Trip to Portland

Portland is an awesome city - and we only got to spend one (rainy) day doing true sightseeing, so you know we have to go back. Soon!

But until we do, I thought you might want to see some shots from our quick trip out there.

Check this out:


I know it's Austin's theme, but I'm all for spreading it around!

The trip was the scene of quite a few firsts.

This is Baby's first trip on Public Transportation!! I dearly hope and pray this will become a commonplace activity for her some day in the not-so-distant future. But for now, it's an event:


Doesn't she look ready to go?

This was a proud day for me - Baby's First Falafel!


There was a "Saturday Market" that lasted until Sunday, and besides interesting artisanal wares, they had fantastic food carts. They had everything! Coleman decided between Cousin's BBQ and a fish and chips place for his lunch (verdict: fish and chips), while I split my lunch purchase between Horn of Africa and Beirut Cafe. Super sweet! As a result, Cora also sampled hummus, tzatziki, and tabouli for the first time. Oh yeah.

She also, on a less healthy-habit forming note, had her first taste of doughnuts. We waited in line for 45 MINUTES to get the much touted offerings of Voodoo Doughnuts, as seen below.


Those are the heads of all the people in front of us. And this is after we turned the corner.

If you can see it, there is a little doughnut voodoo man with actual pins in him:


It was good - very good - but 45 minutes for some doughnuts? And that's in the middle of the day! I was told I didn't want to see it first thing in the morning. I had the Portland Original or Portland Creme or something. It said it was "Portland's Official Doughnut." I figured - hey, when in Rome...

Coleman had a doughnut with chocolate frosting, crumbled Oreo pieces, and peanut butter drizzle. I can't tell you the name of it: this is a family-friendly blog. :o)

They are also famous for their doughnuts that have cereal on them (Froot Loops, Captain Crunch, etc.) and their doughnut with maple frosting and a slice of bacon on it. Yikes. I wasn't planning on letting her eat any of the doughnuts, but my dad told me to give her a little and tell her it was from Granddaddy Steve. I gave her a couple of pinches from the inside, unfrosted part of mine. I think that was a nice compromise.

Since it was raining all day, we were limited in our choices. However, one of the coolest things we did was to tour the Lan Su Chinese Garden - a beautiful natural space tucked right in the middle of downtown Portland. See? You can see how close the buildings are.




Apparently, Lan Su is "a 2,000-year-old tradition that melds art, architecture, design, and nature in perfect harmony." Our tour guide was native Chinese, and was very knowledgeable. She was fantastic - explaining what the plants were, what they symbolized in Chinese culture, why they were planted where and how they were, and she even read us Chinese poetry (in Chinese, but then she translated) to help us understand how important some of these scenes and arrangements were. Loved it!

See how serene and lovely it is?


The furthest, largest building in the picture above is a tea house where we had green tea and listened to some beautiful, live music. We have since called it "authentic" Chinese music, but what do we know? It seemed authentic to us...






This is the zig zag path, which is meant to slow you down and force you to look around you and contemplate the beauty you see. You can't hurry down a crooked path, can you?




This is the scholar's courtyard.


And this is the scholar's study.


Right near the door, they have planted plum trees - the only trees to blossom in winter. They are to give hope. In fact, three plants are often planted or portrayed together - plum, bamboo, and pine - collectively known as the Three Friends of Winter. Says the garden, "The plum braves the cold of winter to blossom; the pine stays green throughout winter; and the bamboo bends in winter storms, but does not break." All this is to remind the scholar to persevere. Good advice!

This plant - can't remember, a banana plant?? - is planted right outside the scholar's window to remind him (I'd say "him or her," but who are we kidding?) where he came from. When the scholar is young and his family is struggling to put him through school (instead of him going to work to help support the family), he cannot afford paper. So he uses the leaves from this plant to practice his writing, then wipes them clean, washes them, and uses them again. Reduce, reuse, and recycle, yeah! But it is visible through his window so that in his later, more prosperous circumstance, he is reminded of this hardship and sacrifice, and is kept humble.


All throughout the garden, you find things from nature, but on a smaller scale. As they tell it, "Scholars aspired to be hermits in the mountains, surrounded by nature. Since affairs of state and family required living in the city, nature was brought to them" - only smaller.

Trees pruned in miniature:


(Mom, I took this one for you. I think it's an azalea, but now I'm forgetting...)

Meant to show majestic mountains and waterfalls...


Just on a more manageable scale...


We thought it would be funny if Cora stood next to the miniature trees, making her look like a giant by comparison.


It didn't exactly work like we thought, but as you can see, she enjoyed it!

Everything is perfectly placed and framed to make beautiful and balanced scenes.






This is designed to show balance - yin and yang - where one half of the view through this frame is full (left) and the other is empty (right). Balance.



I think the angle in the second one shows it better.

And these are just some fun ones of us in the garden:



Daddy points...


Cora points...





And this is just some random elephant sculpture that we ran across on our walk to Powell's Bookstore (also fantastic, by the way, and an excellent rainy day activity...if only Cora could remember that books are for reading, not eating...).




She loved sitting up there, though this picture doesn't do her joy justice. The one below shows a little bit more of her rowdiness.


Lots of fun, and we're already trying to figure out when we can return.