October 31st

Portland eats

While in Portland we ate

at many great restaurants!

There seemed to be good

food wherever we were!

One place was at our hotel!You don't normally get real

good food at hotel restaurants,But this was certainly an exception!

Called the Red Star Tavern, We enjoyed a very good lunch!

I had a Turkey

Club with advocado,

and Craig had a

Barbecue Pork sandwich.

Another great restaurant is

Jakes Famous Crawfish.

One of Portland's oldest restaurants!

And very good seafood!

And we enjoyed outdoor seating due to the mild weather!

Craig had Seafood Newburg, Sauteed Prawns and scallops in a shrimp cream sauce, and I had Rockfish Lafitte. A pacific northwest fish.

The meal was very tasty!

The Roses

Here's some of the beautiful

roses in bloom at the test gardens!

Like I said,

they have hundreds!

Even a fall blooming Rhododendron!

And if I put in smaller pics, I can get more in a post!

But you can still click to see larger!

The Rose City

Portland is called the Rose City. Mainly because it has a perfect climate to grow beautiful roses!

We went up this large hill where Washington Park is and the famous International Rose Test Gardens!
This is the oldest continuing test gardens in the U.S.! And one of only five in the world!

Here you'll see row after row of gorgeous roses! Hundreds of them. And still blooming at the end of October! But the climate is much more temperate than in the Midwest!

And click on
the last pic
and you'll see
that the gardens
are way above
the city with
panoramic views!

Portland Art

All over this beautiful city they have fountains and statues! Here are a few more pics!

In the center of the city, there are twelve blocks of parks, all in a row, with tall trees and sculptures in every one!

And every fountain we saw had running water. Lansing can't manage to keep one flowing!
And a pic of me in front of their Chinatown!

And I just discovered,

if I center the

pic, you can't click and

see a larger one.

So I guess back

to that format for most

of my postings!

Portland Bridges

Portland might

be called the

Rose City,

But it could be

called the bridge city too!

It has nine bridges that
cross the Willamette River!

Makes for easy transition

from one side to the other.

And most are draw bridges .

Here's a few of them.

A very large river!

More Portland later!

Portland the city

Like I said before,

Portland is a beautiful city!

As we walked,

we saw a diverse

population,

and everyone we

met were very friendly!

One of the places we

went was the

Portland Saturday Market!

But it is also open Sunday.

A very large open air

arts and crafts, and food

fair. Open every weekend

May thru October,

Under the

Burnside Bridge.

And spilling out all

around it!

Here you'll find all

sorts of stuff to buy

and eat!

Not to mention more fountains.

And of course,

entertainers!

We saw jugglers,

guitar players,

and more.

All to make for an

entertaining day!

The market attracts

all kinds of people!

And as you can tell

from the last pic.

Easy access by their

light rail line!

portland 2

Okay, the worst is over!

At least we made it to Portland

without crashing or whatever!

And we did get into our hotel!

So things are looking up from here!

The first day we explored the entire

city. Did a walking tour and

found that Portland has

many statues and art works!

Like I said, the city is very
"green" so to speak.

Lots of parks and green

space. This Elk is right in the

middle of the road.

With driving lanes

around both sides.

And this fountain has a

momma bear fishing

for her young!

They also have these

"drinking" fountains.

They bubble water continuously.

We saw them thru out the city.

Don't know why they

needed 4 all together.

And the water runs all the time!

Well, they are next to the second largest river in the states! The Columbia river!

Portland

Good morning all.

On our trip out to Portland we flew Northwest. Like I said earlier, we had free tickets.

And like I said earlier, any one who has used free tickets knows what a hassle it can be.

Well, our trip out was true to form. After working most of the day, we flew out at 3:39 pm.

Arrived in Detroit at 4:25 pm, or 4:35 pm by time we got off the plane at gate 11. Then had to go to gate 66 to catch our 5:01 pm flight. And of course you have to be on board 15 min before takeoff!

So off we went. Took the tram to the other end and got to the gate at 4:45 pm, and it was the wrong gate! They changed the gate while we were in the air from Lansing! So where was it? Gate 16! Ohh-Nooo!

So with no time to spare, off we go, back to the other end of the terminal! We get there as they're loading the standbys. But we get on! And not only that! We were delayed for take off because of mechanical issues! So, we ran for nothing! Was an hour late leaving. Not a problem because we had originally a 3 hr. layover in Minneapolis.

Got there, had a little dinner and got to the gate
to find out that flight was delayed because they had to get a different plane! Needless to say, we were both pretty tired by then.

So to make a long story not any longer. We got to Portland at 12:30 am their time, or 3:30 am Lansing time.

And that's not the end yet!

