Taking Time to Smell the Roses...

and other explorations!

Yesterday was a visit to Powell's, the iconic full block bookstore here in Portland. It is a bibliophile's dream come true and we all left with treasures! Adelaide found a groovy vintage shop across the street and acquired even more gems. We traversed the city and stopped at Deadstock coffee roasters for late afternoon refreshment. They offer an iced drink of sweet tea and coffee. It is unusual, but strangely addicting. If we find ourselves back in that area during store hours, we would definitely repeat the experience. Dinner was on the patio (sidewalk) of Deschutes Brewery  Portland Public House. This place was hopping! They had a soup of the moment on the menu. John joked with the server and asked him a couple times what the soup was since the moment had passed. Isaac was not amused! It is hard to be a teen out with the parents sometimes!

We are staying at a Residence Inn and they have such an inviting space in their courtyard. I have been taking my breakfast out there in the mornings and it has been a relaxing and pleasant way to begin the day.  Today Adelaide and I tackled the TriMet public transportation. We bought a day pass which allowed us on both the downtown streetcars and the light rail. To my surprise, we never once had our ticket checked, nor did anyone else. We traveled to Washington Park where we spent a couple of hours at the International Rose Test Garden. The roses were simply spectacular. Some fragrant, some not. Some large and showy, and some small and dainty. The colors abounded. In the afternoon, I swapped children and Isaac and I made our way to Ground Kontrol, a good old fashioned video arcade! We partnered during an Alien inspired game and had great fun. We played a few Namco games, some Star Wars games, and pinball. I played a game similar to Pacman called Ladybug in which parts of the walls can be levered open and I got high score! Isaac thinks it is because no one ever plays it. Sigh. I think he is probably correct. Our day ended with takeout Chinese in the courtyard with an innovative game of Catan. The lack of mosquitos and mild temps make outdoor activities quite pleasurable.