...On the road again!

The countdown to leave began.  Thanksgiving was Thursday.  The very last of the doctor re-appointments was Friday morning and by Friday afternoon we had taken two loads of "stuff" back over to the rig for reloading and reorganizing.  Phew!  It's surprising how many things wandered over to my sister's in the 6 weeks we were over there!

Friday night was the "good-bye dinner", the last of the turkey, a few more hugs with admonishments of "no tears tho".  No need to wake up extra early Saturday, because we were only going to Vancouver Washington.  So a nice breakfast, lots of hugs and kisses, and back to the rig we went!

I couldn't believe how slow I was at "remembering" to pull in the slides, to pull up the levels, at each of the steps to hook up the truck!  Jeez, 6 weeks and the brain cells went on vacation!  What used to happen without even thinking, actually took some thinking!  Tisk, tisk.  It was more than time to be on our way!!

As I've shared before, there's nothing like the feeling of getting in the passenger seat, strapping myself in, getting comfy and seeing the road ahead and the world passing by along the side, I was smiling now!  We were on our way - somewhere, it didn't really matter where!  It didn't matter that it was raining and it doesn't matter that the campground is just a pretty parking lot with gravel sites, we're traveling again!

We're in Vancouver for a couple of reasons.  We have a couple of dear, long-time friends who moved here years ago from San Diego that we see every time we pass this way.  They are special people that we don't get to see often enough.  He just retired this last May, so hopefully now they will get to travel a bit more, so that will change (their not RV'ers tho, darn).  The other, is that we are big fan's of the Powell Books in Portland, and can't be near this area without a day visit there!  If you've never been, and you love to read, you need to add this place to your "must visit" list!  One (they have at least 3 stores) store is 4 stories high, a square block full of every kind of book ever written!  Their other stores are specialties - travel, technical, etc. Way cool.  They have new & used, so you don't have to spend major dollars either.  We only carried out 6 books this time and spent less than $50.  That's really good for us!  A really nice dinner capped the day off, then back to our wonderful, cozy home for the evening.

Sunday, we ventured over to Portland's (famous) Saturday Market (yes, I know it was Sunday, but, hey, it's Portland, they can have it on Sunday too!).  What great finds we found!  So much better than buying in stores!  Those that know me, know I really don't like to shop, especially in stores, but I do like markets, or bazaars, boutiques, anything locals hand make or put together themselves.  That, I will support.  Something really special for the new baby coming in June, a incredible vest for Jack, some very unusual earrings (always can use new earrings, right?) for me, along with another knitted ear warmer (my ears get cold and I don't like to wear hats so much) and a fire starter for his cousin that he should have gotten one for every guy "on our list"!  ;-) Very fun!  A stop for pizza that turned out to be one of the best we've had in the two years we've traveled - so, again, if you are ever in Portland, stop in at Old Town Pizza!

A search for dessert led us to Voodoo Doughnuts, of course!  Our first 'go-round' we passed it up as it had a line down the block!  So, we headed out to check out one of their local gardens, Lan Su Chinese Garden.  It was just about to close, so the nice docent let me in for free!  I quickly snapped a bunch of pictures and scooted out.  Then, we headed to the "World's Smallest Park" - Mill Ends Park.  It was created by a man who gazed down on the busy Front Avenue thoroughfare.  He turned a a utility pole hole in the median strip at Taylor Street into "Mill Ends Park"!  Later it was made official.  What a hoot!

After braving the rain and the traffic, we deserved the donuts, so off we went back to Voodoo Donuts, this time, no line!  Jack was a happy man.  A great way to end the night.

Can you tell it rained all night?  Nothing "fancy"here, but, it's camping!

Only place I've seen where someone handmade a chain-mail "tie dye" shirt!

This is the elevator shaft where "Nina" went down and still "haunts" at Old Town Pizza!

Yummy Voodoo Doughnuts on the "doughnuts go-round"!

Lan Su Chinese Garden

 Mill Ends Park, Vancouver WA

...on the road in Washington & Oregon,  Marie