We decided to combine race #4 with a trip to the Northwest to see some wonderful friends. Ashley, Jill's college roommate, and her husband Jeff and daughter Molly Scout moved out to Portland over a year ago and so we decided to make that the first leg of our trip. We flew into Portland a few days before the race so that we could spend some time with the Weston's.
Our first day there we took Molly Scout and Kellen to the Portland Children's Musuem. Each room had it's own theme and it was a spot that the kids could really get down and play as we had no worries about them messing anything up.
One of Kellen's favorite rooms was the Construction Zone. They had a lot of trucks and loaders that were just his size and since the material was chopped up rubber peices there was no mess or worries about him handling it. I'm pretty sure that we spent more time in this room than in all the other rooms combined.
One of the highlights of the Portland area was our trip to Multnomah Falls. The waterfall is located about 30 minutes outside of Portland but it is certainly worth the trip. The falls are 611 feet tall and so it was difficult to get the whole thing in the picture frame so that others can see the magnitude of it. In this picture you can see the bridge above and there was a paved path that made it easy to get to.
Molly Scout and Kellen loved hiking as well. We only let them do the short walks as their little legs wear out pretty quickly.
In addition to seeing the main waterfall we also went on a longer hike while there. This hike started out a little rough as Kellen wasn't feeling well and fought us a bit as he was getting into his backpack. But once we got further up the mountain we were able to see the water flowing down and the lush surroundings and he settles down a bit. The mountains are glacier topped so as they start to melt off the water rushes down. Of course Kellen and I had to stick our hands in the water and it was freezing cold. He wanted just to sit there and play in it all day but it was so cold we just had to dip our fingers in and then move on. The rest of the trail was just as much fun though as everything was so lush and there was so much vegitation it made us feel like we were in a rain forrest.
One of the other highlights of the trip was visiting Jeff's job but I'm not sure if we can post pictures or not so we will err on the side of caution. He works for SAWSTOP and you can check out the video of their company http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3mzhvMgrLE. I freely admit that I am not the most handy, industrial, or knowledgable about tools but no matter what your experience level is, this is one awesome product. Jeff was gracious enough to let us come to his work and I even had the chance to test the product out. By far, one of the coolest things that I have seen, so it was awesome just to see how it worked. Again, I'm not the crafty, woodworking type, but this was certainly something that I would want to have.
Overall, we loved our three days in Portland and are so thankful for Ashley's, Molly Scout's and Jeff's hospitality. They were great, the area was great, and we can't wait to make a return trip to the area.
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