A Beautiful Day in Portland, OR

Last week on Sunday, June 13, Ben and I had a "free day" in Portland. We were parked at a truck stop right next to a bus stop for the city transit system. We inquired to one bus driver how much an all-day pass would cost, and he gave us a deal for $5 total for the both of us! Off we went into downtown...

Our first stop was Pioneer Square, to check out the Visitor's Center and plan our day. We then took the Max to the Portland Zoo, which proceeded to give us so much joy--watching the otters and the polar bears was worth the admission price! Here are some photos of the zoo animals:

Bobcat:

Hippopotamus:

Black Bear:

Polar Bear:

Bald Eagles:

Check out our little video of the polar bear having fun with his "toy", a plastic bin with a hole torn in it (caution, it is quite loud):




Next was a visit to Old Town, the haunted pizza joint near Chinatown.

We also visited the Rose Test Garden, a place where 10,000 blooms can be seen and smelled, where hybrids reign and a "Rose Queen" is crowned every year. We were a week past the peak of the blooms, but they were still so beautiful and fragrant!


Then we took a walk along the river, where the Rose Festival was finishing up its weeklong celebration. A stop at somebody's #1 on a top ten list of Irish pubs (Kell's Irish Restaurant) was our last escapade before heading back to the truck stop. A full--and extremely fun--day! Portland isn't always this beautiful with great weather, so we really lucked out!


We look forward to the next time we'll have another "free day" in Portland, but if the weather is crummy, we'll just head to Powell Books then (as the gentleman at the Visitor's Center said, "It's like Barnes & Noble, on steroids).



Right now we're at one of the terminals near Chicago. We've had a great week of miles, but I don't know exactly how many as I write this post. From here, we're heading to eastern Pennsylvania, and from there? Who knows! They keep us busy, and we're loving it--goodbye, debt! We're going to kick another credit card to the curb by the end of next week!

Have a great week, everyone! God bless you!