Monday in Portland

 Our first morning in Portland. We all slept well, because of these:

 When we're in Portland again, we will most definitely be staying at Northrup Station again.

 First stop: the lobby for waffles. Bug did this every day. We made sure she had some juice or fruit, as well...sometimes a hard-boiled egg.

 Next was a short walk to the corner to wait for the streetcar. Our hotel supplied us with free daily passes. We used them most days that we were there.

 We rode the streetcar through downtown, down to the south waterfront, then back up to downtown where we got out. Bug like the quad-bubblers.

I forgot to take pics of all of the food carts....there were a LOT! Bug & her dad ordered from this one: 

I got fish & chips from the Frying Scotsman. Bug liked his sign because "he's got a Gryffindor lion on his sign!!!" 

The Scotsman directed us to a park with tables & chairs about 2 blocks away. We ate, then Bug fed some pigeons. I walked to a nearby yarn shop while they headed to Finnegan's Toys where I met back up with them. 

Somewhere along the way, we found this cat...

Inside Pioneer Place Mall, they had this cool interactive floor thing. Bug & her dad spent probably 10 minutes playing with it. 

I wanted to get video of this guy, but my batteries died. He was done dancing by the time I got them changed, but did post for a photo. 

Back near our hotel, we found this gift shop - Stella's on 21st.  :D

We ordered a pizza and settled in to watch the Packers play the Seahawks....we were NOT amused....but the pizza was good.

Our first day in Portland

We arrived in Portland around 10am. We couldn't check in to our hotel until 3, so a friend & her son picked us up. We stopped to see her husband and his shop, then went to their house and took their dogs to the park for a bit. Bug LOVED Tito & Sid Pickles....

We went out for burgers, then headed to the Avalon Theatre & Wunderland...a nickel arcade! (some games took more than one nickel, but still...CHEAP!) Bug had a blast. It's on her list for our next visit.

 

We checked in to our hotel (Inn @ Northrup Station) and it was amazing! So colorful! There were jars of salt water taffy on every table in the lobby...Bug thought that that was pretty cool. We headed upstairs to our room to drop off our bags and take showers. Once we were cleaned up, we headed to my sister & brother-in-law's place (a short walk) and had dinner there. We then headed to a nearby school to watch the Vaux Swifts which roost in the school's chimney. It was amazing. There were SO MANY people there, which was really cool, too.  Here are some short video clips of the swifts:
Vaux Swifts 1
Vaux Swifts 2
Hawk trying to get Vaux Swifts

We then stopped for ice cream before heading back to the hotel to sleep and what wonderful sleep it was. The beds were incredibly comfortable. Most nights, Bug was out cold within 5-10 minutes. After 2 nights on the train, they felt even better to us, I'm sure. :)