Portland & Mt. Rainier! (Road Trip Pt. 5)

After my amazing drive- I arrived to Lake Oswego to stay with my Gramma’s sister, Dixie, and her family!

I’m super close with both of my grammas- but my mom’s mom is an artist too so we have always bonded over that.

Her and my Aunt Dixie are both talented painters- I know a lot of my love for art was passed down from that side of the family! My gramma focuses on watercolors and my Aunt Dixie uses acrylics like me. They have taken so many different painting workshops together over the years, even some fun ones over in Europe! They both inspire me to want to travel with art and to keep creating and learning.

It was so lovely staying with her, my Uncle Tom & my mom’s cousins Robby. We had some great conversations and a lot of fun. I was so happy I was able to spend time with my moms sides of the family- because they’re so far it’s hard to see them often- but it was so nice.

The first morning, my Aunt Dixie and I went down to the Lake Oswego farmers market.

The produce is one of my absolute favorite things about the Pacific NorthWest. I think it’s because of the richer soil, I feel like the Southeast over sowed its soil. Also there is so much rain in the PNW- all the fruits and veggies taste plump and juicy. These are my crazy opinions- but really I think produce is noticeably better out west!

One of the days of my visit, we went to the Japanese Garden and the Rose Garden in downtown Portland. They were both beautiful.

First, the rose garden was incredible. It honestly was amazing how many different kinds of roses there was- every color imaginable.

A little bit above the Rose Garden- was the Japanese Garden.

Portland was so hilly. We really had to walk uphill to get to the gardens- but that’s the kinda exercise I like- the one that rewards you with a great view.

The Japanese gardens were so cool. They had zen sand gardens, bonsai trees, koi ponds, so much moss- it was magic.

After the gardens, we got a late lunch, and then drove the boat around the lake. It was an awesome day.

I ended up actually painting some of the koi I saw here.

The next morning, I joined my mom’s cousin Courtney and her daughter, Maia for some hot yoga.

That was honestly so refreshing- I hadn’t done hot yoga in a few years- but even a regular yoga class in person it had been probably a year or two. It felt so nice to use and move my body- and I love yoga for teaching me to practice mindfulness in my movements.

I remember feeling so good and awake after that class. I think community workouts are beneficial for the social aspects of classes too, I need to go more because its just great for us. :)

**My blueberry bucket!**

After some yoga, my west coast cousins also indulged me on going blueberry picking! I guess growing up in Oregon that is something you do a lot, especially as a kid, so I appreciated them going with me again.
It was awesome the whole bucket was like $15.

I loved my stay in Portland, after I headed north for Mount Rainier as a day stop, and Tacoma for the night.

I was so excited to explore that national park- especially now that I had the Park Pass which got me in anywhere for free. It was $85 for a full year- now I think National Parks are free but at the time it was an amazing deal, so everytime I used it I felt like it was cheaper which was fun. And Mount Rainier was incredible.

I think it’s definitely one of the largest mountains I’ve seen.

I just loved this park because it was so green and it had so many waterfalls and rainbows.

I did the big, main natural attractions but if I had more time I could’ve done a few days to take my time with the the whole park.

When I went from one main view point to where I thought would be the trail back to the parking lot- I ended up hiking 6 miles. So I really got to see and experience the mountain!

It was supposed to be .6 with a little incline, and after about 25 minutes of walking I thought weird this is getting a little long.

I misread the map and thought well might as well keep walking to see the attraction that looks close. But I got turned around and the path just kept going up.

I walked until my apple watch said 3 miles and then with no end in sight I turned around- but I covered a lot of ground!

I went all the way back on the path I took then walked on the main road back to the parking lot. I probably should have taken that first, but my scenic shortcut was quite a walk haha.

I was silly for not downloading all trails which loads the trails and directions on your phone even without service- but I was smart enough to pack plenty of water, I had just eaten lunch, sunscreen- so things were safe. I also had pepper spray just in case but that ended up getting seized when I went to Canada.