Washington to Oregon

Seattle forcast:
90% chance of rain before 11 and then rain showers in the afternoon. In the evening 80% chance of rain with rain continuing overnight.

So we left Seattle in the rain and drove down to Portland to see Isaac's sister, Sara. We took a small tour of gelato shops in Portland (just sampling this time!). We think we finally found a shop that made some of their own bases in house. We're not sure as the woman working in the store seemed kind of like she didn't know what she was talking about (but she was very nice). We then left to pick Sara up from work and headed out to her new house near Tigard, OR.

Sara and Pete have a beautiful new house and an even more beautiful new baby, Lucas. (And a charming new pup, Bowser). We hung out with them for a few days just sticking around the house on Friday and then taking the pups to the most awesome dog park on Saturday. I should say, it wasn't just a dog park, it was a system of trails on which it was legal to have your pup off leash. The trails included a beach on the Sandy river. Oh man, did the pups have fun there!

On the way back we stopped at Multnomah Falls (I think that's how you spell it) and joined the crowds for a look at a really beautiful waterfall. It was a spectacularly sunny day in Oregon which was a welcome treat for us!

On Sunday, we said goodbye to the family and made our way down to Bend with a brief detour to Vancouver, WA to see an old friend of mine, Sarah, and her family. We had a nice lunch with them and I got the grand tour of the place from Audrey her four- year- old. Then off to Bend!

Bend is a cute town--reminds me a lot of Flagstaff. We had dinner at the Bend Brewery (one of several in town) and made our way out to the camping spot for Smith Rock State Park. The next two days we spent exploring Smith Rock. Unfortunately I had an attack of the migraines on Monday which limited my activity, but Tuesday was super fun. I should say it was really hot in Bend. Daytime temps reached 85 degrees which was about 20 degrees warmer than Portland. I, for one, wasn't expecting such a huge difference! We hiked a lot and climbed a little. We met some really nice people and enjoyed the beauty of Smith. The one big downer to Smith is their strict policy on dogs. Dogs must be leashed and they can't be left tied to anything. So if there are two people climbing, I guess the belayer must hold onto the dog and the rope? Kind of stupid, but oh well. Luckily we have the greatest most well-behaved dog on the planet and we escaped without a huge fine!

On Wednesday we left Bend for Boise, ID. We stopped at the Sierra Trading Post outlet and spent a few hours shopping (this time it was Isaac!) Our camping options near town weren't looking so good so we got ourselves a hotel room and found some Indian food. Boise is much more metropolitan than I had expected. It's quite a large city and even on a Wednesday night, downtown was hoppin'! We hope to see a little more of it today.

After this it's off to Salt Lake City and then Flagstaff. Kind of sad to be ending our trip!