We had reserved a rental car from Thrifty. Even called them from Minneapolis to say we were delayed. They said no problem. After we got our luggage, we called the shuttle and waited at the stop. When the shuttle got there, three groups of us got on the shuttle. He called the office and then turned to us and said they only had 2 cars available! Our name wasn't on the list! And said we had to get off the shuttle! At this point we were too tired to argue so got a cab and made it to the hotel and crashed at 2 am or 5 am Lansing time.

More on our trip later.

Did I say I hate flying?

I'm back!

Hello all, I'm back from a little Holiday!

We were in Portland, Oregon!

Had some miles to use up and was

concerned when Northwest

went into bankruptcy

they might end their program.

We had just enough for a free

ticket each.

So we thought we'd better

use them up!
You might ask,

why Portland?

Well, if you fly much,

you know how hard

it is to use miles.

The only place that would

work for the dates we

wanted was Portland.

And since we've never

been there, thought,

why not?

And were we pleasantly surprised!

Portland is a beautiful city.

Very walkable, many parks and green spaces.

A good transit system. And many unique neighborhoods!

We stayed at the 5th Avenue Suites downtown and if you click on the last pic, we even had a view of Mt Hood from our room!

More of our trip later. We just got home and we're bushed! Hate airplanes, hate airports!

A new look!

I've just switched over to the new Blogger in Beta.


It gives me more room to fiddle with the look and layout of my Blog.

I can change the colors and fonts easier, and adjust the layout more.
So, from time to time you may notice some differences.
Hope you like the new look too.

The picture in the bottom of the sidebar is from Google Earth!
It's a software program
I down loaded from

http://earth.google.com/

Just type in the place
you want to see,
Like Mt Saint Helens,
and it "flies" you there!
A fun little program
to play with!

And don't forget,

you can click on

the pics for a

larger view!

The End Is Here!

Not the end of the world, of course.
The end of the mo-ho season!
As the days get colder,
and more campgrounds
are closing for the season,
We decided to winterize
and store the motor home.

Had a good time this summer.

Will have to plan an
earlier start next year!

Here's a pic draining
the water out of the
tanks and water lines.

And another of the
mo-ho parked by
the garage for the winter.



Will miss the trips,
but now will have all
winter to plan some more!

Could take it south this winter, but would have to take too much time off work.
Besides, I've really got to get the house and yard back in shape!

It ain't over yet!

Although it's October,
there are many
plants still flowering!

Even thru a
frost and freeze,
these fall loving
perennials keep going!


I have these
very bushy fall Daisies!
They have gotten so large they
are falling over the bench!

I also have toad lilies.
Not a "lily" like you
would think,
but a perennial with
a very pretty little
flower!















Also I spotted this flower
on my Clematis!
In October!
Very unusual!

And of course, we can't
forget the Asters!
I've divided this one many
times and it
just keeps going!

October

One of the perennials
that give a garden
texture and dimension
are ornamental grasses.
They come in a
variety of sizes.
From a foot high,
to over ten feet tall!

I have a number of
different grasses.

I won't get into the
botanical name,
mainly since they
are too hard to spell.

What I really love
about grasses are
the"flowers",
when they bloom
in the fall!

The ones around
the tree are called
"Little Bunny"
fountain grass.
At the end of the
driveway,
they are variegated
fountain grass.

And the tall one
in the middle of the
planting is a banded grass.















And a favorite of mine is a short 18in. grass called
Japanese Blood Grass. A very colorful grass.
But a spreader. Not clump forming like the others.
I enjoy lots of different plants in the garden!

And don't forget,
click on the pics for a larger view!

Tuesday October 10

First, thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday!
Yep, for those who didn't know, today is it!

Went back to Saugatuck last weekend for what I believe was our last mo-ho trip of the year.
boo-hoo. Soon we'll need to winterize and store it for the l-o-n-g winter!
While there we went to
Holland State Park.
There were tons of
small sail boats going out the channel.
It really wasn't very warm for that,
but I guess if your a diehard sailor!
The campground here was
already closed for the season.

Like many of the state parks.
They all close around
late Sept. to late Oct.

It was a really nice weekend
other than a little cool.

Just a few miles north of
Holland State Park we went to
Tunnel Park.
It's a county park
Craig use to go to as a child.

It has a tunnel you go thru
to get to the beach.
It didn't look like they really
needed a tunnel, as the
dunes weren't very much above it.

Craig said they use to be way above it.
Things change.

Craig also said the beach
is way larger then he remembers.
But the lake levels are
suppose to be down now.

The beach was beautiful
although quite deserted.
But it isn't swimmin weather!

















Still, enjoyed the views and
had a nice campfire
in the evening!



Will miss the mo-ho this winter!