Recap of our Portland Adventure

It has been awhile since I was on here, but I thought I would talk about the recent trip to Portland that Jackie and I took. We had been talking about taking a trip for quite awhile so one night Jackie starting researching the trip and in no time she had booked the entire adventure from start to finish!


The trip started out at 5:00 am when we had to wake up in order to get dressed and catch our bus into downtown Seattle. By 7:30 we were checked in with Amtrak and boarding our train for the 3 hour ride into Portland. The trip was relaxing and scenic and although I don't think that it saved us time I do think that it was much easier and less stressful than driving and fighting highway traffic. After arriving in Portland we set out for the Bed and Breakfast where we would be staying.

Portland has a great light rail system that makes getting around the city very easy so we bought our tickets and set out from the train station. It wasn't until later that we realized that we were riding in a free ride zone and didn't actually need a ticket...oops. Our B&B was a 15 minute walk from the light rail station which gave us an opportunity to get our first taste of the city. The B&B that we were staying at is called Portland's White House Bed and Breakfast and it lives up to it's name! The building looks like a small version of the White House and the decorum continues throughout the entire house.

After checking in we dropped our bags off in our room and found 2 fresh baked oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies which were to die for! We then spent the rest of the day wandering around the city browsing through fun shops and eating and fun restaurants and cafes. If you are ever in Portland and have any appreciation for books, magazines, reading, or literature then you must go to Powell's Books which is by far the largest book store of new and used books that I have ever seen. The science fiction section alone was bigger than some book stores and contained authors that I have never heard of. Eventually I was so overwhelmed that I had to leave otherwise I don't think that I could have ever pulled myself away.

The second day in the Portland ended up raining all day so we spent most of the day sloshing around the city dodging into shops to dry off. We spent most of our time in the Pearl district which seemed to be a little more modern and boutique than the rest of the city that we had seen. After a nice lunch at the Deschutes Brewery we started back for the train station to begin our trip home. The train ride home was not quite as relaxing and stress free as the trip down due mainly to the 8 year old girl bouncing around the cabin with no response from her parents. Eventually we arrived back in Seattle and made our way into the Seattle bus tunnel to catch a bus back to Kirkland and spend the remainder of our weekend vacation relaxing and preparing for the week ahead.

Getting out of the city for a long day and a half was great and I am looking forward to our next excursion. Amtrak just recently resumed service to Leavenworth so maybe that will be in our future.