Train trip to Portland

October 10, the kids had the day off of school and Jim didn't work, so we decided to take the train to Portland. Jim's parents drove over and rode with us. It was scheduled to leave on Friday morning at 5:35 a.m. Well, with our travel luck these days, when we got to the train station, the train was running 2 hours late. So, we went to a little bakery in Pasco and got some pastries, then went to Jim's office to wait out the time until the train left at about 8:15. It was actually really nice to have his office to go to so we didn't have to go all the way back home. The kids just watched TV downstairs and Jim's parents and I took a little nap in the chairs upstairs.


So, we got to Portland at about 1 p.m., got our 2 rental cars, got some lunch and then went to OMSI. We love OMSI. The kids always have a good time there. Haden, Lexie and Cooper especially had a good time. Cooper loved the space shuttle replica and wouldn't get out of it. From there, we headed to the hotel to check in and freshen up. We ate dinner at Izzy's--a pizza buffet restaurant--which was one of our favorite places to eat when we lived in Portland. The kids always love it and we got right in and didn't have to wait like at all the other places on a Friday night.


Saturday morning, we got up and ate breakfast. The kids were thrilled because the Embassy Suites Hotel has a buffet breakfast and they could get as much bacon, eggs and pancakes as they wanted. After breakfast, Jim took the kids swimming for about an hour and then we cleaned up and got ready to check out. After we checked out, Jim and his dad took Haden, Lexie and Cooper to the zoo while Jim's mom, Kenedy, Hallie and I went to the mall to shop. It was a really beautiful day--sun shining and about 60 degrees.


















We ended our weekend in Portland by meeting at Enterprise to take the cars back and headed to the train station for the ride home. The train was on time and we were allowed to board first and find 9 seats together. It was great because we were able to sit in the passenger car right by the lounge car. The kids loved going into the lounge car and looking out the windows or playing games at the tables. All in all, we had a great time on our trip to Portland. Cooper is a little bit loud for a long train ride, but we made it and we had a good time.