miura-adventure.comLife should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "WOW, WHAT A RIDE!!!!"

We really enjoyed visiting a city once again.  Portland is a wonderful town full of really cool little places to eat and shop.  What made it really special was a get together with Lauren’s second grade teacher from Arizona, Mrs. Olson.  She used to live in Portland and visits often as her husband, Whit, still works in the city. We met her and her husband at a funky cafe called the “Cadillac Cafe”.  Great find.  Lauren was so darn quiet at breakfast like she was sitting with the President.  Made me remember when I would run into my teacher when I was young.  I never knew they left the school!

As we were leaving the cafe, Mrs. Olson and Lauren called one of her best buddies in Arizona, Natalia.  Natalia was also in Mrs. Olson’s second grade class.  Talk about confusing the poor child!  She wondered how Lauren AND Mrs. Olson could be calling from the same place.  Sorry Natalia!

We took a drive into the city and walked all around.  Did I see a NORDSTOM??  Ken and Andrew visited the infamous “Voodoo Donut” shop as seen on the Anthony Bordain show (one of Ken’s heros).  What a gothic kind of place.  Ken bought some pretty funky donuts – like the one with a pretzel stick in he guy’s heart and the body bleeds out red jelly when you took a bite.  And then there was the Coco Puff donut or the Fruit Loop donut.  How about a peanut butter and bacon donut?  Did I hear YUM??  Quite a culinary experience to say the least!

Our campground was in what appeared to be an enchanted forest.  Very lush and beautiful, dark and damp!  Quite a change from dry arid weather of AZ.  Lauren loves the ideas of living deep in a forest so she played outside for hours among the ferns. 

We visited the nearby town so we could use the intenet and the kids could do their school work.  With so many darn trees, our motosat can’t reach the satelitte 22,000 miles up in the air.  Love the trees but they play havoc on our ability to communicate with the outside world!  The little espresso place was cool and the owner, Linda, shared with us the adventure of her godsister.  She is travelling around the world on a BOAT with FOUR kids!!  Made our adventure seem a bit more tame!  We also visited the used book store and picked up a bunch of cool books at a dollar a book. Such a deal! 

Now to the OCEAN which we have been wanting to see since DAY ONE! 

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