Loving the Leisure

On July 12th, we crammed our last suitcase in Mom's van and headed out for some much-needed leisure time. Bear, of course, tagged along. The first day we drove to Pendleton, Oregon. This was one of Bear's favorite seats on the way to Pendleton:



Bear's other favorite seat was on the front passenger's lap looking out the window. Or sleeping on Mom's shoulder, like this:




On the drive to Pendleton, we stopped at a rest stop and met another Shih Tzu named Benji. He was an Imperial Shih Tzu, so he was smaller than Bear, and had the black and white coloring. Bear and Benji really hit it off. They were sad when we had to leave the rest stop and continue on our trip. We waved as we passed Benji and headed for the hotel. Right after we checked in to the hotel, Benji's car pulled up! His owners were staying at the same hotel AND they were staying in the room next door. Bear and Benji had a fun time visiting, as did we with Benji's owners. The next morning when Benji's owners got on the road, Benji stood outside the door and he and Bear barked their goodbyes. I really wish I would have gotten a picture of them together. So, if Benji's owners ever happen upon this blog, we hope that Benji is doing well!
On our way into Portland we drove through the Cascades. It was beautiful country. We noticed that there were tree farms on the other side of the road. We remembered how fascinating they were and got these pictures on the way back:





It might be hard to tell in the photos, but these trees were lined up perfectly. They went on for miles and miles. I hope people didn't have to individually plant those!
We didn't know it at the time, but apparently Portland is the pet city of the world! You can take your pets basically anywhere. Our first day we visited the Chinese flower gardens. I don't know where Uncle Jim ended up, but here is (from left to right) Dad, Mom, and Anita in the middle of a HUGE rose garden:



These are some photos of the actual flowers that I got:







Let me just put a plug in for my digital camera here. I used to have a Kodak camera. It was nice, don't get me wrong, but it had one of those "docks", so in order to charge the camera, I had to cart that "dock" everywhere I went. I decided I didn't want to drag that around this trip, so I invested in a Nikon Coolpix L16. Can I say what a great investment that little camera was?! I have really enjoyed it. It takes great pictures, and I didn't even have to change batteries during the trip. Amazing!
We kind of took it easy in Portland because Dad wasn't feeling well, and we were really there to visit Jim and Anita, which was great fun. So, we didn't feel too bad about not seeing many more sights. However, Mom and I did take a day to see Powell's bookstore, which is the largest bookstore on earth! For us bookworms, it was heaven on earth. We only saw two levels of the store, and almost spent our entire vacation wad of money! If given the chance, we probably could have spent two years in that place and still not seen it all. It was the most amazing bookstore I've ever seen. We also stopped at their little "cafe" and had an Italian soda and shared a couple of pastries that were absolutely delicious. We had a great time!
After our visit with Jim and Anita, we headed towards Sea-Tac to see the sights in Seattle. Dad fell ill again with a stomach bug of some kind, so our first trip in we just got our bearings. The following morning, we took off for the big city to see the famous Pike's Market. Here are some photos I caught there:







Part of the reason Pike's Market Place is so famous is because they bring fresh fish in right off the boats and sell them fresh on ice. The place was incredible! There were flower shops, jewelry shops, gift shops, toys, bags, pastries, other food shops, and many, many other things I can't even remember to list. We were fascinated and thoroughly enjoyed our time at Pike's. In fact, I personally thought it was the highlight of the trip (besides time spent with family). The hustle and bustle of that place was like being in a small city. We even went in one store that sold Russian ceramics. Talk about pricey! But the dinnerware and other items were beautiful. We aren't sure how much of Pike's we really saw because at one point we had to go to the restroom and we ended up on the other end and a different level of the market. One of these days, I'm going back because I don't think we even caught 1/4 of what there was to see.
These are some pictures I got of the fresh fish at the market:







There was one fish there, a monk fish, that I wasn't too sure about. The thing was moving. I wasn't sure if it was alive, or if the characters who run the fish market had set it up to scare people. Two little boys stood up there by the monk fish and had their pictures taken by their mom. Right after they moved, that monk fish jumped (I did, too; just a little though). So, I had to get a picture of that fish. Here it is in all its glory:



Pretty ugly, huh? Well, luckily it wasn't the last thing we saw. We drove back home the way we drove in, so we were determined this time to stop at Multnomah Falls in Oregon before we left the state. We attempted to stop on the way in, but there were too many people there and no place to park, even with Dad's handicapped sticker! We must have needed to see the falls because this time we drove right in and got a parking place. I first saw these falls on a high school A Capella tour when we actually hiked up to the bridge. These are amazing falls because they literally come right out of the mountain. Here are some photos I got:







Those pictures don't do the place justice! If you're ever planning a trip to Oregon, plan to visit Multnomah Falls, and, if you can, take the hike that leads up to the bridge. It's beautiful country! There's no doubt there's a God, because no human could have created something like this.
On our way back from getting pictures of the falls, Bear found a couple of friends. One was a little girl. She hugged Bear and kissed him and petted him until his hair was almost flat. She told her mom she wanted to take Bear home. When her mom said no, she started to cry. Bear went right up to her and licked her face. The little girl's mom said she might have to look into getting a dog. I hope she didn't make a promise she couldn't keep!
The other friend Bear met was a professional photographer who had just returned from shooting exotic birds in Argentina (or something like that). He and his wife were visiting the falls and then returning home to pack for another photo shoot at another exotic location. The photographer said Bear was the cutest dog he'd ever seen and asked if he could get a few photos. Mom agreed, so Bear had a little photo shoot. The photographer asked for our address so he could send a photo of Bear. Mom gave it to him highly doubting that we'd ever see the photo. Several weeks after we arrived home, a box arrived in the mail, and sure enough it was Bear's professional photo! Needless to say, it was a lot better than these photos that I was able to get after a LOT of coaxing:







As you can tell, Bear is not spoiled even a little!
The trip was absolute fun! But, it was so nice to be home and spend July 24th with the family. Perhaps the best part of vacation is coming home to find everything still in its place.
Dad had a terrible fall down some stairs shortly after we returned home and his life was in question for a time. Mom has taken the roll as caregiver very seriously and does a fabulous job taking care of Dad. We are blessed that Dad has made some improvements since that fall, and hope he will continue to maintain or improve his health. We were so glad to have the opportunity to take this trip because it will probably be Dad's last. We will always have pictures and memories of the fun time we had together.