Greg and I took a week off from work last week to take a couple road trips and spend time together.
We started the first weekend off on Saturday with going to see Teen Titan's Go To The Movies (it's awful, don't see it) and out for lunch.
On Sunday Morning, we got up and hit the road with Road Trip #1: Portland! Ben is on a mission to visit as many states as he can, so we figured we would knock one off the list.
Road trip ready:
Ben is a road trip CHAMP. He never complains and is always happy to be in the car. This license plate game we got him for Christmas has been a huge hit and on this trip we saw 47/50 license plates!
Our first stop was in Hood River at pFriem Family Brewers for lunch and a tasting. Their beers were delicious!
Afterwards, we hit the park across the street on the river for approximately 11 minutes because it was over 100 degrees and we were ready to check in and hit our hotel pool.
On the drive into Portland, we stopped at another winery that had been recommended to us. The wines weren't our favorite, but the vineyard views were on point:
Drunk:
We decided to get Salt & Straw Ice Cream for dinner. This was a must on my to do list. Despite having 2 locations in Seattle now (and one to come soon to Totem Lake (aka way too close to us), I had never been. The company started in Oregon and I was so happy to finally try it. It didn't disappoint, IMO.
I had a scoop of Cinnamon Snickerdoodle and a scoop of Birthday Cake with Blackberry Jam. OMG.
We opted for a hotel on the river in Portland with an outdoor pool instead of a twice-the-price hotel downtown with no pool, and it was a GREAT DECISION. The temps were HOT that weekend, and it was so fun to have a pool to escape to! I'd recommend this place. The restaurant on site was good, too.
We spent the rest of the day swimming with Ben and watching him make friends at the pool :)
River view from the pool area:
On Monday morning we got up, worked out, had coffee on the deck and then went downtown for breakfast:
Ben's new breakfast request when we go out: Bacon and hash browns. He was happy here:
Next up we went downtown to the city square to wander around. There were a bunch of food tents up (on a Monday?) which resulted in Ben and Greg getting ice cream right after breakfast. #vacationmode
Unfortunately, we didn't really find anything else we wanted to do downtown! We were going to hop on a trolley tour, but we missed the time we wanted. We didn't feel like doing a museum. Ben did find a $5 bill on the floor in Starbucks, which thrilled him, so I let him buy ANOTHER treat with his money.
With nothing else on the agenda, and it being another HOT day, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool!
In the evening, we went to Breakside Brewery for a tasting and a few rounds of UNO before dinner.
Next up was Nostrana for dinner - a beautiful Italian restaurant that had been recommended to us. After being sat at our table, we discovered it was not quite as kid-friendly as we had imagined...
Food wise it was fine for him (pizza and pasta), but the service was "fancy", it was pretty quiet, and there wasn't a single kid there aside from Ben. Oops. He also promptly spilled his water across the table as soon as it was given to him. And 4 waiters came to clean it up.
Despite a rocky start, it was a good meal! Definitely one I would have preferred to linger over with Greg and a good bottle of wine instead of our "let's eat fast and get the hell out of here" mindset!
This is how you get through a meal sometimes (videos on the phone):
We also stopped outside the pretty exterior of the restaurant and asked a stranger to take our picture. We were dressed up and somewhat coordinated, so it had to be done!
And it's most likely going to be coming to you on our 2018 Christmas Card :)
When we went back to the hotel that night, the boys hit the pool to swim until it closed down while I read my book the room.
This is important to note, because the next morning as we were about to load our stuff in the car, Greg discovered he didn't have his car keys. We had already packed, so we unpacked, packed again, searched the car, unpacked again, packed again, and still didn't have them. He checked the pool area and the front desk - no keys. We knew we had had them because he drove us to dinner and back....a MYSTERY.
Luckily, I had my set of keys with me. Which I rarely do (and will always do going forward)!
The good news is that the hotel found them and shipped them to us the next morning :) He had been using the bottle opener on his keys to open beers at the pool. Classic.
Last breakfast in Portland:
On our day between vacations, we went bowling with Sammy and Sully!
Road Trip #2 was to Suncadia (but more specifically, Roslyn/Ronald, WA) to spend 2 nights at a vacation rental with the Cougans!
The highlights (and low points):
- Drinking wine
- Going in the hot tub
- Reading
- Watching THOR (Pepper's and Greg's favorite movie)
- Grilling meat
- Playing at the park at Suncadia
- Recovering from too much wine
- Making a berry crisp
- Slumber party for the boys
- Playing games and legos
- Trying Roslyn Village Pizza (amazing)
- Pepper rage-breaking Rachel's iPhone
On Saturday we got home, went to Costco, did laundry, and relaxed.
On Sunday, we went to the park, I finished my second book of the week, had ice cream for lunch (again) and prepared to go back to work.
Back to the grind!
