I think we squeezed ALL of the fun out if it

There is no fun left in Portland, we managed to squeeze all the fun out of it in one day.

We started out at Voodoo donuts, a place I have wanted since I first saw it on Food Network years ago.

The line was long but worth it

mmm bacon donut

From there we rode our sugar high on trains and by foot over hill, dale, and bridges (that just happened to rise up as we tried to cross them) in order to reach the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (my kind of place).

A news woman stopped and interviewed Crystal and Mac about a controversy over a onsie with a bikini on it.  Mac is now famous here  http://www.keprtv.com/news/consumer/The-Itsy-Bitsy-Teeny-Weeny-polka-dot-onesie-bikini-161620685.html

The bridge raising to let a tiny boat pass

 
They had a great kids exhibit with a chem lab, air cannon fun, make your own boats, earthquake house, and lots of other stuff I can't remember.  While we were walking around touching science stuff the boys went on a tour of the USS Blueback.  When we met up with them afterwards they wreaked of diesel fuel and excitement.

This was so cool, you hooked up tubes, stuffed them with little balls and hit the red light to start the air flow.

At one point Nathan and I hooked up a ton of tubes and stuffed them to the brim with balls as I yelled "Let's get Ali!"  I may have gotten a little over excited

Then everyone went upstairs and checked out all of the exhibits (including dinosaurs!) before eating a surprisingly good lunch (tacos!) and hitting the gift shop (we are suckers for a gift shop).

Actual fossil being cleaned up

At this point it would have been acceptable to call it a day but NO we soldiered on taking a REALLY FUN train (through a freaky awesome tunnel) to the Portland Zoo.  It was an ...interesting zoo.  I think they had 5 animals.

Awesome seal

wassup?

All three kids in one shot!

The weather was amazing and the zoo grounds were beautiful, it was like a nice botanical expedition that happened to have a zebra, a seal, a polar bear, and, we think, a lion.  The zoo train was a whole other story.  What a ride!  We traveled through a cool dark forest and got to see beautiful gardens and the backs of animal exhibits.  It was relaxing and the perfect end to the zoo excursion.

Gideon was very excited

Nathan showing his stuffed hamster the view

Gideon loved it

A very blurry pic

After the zoo we headed back to the hotel to change and then Mac, Giddy and I hit a little toy store nearby before meeting up with Jason, Crystal, Nathan, and Ali for dinner at a local brewery.  The wait was fairly long so Crystal volunteered to hold our place while we went to Powell's Book City.  That place is awesome!  I can't believe I didn't take a single pic so you will just have to picture in your mind the largest used and new bookstore in the world encompassing an entire city block and housing over a million books.  Needless to say we bought a few before heading back to the restaurant for dinner.  At this point the kids seemed to hit a wall, as kids often do.  Mac and Crystal bravely took them back to the hotel while Jason and I waited for the check.  It was nice hanging out with my brother on the walk back and I even managed to snag a piece of amazing walnut spice cake for Mac and I to consume like a pack of wild dogs back at the room.

So pretty much the best day ever.