Oregon in the Rain

In May Kari and River and I took a trip to Oregon. Kari was traveling there to take classes for the birthing classes she teaches. I was tagging along with River to keep her company and so she could still breastfeed River in the mornings.
River did o.k. on the 6 hour airplane ride, but didn't take a nap. This made him cranky the last half hour of the flight, but when you are stuffed on a big 'ole flyin bus there is not much you can do. So we just had to let him cry a bit.

Waiting for the airplane

Asleep on the plane

We arrived in Portland and spent two nights in the city. We made it a point while we were there to eat at some original local restaurants and to do a little sight seeing. We spent the first evening just walking along the river a bit and recovering from flying.

On the River Front in Portland

Sitting in a swanky Portland restaurant

Our hotel room in Portland

The second day we had what we were told was a west coast staple for breakfast, Voodoo Donuts. I must say, they were pretty magnificent. We bought some groceries for the week and then made our way to the Rose Garden. It was a beautiful place and the roses were just beginning to bloom. It is entirely kept up by volunteers which was very impressive. Then we ate at a haunted pizza shop and went back to our hotel to relax a bit before going to the house of a girl Kari knew from a previous class she had taken. The girl lived right across the river from where we were staying. We had dinner there and she let us borrow a playpen, hiking pack, cooler, and some odds and ends that we couldn't fly with. Their family did a wonderful job of making us feel at home in a strange place. Thank you!!

Voodoo Donunts

Napping

Rose Garden

Smells like Roses

Playing in the fountain

A Haunted Pizza Shop
Looks like a few ghosts eating pizza!

A nap before going out again

The next day we traveled to the Columbia River Gorge, which is where the center was that Kari would be taking her classes. It was a beautiful place with a huge river, tall straight cliffs, beautiful waterfalls and vistas. We drove to an overlook and then checked into our room because her classes began that night.

The Columbia River Gorge

Hiking in the rain.

Bridalveil Falls

When will it stop raining dada?

The next 6 days River and I went on a series of adventures. I took him to the Children's Science Museum, hiking in the rain to waterfalls and gorges and up mountains, to the Forestry Museum, and to as many cool, unique restaurants we could find. We spent time napping together in the car, although it was quite a bit harder for me to fall asleep in the car that him. We simply just spent the days together. Kari's classes ran from early in the morning to late into the evening, so I took care of River most of the day. It was my time back with him since I spent so long away from him when I was in the academy. It was wonderful to be with my son again!

Childrens Science Museum

Getting soaking wet at the Science Museum. River loved it!

Expanding my mind

River had to go back to getting soaking wet

It rained every day we were in Oregon. Sometimes all day, sometime just in short spurts. All of the locals we met said that it never rained this many days in a row. I guess we brought the rain with us from Tennessee. At first I fought the rain and wetness. I was mad because every time I would try to go walking with River it would rain on us. Eventually I accepted the rain and being wet and just decided to continue on no matter what. You didn't mind it when you decided in your head to be ok with it. It made it a bit more of an adventure. And River didn't seem to mind being we either.

River sitting in the middle of a labrynth

Aw shucks!


There wasn't a bath tub in the room, so we had to put river in a rubermade tub.

It didn't seem to bother him at all!

Horsetail Falls

The view from the conference center. Majestic.

Multnomah Falls. Can you find Kari and River in the picture?

A scary bear

We took an adventure drive and just drove where our hearts took us. We turned out to be in Washington at one point.

Smell my feet!!
Kari all dressed up for class one day

River in a safari jeep inside the Forestry Museum.

Oneota Gorge

River and I hiked to the top of Multnomah Falls one day

River didn't mind being wet after a long hike in the pouring rain

All dry!

My favorite eatery in Portland! Cadillac Cafe!

When Kari was done with classes on the second to last day, we drove back to Portland and spent the evening there. Then the next morning, on the way out of town we went to Voodoo dounuts to finish our trip off right! Well, we thought so at least. When we got to our gate at the airport they told us our flight would be delayed a bit because of a mechanical issue. Then, it was delayed some more. And again some more. And so on and so on. Over 3 hours later they tell us they are just going to board us and fly and basically hope for the best. Yeah....we were thrilled. We missed our connecting flight and had to reschedule. We nearly missed our rescheduled connecting flight, and would have if we didn't run down the terminal in Dallas to our gate. But honestly, it was quite an adventure of a day in itself. River did great, even with all the delays and stress. We made it home alive and the best surprise of the day...our baggage was the first couple of bags out of the carousel! We were sure they wouldn't make it after all of the hooplah with the flights.
It was quite a trip! We had some time in the city, and it was a really cool city! We spent some time in the forest. And it was a very beautiful forest. Kari had a great time in her classes and learned a great deal of things to help her teach her birthing classes. River and I spent some great quality time together and got to explore every day.
Another successful Jenk Adventure!

River asleep and Kari's face of excitement when we find out our plane is delayed even more!

River happy to be home!