Gardens and Balloons

Alfredo and I took the opportunity of the yucky morning weather to sleep in a bit today. There was a great continental breakfast (homeade granola, juice, fresh fruit, coffee, you name it) and great television on: Star Wars, the original series! Of course we got sucked into watching the whole thing and by the time it was over the weather had just about cleared up. :) In true Oregonian fashion, we decided to work out, so we suited up and went up to the fitness center in the hotel. Not only was it huge with a million machines to choose from, but it was practically empty so we tried the treadmills, the weights, the balls and the punching bag! ha ha.... so much fun! I'm training for a 5k race coming up (yeah Jodes!) so I got my 3 miles in and felt pretty good about that. :)

After the excellent workout, we decided to conquer the strange maze of Portland streets and go to the Portland Japanese Garden and the International Test Rose Garden. We of course got lost, but were lost in a forest, so it wasn't all bad. I took lots of pics along the way and eventually we got to our destination just as the sun was peeking through the clouds. Imagine about 300 acres of the most gorgeous roses you have ever seen, all colors of the rainbow. Then imagine that it has just stopped raining and so there are dewdrops on every petal and the colors are vibrant and everything smells fresh. Well, that only begins to describe the experience! I think I drove Alfredo nuts because I must have taken at least 300 pictures there. Not kidding!!

Across the way was the exquisite Japanese garden, which was a quarter mile hike up through the forest to a secluded wooded area that was a hidden treasure of manicured bushes, flowers, bridges, fountains, waterfalls and sculptures laid out in simplicity and harmony with the surrounding forest. We felt like we had been transported to Japan! There were even brightly patterned orange, yellow and black cod in the pond and they made a weird sucking noise with their big round mouths every time they came to the surface. Alfredo figured out how to do a perfect impression of them! ha ha... I think this garden was one of my favorite things that we've encountered on our trip so far. It's hard to describe - it's just a feeling you have when you're in there like you are totally at peace. It's great! I took lots of pictures so I can recreate some of these cool elements in my own backyard (someday when I actually have a yard!).

One other funny tidbit - we were eating frozen popsicles at the rose garden and my lips froze to the popsicle and I couldn't get them off. :( It hurt like crazy and I felt like such a DORK because I couldn't remove them! Alfredo tried to breathe hot air on the popsicle but to no avail. My lips were permanently stuck and I had to wait for the popsicle to melt in order to get them off. Ugh! I now have patches of skin missing from my bottom lip. Don't laugh at me!

The afternoon entertainment for the day was going down to Tigard (about half an hour south of Portland) for the annual hot air balloon festival. There were lots of vendors selling yummy carnival food (mmm..... A&W root beer floats, pizza, and curly fries), live music, arts and crafts stands with beautiful handmade Indian jewelry and lots of other cool local artsy things. When we first arrived the music of choice was a "band" which was made up of what looked like three 10 year old boys on electric guitars and drums. They were performing music that they wrote which all sounded exactly the same - painful to the ears. After that it got better with some DJ's keeping the tunes alive and pretty soon the trucks rolled into the big grassy field and started setting up the hot air balloons and slowly filling them with air. As we munched on our veggie chips and root beer floats, we watched the colorful balloons come to life. As the daylight faded into dusk, they became "glowing" balloons that lit up the night sky, every time the fires were ignited beneath them. They never actually took off into the sky, but it was still cool to watch them glow on and off. After draining my camera battery into oblivion, with bags full of our purchases from the local vendors, we headed back to Portland for our final night at the Avalon. [sigh] The time has flown too fast! Sionara Oregon - Washington here we come!