Trip to Oregon {part four}

One day we headed into Portland to sightsee.  We parked at my aunt's house and walked to the train station to ride that into downtown.  Katie got a little bored waiting for the train to arrive.

It was her first time on a train.

Our first stop was Powell's book store (can you tell what's most important to me?)

It's a book store that takes up an entire city block.

Books for days...I was in heaven.  I loved that they had used books mixed in so you could choose what copy you wanted to buy.  The books I bought were all used and in great condition for a fraction of the new book cost. Best bookstore ever!

They had a fun children's section too which Katie loved.

We bought food from the popular food carts lining the streets.

My yummy pulled pork sandwich, brunswick stew, and moon pie.  

Jana had pad thai and it was equally delicious.

We also stopped at this fun little ice cream shop that has unique flavors.  Jana had eaten here before and wanted me to try it.

All the ice cream was amazing!  Mexican chocolate, honey lavender, caramel with salted dark chocolate, and more.  We were so full by this point though that it was hard to enjoy it and we had to leave a few bites so we wouldn't be sick.  Katie slept through this part so she didn't get to try the ice cream.

They live in such a cute town so the next couple days we shopped and explored Salem a little more.  Katie loved the carousel.

at the Willamette River

It was such a beautiful day!  I loved the autumn colors.

Jana taught me how to make sushi.

We are certainly not experts but it tasted good!!

Our last day we ate lunch at The Wild Pear with Shalyse and Lulu.  Such good food and even better company!!

Oregon may have turned Katie into a tree-hugger. :)

We also spent some time lounging on the couch watching TV.

Jana had a couple DIY projects she wanted me to help her with including this bench we reupholstered.

She wanted to give these patio chairs a facelift.

I thought the chairs and the bench both turned out really cute.

Katie sandwich!!

getting pampered by Aunt Jana (she loves having her nails painted)

hot chocolate and dessert on our last night in Salem

Before we knew it, our visit was over and it was time to head home, boo.  Because of a flight change and delay, we had a super-long six-hour layover in Denver.  Not fun with a two-year old, but we survived.  Katie pushed the stroller all over the airport, we ate snacks, rode the moving walkways a thousand times, and she actually took about a one hour nap too.  

The best part was getting to see my wonderful friend, Lauren, and her little guy, McKay, for a couple hours.  They live in Denver and graciously came to see us while we were stuck at the airport.  It was so fun to see her and spend some time talking.  We had a late but good flight home to Houston.  A really nice guy sitting next to Katie entertained her the entire flight.  He let her cover his arms with stickers, made funny faces at her till she was laughing hysterically, and showed her pictures of his kids on his phone.  I was thankful we didn't sit by some crabby kid-adverse person since it was pretty late and Katie was tired.  That man was heaven-sent. 

Jacob was there to meet us with these beautiful flowers and it was wonderful to be reunited!  He's the best.

We had an amazing trip and I can't wait to go back!