Blake and grandpa

Blake

Wild West Adventure September 2012

Tues. 9-4-12 Silver Inn Portland Oregon
Our adventure started last week when Dave and Joyce arrived at Cape Cod ready to take care of Crew.  Crew could not believe that Dave and Joyce who are our friends our Marathon, were able to find him all the way north in Cape Cod !!
We had a late flight Fri. arriving in Portland Oregon at 11:00 PM, but 2:00 AM our time. Sat. we were up and so excited to see Barre, David, Blake and Cade.  Our hotel was only two quick walking blocks away.  We spent the day exploring downtown Portland including the fun huge Saturday market.  Saturday night following dinner at Barre's, we headed to a park to play with the kids and Coda their dog, then settled in on a big hill with hundreds of our other best friends to watch about 2 million swift fly from who knows where, to all go down a huge chimney for the night - very exciting stuff.....
Sunday we headed to the coast.  It was just breathtaking with it's huge hilly coast line, and large rock formations in the water everywhere.  We stopped en route for a fun train ride and ate at a little waterfront restaurant near a marina.  The water at the beach was freezing and Blake was the only  one who braved getting in the water.  One thing we learned about Blake, if there is water anywhere in sight, he will be in it !!  It was a whole day trip, so we ordered pizza for dinner and had an early night. 
Yesterday - Labor Day was another day trip. This time we headed north to Hood city. We walked up a path to a gorgeous waterfall, then continued on a beautiful drive.  We ate lunch at a pub high on a hill side in Hood City. After lunch we crossed over the river to Washington state and followed part of the Lewis and Clark trail through Vancouver, back to Portland.  The Columbia was a beautiful river and had allot boat traffic, as well as kite boarders and wind surfers.  David grilled some fabulous tuna for dinner and we joined by Tyler, David's oldest son.  It was sad to say good bye, but we headed back to our hotel to get ready for our departure this AM. We are now headed to Salt Lake City today where we begin our driving tour of the national parks for a couple of weeks.

David and Cade

Barre and Susan

Silly Blake and Barre

Blake and Jon beach strolling

Cade and Gram on train

The new train conductor Blake ringing the bell

Jon and Blake

Jon and Cade

Susan and Blake playing trains

Barre and Cade

Cade, Barre and Jon

Mount Hood

Columbia river

Windsurfers, kite surfers and the Columbia River