Adventures in Portlandia!

We had a visit from my parents this last weekend and had a great time. We always do, but we planned an absolutely packed Saturday to maximize our time. Mom and Da arrived on Friday and we had a nice dinner out and made a HUGE ( I am not kidding around....we made it in a lasagna pan!) strawberry rhubarb pie. Saturday we got up, ate and headed out. We first went to a classic car show in a neighboring town and got to see a really old steam engine called the 4449. It was really massive and very neat to be so close to it. It was also very cool to see the workings. Pretty neat stuff! While we were there we did a little geocaching thanks to Da's GPS. One was very easy and took little effort. The other, well, lets just say that when the GPS asks if you want "street" directions or "off road", it really does mean "off road". So we took the hard way and after a bit of bushwhacking, bramble ducking and water crossing we did manage to make the find. Unfortunately, all that nature kicked allergies in to high gear. Ah, summer!
We then headed off to "an address" that my Mom had collected. It was a surprise destination that only she knew what it was. Along the way we were guessing, trying to figure it out...
"is it a store? yes. does it have to do with entertainment? sort of yes. Mom, is this an adult thing? would you take my sister there? laughing, no and she took me first! do they sell kitchen stuff? ummm, kind of.
Dad gets it and says "I know what it is." Don and I are stumped, how can he know? "Because I live with her." he says. Finally we arrive at....Pensey's Spices!!!! We were super excited. My sister had taken our parents to one on the east coast after finding them online. What a cool place! All the spices you can imagine and more! 5 different types of cinnamon, no kidding! So we bought some spices and then divided them up later to share the spoils!
After all the good spice smells we were more than ready for lunch so off we headed to a new brew pub call Hopworks. It was neat and the beer was good. The decor is very bike oriented and the whole ceiling off the bar is covered in hanging bike frames. Pretty neat to look at.
Once we were all full and happy we headed up to the Japanese garden to look around. It was beautiful. There are all different types of classical Japanese gardening styles. It was so peaceful and quiet there. My favorite part was the zig-zag bridge over a huge koi pond with tons of fish swimming all around and under the bridge. From there we headed to the International Rose Test Garden and took in the sights and smells of a gazillion different roses. There are so many different colors, sizes, shapes, smells...it is truly amazing.
After that we headed back in to town to check out a Bike event called Cirque du Cycle. It was the first year for the event and it featured a Criterium race. Basically the cyclists have a short rectangle course that they go around and around on at really fast speeds! It is always pretty neat, although a little repetitive. After a tasty diner at Laughing Planet we headed home. It was a full day and everyone was beat.
Sunday Mom and Da headed off after breakfast and Don and I had a lazy day. Neither one of us just could get motivated to do much. I am finally getting pictures posted to flikr that I had intended to do then.
All in all it was a great weekend. I love spending time with my family and just wish we all lived closer so we could do stuff like this ALL the time! I am looking forward to a visit from my sister and her family later this Summer and many more weekends like this!