I have such mad game that I surprise myself sometimes. Awhile back, I made plans for a secret trip to Portland and the Oregon coast that I'd spring on Amanda. I arranged with her employers to get a Friday off without her knowing. To get her to pack for the trip, I first let her know that we'd be going camping for the weekend on a Thursday night.
The real surprise, of course, was that she wasn't going to work at all on Friday. We got ready for work like usual, but instead of driving north on I-5, I went south. Amanda was totally shocked. I'd share the video of her realizing the trip, but Amanda didn't have make-up on at that time in the morning, so she'd kill me if I shared it here. I'm learning this husband business afterall.
We had an amazing weekend and the weather mostly cooperated. Here's the pictorial.
Hooray! We're in Portland (Friday morning).
Breakfast at Mother's Bistro.
Next, we went to the Rose Garden. We used Google Maps to get there, which took us to where the Trailblazers play. We eventually figured it out.
A woman who looked JUST like the star of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (Amanda swears it was her) flagged us over to take a picture of this dragonfly. The dragonfly remained still. The woman disappeared.
Next up, the Japanese Garden.
Paying my respect to the Timbers.
We bought a couple books at Powell's, or approximately 0.00000000000000000000000000000000001 of its inventory.
I just thought this looked cool.
We spent most of the evening at McMenamin's Kennedy School -- an old elementary schoolhouse converted into a swanky hotel, complete with bars, movie theater, restaurants and a saltwater bathing pool. Sorry there aren't more pictures. We were only there in the evening and were half-naked most of the time. It's OK. We're married.
On Saturday morning, we went to the infamous Voodoo Donuts. This was the line around the corner.
We turned the corner and went to the Portland Saturday Market.
Per Moos' advice, we made a lunch stop at Por que no? Muy bueno!
We walked around the Mississippi neighborhood and Amanda enjoyed a hippie nursery where chickens roamed freely.
After the stroll, we hopped in the car for a few-hour drive to our campground at Nehalem Bay State Park. Here's the video from a very curvy Highway 53.
We almost didn't go because of the weather. The forecast called for a 70 percent chance of rain. We made a stop at Home Depot on the way, grabbed some tents and went for it. I'm so glad we did. The beach was incredible!
Like I said, tarp and tent. I felt like I was a little kid building a fort.
And more beach time.
This is the time where I call out Amanda for always being too rough with pulling up her jeans, to the point of ripping the tag.
Dinner time.
On Sunday morning, we packed up and drove north to Cannon Beach.
The weather didn't cooperate, but we made the most of it.
Amanda realized that our route home went through Astoria, where Goonies was filmed. I think I've watch the movie twice and Amanda revealed that she has seen the movie 12x more than I have. Needless to say, we made a stop.
Here's the house where the first part of the movie takes place, including the Truffle Shuffle.
Finally, we made it back home and were welcomed by overcast skies.
