A Vacation with Louiza: Final Thoughts

Well as I said in earlier posts, vacations come and go and all that is left are memories! Even though I traveled within the continental US, I still managed to add two states to my list of visited places: Washington and Oregon! The Pacific Northwest has always been on my mind and what better person to visit this awesome corner of the country with than my own daughter Louiza !! This is my first vacation traveling with her as two adults and it was great! Louiza gave me a chance to spend quality time with her both driving around and sharing hotel rooms. We had great chats and learned a lot about my own adult Louiza! She has matured a lot and I was happy to learn that some of the things I taught her as a child are still there... Off course we had our moments of disagreement but they were minimal and we kept moving forward. Louiza has an artistic inclination, which I always knew, but she combines that with a business mind which is great! She ran circles around me with her high-tech savviness! Without her I would have waisted lots of time finding places and driving around in circles... but Louiza’s quick wit cut those losses to a minimum.. The trip was well planned with some flexibility in the schedule too... I intentionally left three days in the middle unplanned just to allow us either to add a day in Seattle or head somewhere else.. well, it turned out to be a great idea: we ended up visiting Crystal mountain in the Rainier range and then Cannon beach in Oregon which were unplanned! With that spontaneity, we now can say we saw the cities, the mountains and the beaches of the Pacific Northwest!! 

The big stats of the vacation were; driving nearly a 1000 miles and staying in 7 hotels including my first Airbnb experience which was awesome!! 

As long as my health is good, I will keep traveling and learning and making memories that will stay with me for life...

Louiza made this vacation special because she is and has always been special to me!!! 

KEEP MAKING MEMORIES because in the end LIFE IS BUT A DREAM... 

 

In the "Peculiarium" in Portland, Oregon

                                               In the "Peculiarium" in Portland, Oregon
                                                  

                                                    In the rose gardens in Portland, Oregon

                                                     In our tiny home in Portland, Oregon

                                              In a Lebanese restaurant in Portland, Oregon

                                                        On a farm outside Portland, Oregon

                                         A rock full of shell-fish on Cannon Beach, Oregon

                                On Crystal mountain with Mt. Rainier in the back, Washington

                                           On top of the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington

                                  Inside the museum of popular culture in Seattle, Washington

                                                   At the gum wall in Seattle, Washington

                                               Inside Pike's place in Seattle, Washington

                                          On top of the space needle in Seattle, Washington

                                                 Near the base of Mt. St. Helens, Washington

A Vacation with Louiza (Day 9)

Today is the last full day in Portland, however we have many items on our to do list: check out of the tiny home by 11,  check into a hotel by the end of the runway literally, return the rental car by 5 pm and in the middle of all that visit the Portland weekly market and do some more shopping. Let’s not forget food, Louiza needs some energy to get around, less so for me... I just need H2O to burn calories and reduce unneeded fat. Given all that, we checked out of the tiny home at 10 instead of 11, headed downtown for the market ... it was small we discovered. Louiza was disappointed so we went on to another area of Portland where parking and walking are easier. Well to our big surprise we found another market even bigger and walked quiet a bit .. after that it was 1:00 pm and time for lunch so we looked for a place to eat. Once lunch was over we headed to our new hotel for the night, a short one since we will leave at 3:30 am for the airport. After the hotel, I left Louiza in the room and went to drop the car. That is the final sign that the vacation is indeed over... 

Louiza and I had a blast... it is our first vacation together in years (just the two of us)!! Yes we argued at times but for the most part we really enjoyed reconnecting again... We both came to the same conclusion that 7 days would have been ideal as 9 days stretched our limits... I think the reason for our fatigue was the driving and the changing of hotels nearly every day... very hard to live off a suitcase. On my foreign trips, I go for two weeks, and that is maximum! Not easy to sustain a fast pace of the vacation for too long.. I hope Louiza and I will repeat this again in the near future... 

                                                   Outdoor Weekend Market in Portland, Oregon

                                               New Neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon

                                              A picture with Big Foot in Portland, Oregon

                                      Louiza in Front of the Peculiarium in Portland, Oregon

                                                        Downtown Portland Market

                                               Louiza at the Downtown Portland Market

                                                  More Market in Downtown Portland

                                                   More Market in Downtown Portland

A Vacation with Louiza (Day 8)

Today is another take it easy day in Portland! First off Louiza and I woke up in a great mood and shape because the air in the tiny home was fresh and we both slept much better... I made coffee and ate a couple of voodoo donuts and a banana and I was ready to roll. By 9:30 am we left our tiny home, first destination the rose garden and the Japanese gardens. Most places in Portland open after 10 and some after 11. Parking is a big issue in Portland just like any other big city, you have to pay to park pretty much everywhere you go. The problem is we were moving a lot so we had to find parking each time which is a hassle but all in all we were fine. The rose gardens were great... it is fascinating to see the variety and the differences between rose bushes. After the rose gardens we decided to forgo the Japanese gardens... we thought we have seen enough flowers.. so we drove downtown to see how it looks and boy was it a mistake! The traffic was awful and so many one ways and we ended up going in circles with no where to park... We eventually left downtown and drove across the river to a suburb that is more walkable, we parked and walked ... first to a coffee shop then to vintage stores.. later in the afternoon we found an Italian restaurant and we sat down for some pasta.. we needed the carbs! As if we did not get enough punishment from the first drive through downtown we tried again and it was the same... by 5:00pm we headed to some souvenir store in a mall and bought some tourist stuff before calling it the day.. 

