday, the kids were all up and at 'em by 6am Saturday morning. We don't have any TVs in bedrooms at home, so it was a special treat for them to lie in bed watching cartoons, and they lived it UP. Then we made toast (I brought bread and our toaster), said goodbye to Jeff, and got ready to swim! Amber did fall into the hot tub face first at one point, but I fished her our as fast as I could, and she doesn't seem to have any fluid on her lungs, thankfully.

After the long swim, I coached the kids through bathing and dressing, then showered and dressed myself. We gathered everything up, and after a confusing text-a-thon with Jeff, I hoisted his bag, clothes on a hanger, and our heavy food bag along with my own backpack and purse, got the kids all backpacked up (Amber too), and we hobbled out to the van in the pouring rain. I felt utterly drained and not in an adventurous frame of mind at all by this point. We decided to go on a quest for rain boots for the kids so we could take our umbrellas on a walk and do some puddle jumping. So I googled directions to Goodwill and after much winding and confusion, arrived at one of those nasty annoying Goodwill Outlet stores, where they dump the used items into giant troughs like pig slops and sell it by the pound. It was disgusting. I prefer my used items to at least be slightly more organized. We left quickly and checked Target, but I just had to say no to the $35 kids boots there. We gave up on our puddle jumping plan and started feeling some serious hunger pangs by that point. We drove around some more (I did not want to drive into downtown Portland--too much traffic and one-way streets for me!) and it was still pouring rain and windy. Eventually we landed at Red Robin, one of the only restaurants nearby. We went in and ordered lunch at 1pm, during Amber's naptime. We had to survive until Jeff's conference ended at 2:45pm. So I let the kids go to town on the bottemless chocolate milk. It was intense. Jay drank two whole glasses! We ate our fills and finally went to get Jeff. I slumped into the passenger seat and nearly cried with relief when he took the wheel.

Into the city! Jeff kindly asked me what I wanted to do, and of course my short list had Powell's Bookstore and A Taste of India food cart on it. So he dropped me off at Powell's, where I basked for half an hour before we circled around to the food carts. Rose came in to Powell's with me, but she ended up not being too happy about it once she saw that all I was going to do was look at books quietly to myself. It felt necessary to buy a Beverly Cleary book while I was in downtown Portland, so I got a Ramona book. I took a fangirl picture outside the store and then went to get that Indian food. Goa Curry! Yum! While I was standing in the chilly breeze waiting for the food (Jeff was circling in the van waiting), a guy asked me to be his girlfriend. I told him I was married, and his response still has me blazing mad. He asked me "well, do you just want to make out then?" I said NO and he walked away. I still wish I could've dreamed up some vicious rhetoric on the spot to roast that idiot, but I couldn't. He wasn't even your typical downtown Portland type--not a dreadlock in sight! I found it all very demeaning and insulting. Even the brusque Indian man in the food cart was rallying to my defense--at least I think he was--his accent was very difficult to decipher. The whole time I gripped my purse tightly, remembering the distract-and-grab tactic that worked on Jeff and me eight years ago in Switzerland when our bag was stolen. If that guy was a thief, he got nothing from me! So I left Portland feeling a tad disenchanted, but I do still like the place. I can't blame the entire city for one person's misconduct, I suppose. But I am happy to live in my small town! We drove home after that and pulled into our garage at 7:30pm, 32 hours after we left.

Amber got weepy half an hour from home and the only solution that worked was me cranking my shoulder back and torquing my spine to hold hands with her. Every time I tried to move, she gripped my hand even tighter. It was darling, but I wish I could've been comfier so I could enjoy it more!

Rose lasted all the way till Mabton (20 minutes from home) before falling asleep.

Home sweet bed.