A visit to Portland

We visited Portland, Oregon mainly to go to a baby store and to go to Ikea for some items to fix up the basement quarters in Elissa's house and some shelves for Sydney's room.  There is no sales tax in Oregon, so it was worth a little drive and an overnight stay.  We spent one day touring around Portland.  We visited the downtown area to see what it was like and then drove to the Portland Japanese Gardens. 

 It is supposed to be the most authentic Japanese garden outside of Japan.  

Sydney really liked the koi fish.

 We had a great view of Mt. Hood from the gardens.

After leaving the Japanese Gardens, we walked over to the Portland Rose Garden.  There were so many roses and it smelled wonderful! 

After being toted around all day, Sydney was ready for some exercise.  She had a ball trying to lift our water bottles and walk with them.  

Too late in the afternoon, we decided to ride the aerial tram over Portland.  We felt like we were on the Amazing Race because we kept missing our exit and then we got caught in rush hour traffic.  Then we had to race through a hospital  to catch the tram.

We were treated to a spectacular view of Mt. Hood.  

When we arrived at the bottom, we were starved and headed for the first restaurant we could find - it ended up being in a retirement home complex.  The food was great and Sydney delighted all the residents with her smiles and antics.   She toddled around visiting at several tables.  They all waved and said goodbye to us as we left.