Wednesday, July 11, 2007

to portland; or, why we love southwest airlines

We wandered to the great northwest over the weekend, specifically, Oregon. This was how Anders felt about another cross country flight after getting back from Hawaii less than a week before:
obviously über excited.

We were all excited about the pup having his own seat on the longer (5 hours) legs of the journey--thank you Southwest Airlines, we love you. We love your pre-boarding policies for families traveling with lap children, and we really love your passengers "select-a-seat" philosophy. Because really, who is going to select a seat near a couple with a kid for 5 hours? No one, that's who; and, that is just the way we like it.
Portland, Oregon is a fun city. Our motivation for going traveling again so soon after our big trip to Hawaii was the birthday of a very good friend. She was getting a surprise party, we wanted to join in on the fun.

After partying it up, we did a little exploring. We visited the International Rose Test Garden on the most popular day to get married (07.07.07) and saw more brides than you could shake a stick at. The Test Garden is great for many reasons. 1) There are roses (lots of them), 2) it's pretty, and 3) it's free. Free fun rates pretty high in our book. Aside from bridal parties, there was a young girl getting photographs for her Quinceañera, Anders liked the uniforms of her escorts(?).
In direct contrast to the hustle and bustle of the Rose Test Garden was the nearby Japanese Garden. It was peaceful, relaxing and truly incredible.

At the suggestion of one of the surprise party attendees, we made a trip to Cannon Beach.
This was a beach that even the Mama Seal could love.
But the pup loved the beach the most.

Aside from beach time fun, Cannon Beach is a great town to walk around, shop and, of course, eat.
Our lunch time destination was Cranky Sue's, because it's the home of great crab cakes. Truly.

It was the best meal we have had in quite some time (well, since Indigo in Hawaii).

And since we can't go anywhere without the Mama Seal going to a yarn shop, we stopped at the best one in the city.
And of course, we had to go to Powell's Books, because you have to do that when you go to Portland, Oregon.

It was a great trip. And we can not wait to go back some time!

2 comments:

indianshawls said...

nice blog

The "M" Family said...

Hey Nova,

I especially like the picture of Anderson in his diaper on the beach. It's too cute. You know, he actually looked excited to hold the yarn!!!