So after a lovely drive through a state forest and beautiful rural Oregon we arrived in Portland. Our hotel was downtown and it wasn't too hard to locate. We've never stayed in Portland before...only driven through on the I-5. The city is very pretty with plenty of mature trees and green spaces. We checked into the Embassy Suites and this is where the disappointments began. After paying an astronomical fee for parking we checked out our suite to find some sloppy housekeeping. There was a dirty towel left in the bathroom, the edges of the carpet hadn't been vacuumed in eons, the lamp in the bedroom was broken and there was trash under the hide-a-bed when we pulled it out. Otherwise it was good set up with a fridge/freezer, microwave, spacious bathroom and big widows (that didn't open or have a view).
The lobby is quite grand! After seeing our room our first order of business was to check out the swimming pool. As you well know, swimming is always the highlight of a hotel stay for kids. We opened to the door to the pool to find it was EMPTY! As in drained of water. It looked like it was being repaired or something. The tiny hot tub sat about 6 people and had a family in it. We were feeling very sad at this point. After camping we all needed a chlorine dip and had been so looking forward to a fun evening of swimming. We were not impressed this wasn't mentioned at check-in. Keith went to the front desk to inquire and they said one of the pool tiles had broken and due to state laws they had to fix it immediately and it wouldn't be repaired during our stay. And then (I quote) she said: ' If you require the use of a pool you can use the Hilton's which is seven blocks away.'
Oh gee thanks!
What else is a family going to do in downtown Portland on a Sunday night? Go clubbing? Of course we NEED the use of a pool you nitwit!
So we proceeded to collect our things and marched the seven blocks to the Hilton. On our walk to the Hilton we noticed a few things about the city. It was eerily deserted for a gorgeous, warm Sunday evening. No people. No restaurant patios serving dinner, most shops/stores were closed. It was just plain weird. The only people that were out and about were homeless, hippies and strange people that looked like a bunch of fruit pickers in the Okanagan! Plenty of piercings and dreadlocks. We didn't see other families and we felt REALLY out of place.
So, we arrived at the Hilton and made our way to the pool area which had a fitness club and front desk attendant. She was amazing, helpful and friendly. We were made to feel very welcome. The change rooms were the poshest I had ever seen. Lovely. The pool was quiet and the kids had a great time swimming in the salt water. I just used the hot tub and then lounged in the humid atmosphere (so nice after being chilly at the coast) and gazed through the huge glass roof. It was a very nice room for a hotel pool. We all decided after a while it was time to find some dinner. We had a restaurant guide from our hotel and chose something that looked somewhat child friendly. There are no chains in the downtown area. So off we headed to the Kells Irish Pub which was very close to our hotel. By this time it was near to 8 pm so the restaurant portion was pretty empty and we had the place to ourselves. The building dated back to the 1800's and was very 'Irish' and even included live music. We enjoyed the traditional menu with both boys having shepherd's pie and Keith had a mushroom and chicken pasty. Liam had a hamburger (this is his favorite meal) and I wasn't super hungry so had quesadillas off the appy menu. They were SO good! Stuffed with chicken, Tillamook cheese and oodles of scallions and pico de gallo on the side. I shared with the boys and they liked them too. The prices were extremely reasonable and it was a nice ending to our day.
Have you heard of Voodoo Doughnuts? Well, our hotel was one block away and each time we peeked around the corner to see if the line up had died down, it was as long as ever! We knew that we had to try these infamous doughnuts and figured at some point the line up would be reasonably shorter. The place is open 24/7 and you would see people with pink boxes walking around and you knew they'd been to Voodoo doughnuts!
That night was also an adventure. Our bed was so soft and we both rolled into the middle but that turned out to be the least of our sleep issues. Next door to us was a baby that cried off and on through out the entire night. I'd say it was a 9-12 month old and was either a rotten sleeper or teething or had an earache. The sound proofing is nil due to the age of the hotel and we had a very hard time getting decent sleep that night.
The next day was going to be spent at the Oregon Zoo. After a hearty breakfast (free with our stay) which was surprisingly decent we headed out. It was a cool morning but the weatherman promised a hot afternoon. The zoo is very beautiful and is built in a forested area. We've been to a lot of zoos and we'd say this one is only second best to Woodland Park zoo in Seattle.
The bears were pacing, waiting for their breakfast.
The zoo is 125 years old...lots of mature trees and landscaping. Really lovely.
Liam standing in a replicated eagle's nest. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures...seen one chimp, seen them all! It was nice to see some families at the zoo. I had been wondering if there were ANY families at all in Portland.
If you remember from our holiday last summer we had bought Liam bat wings from the Seattle zoo. This time he was keen to get eagle wings. He had been a bit intense that day (read: cranky from too much fun, too little sleep and disputed routines) so these wings perked him right up for the rest of the day. A good investment, I'd say.
The boys went to look at bugs and spiders at this exhibit while I chose too just sit and enjoy the flowers.
This bird just about pooped on me. A very close call!
