Vacation In the Pacific Northwest

Eric, Ariel and I enjoyed a nice vacation in Oregon this past weekend. Eric's cousin, Cheryl was married to a great guy and we flew out to attend the wedding. Ariel did great on the plane (thank the heavens) and overall, the flight was quiet and uneventful.

Well you can't just go out of state and sit around, so we embarked on an adventure or two.

We rented a Saturn Vue and Eric and I had some serious car envy, as our cars are costing more money than they're worth (in repairs). It was a much needed expense, however, since we have Ariel. Anywho, We visited a Catholic sanctuary, called The Grotto. A beautiful altar is carved into the side of the mountain. The upper level featured this peaceful garden that is perfect for reflection and meditation. It was worth the trip.

We next visited the International Rose Test Garden. It began in like 1920 and features between 7,000 and 10,000 different types of roses. We've been trying to introduce different scents to Ariel, so she got to sniff quite a few flowers. This inevitably backfired and all we did was overwhelm her (whoops), but we got some nice pics before the meltdown.

David and the Team went to Hood River where we visited a couple vineyards. Our favorite was the Naked Winery, which had some very provocative names for their wines and even more scandalous descriptions for them. We loved the ambiance and the wine was pretty good too! We also stopped by Multnomah Falls which were beautiful and very crowded. We didn't stay long, but got a nice shot of the fam.

Saturday, we ventured downtown to Waterfront Park, which was right next to the Columbia River. They also had a food festival and a farmer's market. We skipped these events and just took some time to relax.

The trip back home was uneventful and we're happy to be home and back on a regular schedule.