                             Lumber is plentiful in the the pacific northwest who needs cement!

                                             New neighborhoods rising everywhere

                                           Louiza's favorite pink house in Portland, Oregon

                             Big trees and lush green parks are common in the pacific northwest

                                           The most photographed Portland neon sign

                                            Louiza at the rose gardens in Portland, Oregon

                                                           Louiza with beautiful red roses

                             Roses of all types and color in the rose gardens of Portland, Oregon

                                                                   More roses.....

                                                      and more roses .....

                                                   and more roses.......

                                                 and even more roses ......

                                                                        ..... and more roses!

A Vacation with Louiza (Day 7)

We finally got out tiny house in Portland! It is a cutie and just as the rbnb website described it! Very peaceful and very close to downtown! I am sitting in our little porch while Louiza is resting on the couch inside, this is just what the doctor ordered for the day: a good relaxation day with little to do. Louiza and I have been on the go for 7 days: Vancouver WA, Mt St Helens, Seattle, Mt Rainier, Cannon Beach OR, Grisham OR and finally Portland OR! Off course we landed in Portland but we decided to save the best for last so we did everything else and finally came back to close the trip where it all started: Portland! We drove nearly a 1000 miles and stayed at five different hotels! This morning we both woke up tired and wondering if we will make it to our departure day on Sunday! Louiza was definitely showing signs of exhaustion, I was covering up my fatigue by trying to cheer Louiza up... After breakfast, we went back to the room and stayed there until check out time, 11 am! That is a first, we always left right after breakfast!! After leaving the hotel we headed to a neighborhood in Portland with few ventage stores that Louiza likes. I walked around in one of them but quickly realized these stores are not for me so I decided to wait in a cafe while she browses through some of them! Around 12:30 pm we stumble upon a Lebanese restaurant and that was it... I decided that is where we will be having lunch. I parked the car then walked to the restaurant while Louiza went to look at some other stores. I got a table and waited for her to come back and she promptly did. We ordered humus with pita, Louiza ordered a veggie bowl while I ordered a beef shawarma bowl. We were both very happy with our food, we even took leftovers to our tiny house for the night. Once we finished lunch we headed to our rbnb tiny home. It was not far from Portland downtown. Louiza and I are very happy to have picked this tiny home, it is a fresh  change from our hotel rooms ... we felt like our little home away from home! The air was fresh and I could sit in my tiny patio and write this paragraph for you all... 

Tomorrow will be a different again ... 

                    Pacific northwest cherries are very famous especially Rainier and Hood River!

                        Interesting artistic drawings on a nice restaurant in a suburb or Portland

                                            Side walks with nice lavender flowers in Portland

                                           Famous Voodoo doughnut (big business in Portland)

                                     The Voodoo doughnut, the chocolate one on top that doesn't
                                                               look like a doughnut at all!

                                                Louiza in our Portland tiny home

                                Louiza having a veggie bowl and humus. I had a shawarma bowl!

                                           In a vintage store in Portland (Louiza's favorite)

                                                    A street in the suburb of Portland

 

Louiza in our tiny kitchen in Portland

A Vacation with Louiza (Day 6)

Today started with a steady rain on the beach at Seaside. After breakfast, we packed and headed to one of Louiza’s vantage stores. It was only 15 minutes from the hotel so we got there fairly quickly. After browsing for few minutes, Louiza bought a couple of tiny things and then we were off to a farm  outside of Portland where they sell lavender flowers and other fruits and vegetables. The rain did not let up the whole way until we entered Portland. The terrain between the beach and Portland is pretty hilly and I needed to be very alert. I also understand why Oregon beaches are cold and dreary, it is because of the proximity of the mountains that seem to block the low clouds and keep the rain on the beaches. The higher clouds make it all the way through to Mt Hood and so it rains in the valley between the beaches and Mt Hood. After Mt Hood it is pretty much a desert landscape. This same situation exists in South America between Chile and Argentina where most of the moisture falls on the Chilean side while the Argentinian side is dry, the Patagonian step. The farm Louiza picked was on Sauvie island, it is a small inland island in Portland. The farm was full of people picking all sorts of things, from flowers to vegetables to fruits. Louiza picked lavender while I picked some Marionberry Raspberries which is the most grown raspberry variety in Oregon. After the farm, we headed to our hotel driving through downtown Portland. The traffic was rather heavy. Once at the hotel, we put our stuff in the room and headed to a restaurant for another late lunch, this time it is Mexican food. By late afternoon, we were back in the room to rest after a tour of a neighborhood downtown. 

Today was a very different day... and tomorrow will be too.. ..