After a late lunch we found that there was a train we could all take that made a 25 minute round trip to neighboring Washington Park. We were getting hot and tired by this point so the thought of sitting down and enjoyed a little train ride was very appealing.
The train took us to Washington Park through a lovely forest. I wish the picture above showed the mountain in the background. Mt Hood was stunning!
We checked out the International Rose Test Gardens. It was filled with Japanese tourists! It was also very hot but again, after the cool coast we weren't complaining.
After checking out the roses we found this fabulous park for Liam to play in for about half an hour while we rested in the shade. It looks empty but it was quite full of kids.
The walk back up to the train station was quite steep and Liam needed a bit of a lift! Flap, flap...faster Daddy, faster!
The return ride was on a different train with a much better breeze through the open cars. After that we decided we had had enough zoo time and headed back to the hotel. It was only a 10 minute drive. Again, our eating options were quite limited so we ended up at the Thirsty Lion pub. This place didn't have a very separate restaurant section from the pub area so it was very interesting...lots to see. We had a table with high bar stools and Liam thought that was pretty cool until he got really tired and kept sliding off! It was also happy hour and trivia night so it was pretty entertaining. The food there was pretty decent. I had fish tacos and the boys had these massive cheddar burgers. Everyone was well fed that night but I must admit that I was getting a bit tired of restaurant food by now. After our meal we peeked around the corner to see that Voodoo Doughnuts' line up was very reasonable so we hustled over there. It's in a bit of a sketch area so I was pleased to see a few 'normal' people in the line up and kids too. Wow....first kids other than our own that we had seen in the downtown core. So strange. In the line up (which was only about 10 minutes) we were serenaded by a hippie in a guitar with his girlfriend (who didn't shave her armpits) playing the saw. Yep...they were called 'Itchy on the Fence' and you could buy their CD for only $5! LOL! The line moved steadily and before we knew it we were inside. All the donut choices are displayed in a glass case with rotating trays and you just point to the ones you'd like and the cashier goes to the back to get them for you. Our cashier was a super friendly Chinese gal but totally freaky with a shaved head, tattoos and piercings. We let the boys made their own selection and then we chose the rest. One dozen was about $22.00. Liam really wanted the Pentagram design donut (ahem...no!) but we quickly convinced him that there was a better one right beside it. Bought our donuts and then hustled back to our hotel.
You would see these empty pink boxes up and down the hallways of the hotel. Seems like a rite of passage to eat Voodoo doughnuts if you are in Portland.
Our choices. Very eclectic! I had wished we had gotten more plain ones. But the 'eye candy' of the fancy ones was too appealing I guess. Actually, about half of them are in our freezer as I type...one each was enough!
Liam loved his cream-filled donut.
Nate's was peanut butter and chocolate.
Chad got oreo.
Keith's monstrosity was a fritter with chocolate and peanut butter and chocolate chips! It took him two days to finish this sucker.
And my apple fritter was very disappointing. So greasy. It fairly squirted into your mouth after every bite. After five bites I put it back in the box. I knew that if I finished it I would puke.
Liam had a good soak...his first in many days. The bathroom was really quite nice with Crabtree and Evelyn bath products.
Sadly, we had a horrific night with the neighboring baby screaming steadily from 10:30 pm to 3:00 am. Keith and I debated back and forth about calling the front desk. We were at a loss and really frustrated at the entire situation. Every time the baby would settled down we'd breath a sigh of relief and doze off just to be woken up a few minutes later when the baby started shrieking. Keith finally fell asleep for the night around 3:00 am and I lay there until around 4:30 am. WIDE awake. It was awful. I spent that time composing letters in my head to the hotel manager about all the things that went wrong during our time there! Oh, and I didn't mention the ventilation system. The a/c would kick in about every 10 minutes for 3 minutes. So one would be comfortable for a short time and then get so hot you wanted to explode and then the a/c would kick in...and repeat and repeat. This also added to poor sleep. If we could have just had that sucker blowing all night long we could have drowned out a bit of the baby's crying!
When we all got up around 7:30 am I simply could not wait to go home. I wanted to go home so bad at this point. No stopping for tax-free shopping, no more sight-seeing, no going to Mt St. Helen's monument...nothing. I wanted home. Keith was on the same page and we hit the road after breakfast and didn't look back.
We stopped in Tumwater at lunchtime for some iced coffee (to keep us awake!) and a quick hamburger. Nathan refuses to eat food at McDonald's (he's seen 'Super-Size Me' in school health class) but happily accepted a milkshake. They made him a large instead of a small in error which was a happy mistake!!! I didn't know that in the states they put whipped cream and a cherry on top of McD milkshakes. Did you?!
We made it home safely (thank you God) and were very pleased to pull into our driveway and see that our house was still standing. The grass was all brown from the hot week but the flowers were all still alive thanks to my mom and brother.
It was a good trip...very adventurous and fun. I can't wait to get back to the Oregon Coast! Portland we'll give a miss but that coast will bring us back.
PS. The hotel is sending us a voucher for a free stay at any Embassy location. I guess my letter of complaint was quite effective as was my poor review of their hotel on Trip Advisor!
