Visit to Portland, Oregon

Nancy and I just got back from Portland. Great trip! We went first class for our return flight on Southwest Airlines. Since we had an "A" boarding pass, and low numbers for entry, we were able to get seated in the exit row seats. That translates to generous legroom - and no middle seat. Great accommodations and a ten minute early arrival. Go Southwest!!! The best low fare airline in the business!

Our stay at the Embassy Suites was very relaxing, as well as very comfortable. The free breakfast is also a nice bonus (see picture of omelet station). This particular Embassy is about twenty miles from the airport, but it's convenient for going into town and for seeing the usual tourist sites.

We used our Garmin GPS extensively and it did a great job of getting us to our various destinations. On Friday we joined our friends from Salem, Oregon, Paul and Karen Lemmon, and they showed us some of the highlights of the city. We had a great dinner at the Ringside Steakhouse Restaurant. Prior to dinner, we visited the famous Powell Bookstore. A huge establishment that sells every book imaginable.

Friday evening we went to visit with Paul and Karen's daughter and her family. It was great to see their home and to have a chance to chat about life in Portland and Salem.

We lucked out with the weather. It was hot, but no rain. It was actually pretty comfortable, even though the temperature was in the nineties much of the time. Portland considers that to be a heat wave. Yeah, right! Compared to the heat we felt after landing in Sacramento, it was a very "mild" ninety degrees up in Oregon.

We achieved our goal of getting a better feel for one of our northern states and we will continue to explore other sites north of California when time permits. Seattle is on our list and Vancover is also a possibility.

It's now back to the treadmill and restricted calories - darn!! I was really enjoying the omelet breakfasts and the fancy dinner desserts. Time to get real, I guess. Check out the pictures to the right and at the bottom of the blog. I captured some good pics at the Japanese Gardens. I'll also be adding a movie to the blog later this week.