We parked at Portland State University and first walked around the Portland Farmer's Market held at the park blocks there. We bought some rhubarb and fava beans and enjoyed seeing how much money we were saving because most of the other things there we can get from our own backyard - berries, greens, carrots, peony flowers, home pickled beets and brown eggs ($7 a dozen at the market!). I especially enjoyed sampling the kimchi and the goat cheeses.
After a delicious Mexican pastry from the market we headed towards the waterfront and I had fun pointing out my old apartment building to the girls and showing them my old route to work at a ad agency downtown. We stopped for Yumm bowls and continued the long walk to the waterfront. Once there we watched the dragon boat races, enjoyed chocolate covered frozen bananas and wandered through the rose festival. We also enjoyed seeing all the beautiful parade floats up close. We met up with my sister and walked along the Navy ships which were docked for fleet week and then wandered over to the Portland Saturday Market, a huge outdoor market full of handmade art and other crafts. We ended up in front of the world famous Voodoo Donuts but decided against waiting in the hour long line. For the mile long walk back to our car we stopped at Pioneer Courthouse Square for Starbucks using gift cards we've saved, and at a couple fun fountains and parks along the way. By this time it was 6 pm and the kids were getting hungry so we stopped in a park near the Portland Art Museum and for $6.50 we fed four kids dinner (a shared Subway sandwich and chips brought from home).
Poor little Silas hates to miss any action and he skipped his early afternoon nap so that he could people watch instead. He refused to lay back in his stroller because he couldn't see anything but he finally just couldn't keep his eyes open any longer and fell asleep sitting up once we were almost back to the car.
How fun to be brave and adventurous! Precious family memories:)
ReplyDelete