Portland

 We left Ketchikan on Monday morning to fly into Seattle.  We waved goodbye to Harriet, Billy, and Jane and went off in search of our rental car.  We got on the road less than an hour later and made our way to Portland to visit Josh and Melissa who had moved their back in March.  We had a good visit that evening and ate some really tasty pizza and then took a walk to the big bookstore, Powells.  This thing takes up a whole city block and is full of books--new and used all mixed together.  I could have spent HOURS in there but limited myself to about a half hour since it was already after 9 pm.  On the way home we stopped at Whole Foods to look around and buy deodorant.  :0)  We slept well that night and were ready to see the sights of Portland on Tuesday!

 On the way to Blue Star Donuts where we had breakfast we saw the cool bike sculpture above.  Our donuts were delicious and fairly healthy as far as donuts go.  Grace and I got chocolate almond ganache and it was pretty amazing.  Hannah got maple bacon and loved it and Ollie and Joe got plain old glazed and declared theirs wonderful as well.

 After donuts we made our way to the Chinese Garden.  It was an interesting walk and we all enjoyed being in a big city since that is unusual for us.  The Chinese Garden was a big highlight of the day for me.  It was a beautiful garden right in the middle of a huge city!  Enjoy the pictures!

 After the Chinese Garden, we walked along the waterfront to go to the Maritime Museum which is on an old tugboat, unfortunately it was closed but the walk in the park was really pretty and again--fun to be in a big city.  I was surprised at how many day care centers were out and about in the city...little kids walking between two teachers holding onto a rope.  We visited Pioneer Square and I visited Payless Shoe Source to buy some socks because my cute new shoes were trying to rub a blister on my foot.  We went to a park full of food trucks for lunch.  It was really hard to choose what to eat...everything looked good!  The girls and I all ended up with big, messy gyros which were delicious.

After lunch, Melissa and Conor went home for naptime and Ollie, the kids, and I got on the Max and went out to an arboretum that Ollie wanted to see.  My feet and legs were killing me by this point so I hung out in the Forestry museum which was really cool.  I would sit and rest a while and then walk around a bit seeing the displays and then sit some more.  It was nice and relaxing and I enjoyed the quiet alone time.  :0)  We met back up with Josh and Melissa for dinner at Pok Pok, an incredibly amazingly delicious Thai place.  It was all unique and interesting Thai food though, no Pad Thai to be found on this menu!  We ordered a ton of food and dessert and ate every last bite.  After dinner we said our goodbyes and we headed on to Brush Prairie to stay the night with a friend from here's parents.  All the pictures below are all out of order...enjoy them anyway.

We spent the evening and morning with Mike and Linda....they were great hosts and had a beautiful home with a beautiful view!

Ketchikan

 We got to spent a couple of days in Ketchikan, AK after disembarking from our Un-Cruise Adventure.  We stayed in a unique hotel called the Cape Fox Lodge.  It was high on a hill overlooking the city and you could either take the funicular down to the bottom or take a path through the forest.  Both were an experience and great fun.  Below is Joe down on Creek Street also formerly the Red Light District of Ketchikan during the gold rush days.

 On our first afternoon in Ketchikan we went to a fun lumberjack show.  They made bad jokes and cut up trees and stuff.  It was great fun and we all really enjoyed it!

 We found a bookstore and spent some time in there reading and looking at books.  The pictures of Joe below are from the trail that lead down to Creek Street from the hotel.  Part of this trail was called the "Married Man's Trail" because men could sneak into the Red Light District without being seen by the townsfolk or their wives.

 Joe was really excited to have his picture taken with a real bald eagle.  The eagle even flapped it's wings and slapped him in the face.  He worried the rest of the day if his head smelled like eagle.  He also had his picture taken with the tiny owl who stared at him very intently.

 We also went on the Ketchikan Duck Tour...they have these in a lot of big cities--it was really interesting and a lot of fun.  We got a tour of the city by land and then by boat.  While we were on the water we saw at least 15 bald eagles.

Our time in Ketchikan was very nice and relaxing.  We walked around the town, did a few touristy things, ate some good food and rested after our week of adventure!