Every year our homeschool co-op organizes a field trip to Portland. The field trip coordinator (who is amazing!) secures for us an educational discount, and we can take the 2 hour train trip to Portland and back for only $15! Our group gets 2 full train cars all to ourselves. It’s a fabulous deal and one of our favorite events of the spring. This year we went in June rather than May, and Rachel was home from college and could join us. We also invited some other dear friends (NOT homeschoolers, shhhh, don’t tell) to come along.
We got up early and drove to the train station. David was in California with Tim, so he wasn’t with us. We missed him the whole day. Felt strange not to have him there. Daniel took off work from Chick-Fil-A and was able to come. The train ride is a good part of the fun – roaming the cars with friends, eating in the dining car, reading books, playing games, being silly.
Goofy kids
Rachel was smart and brought a book.
We’ve been on this trip several times. It’s always an adventure exploring Portland on foot. This year we were treated to a private tour of the Lan Su Chinese gardens in the center of town. Fascinating information, beautiful gardens, and great setting for pictures.
Our garden tour group.
My beautiful college girl – LOVE, LOVE, LOVE having her home this summer.
Nancy and I tried to keep track of all these teens.
And, of course, we had to go to Powell’s Book Store. How could a bunch of avid readers and homeschoolers skip the largest used and new bookstore in the world?? Powell’s occupies an entire city block, and claims to stock over a million new and used books.
I wish I could have given each child $100 to spend on books while we were there. That would have been an amazing surprise and treat for the day. Ah, well, not in my budget.
Powell’s Book store
After all that book shopping, we definitely needed some sugar to sustain us. Time for some donuts.
People argue whether our very own Lakewood House of Donuts actually BEATS Portland’s famous Voodoo Donuts.
And, of course, nothing goes as well with donuts as some coffee. Off to Starbucks.
I don’t know where all this silliness comes from.
Friends who photo bomb are the best!
This beautiful friend is an absolute joy and treasure in my life!
I think we logged in miles of walking throughout the day. We enjoyed Thai food at the food trucks. Saw friends from our group as we walked around the city. And were so thankful for the gorgeous, sunny day.
A last look at the water before heading back to the train.
Daniel spent the day with James and other friends, so I didn’t get any pictures of him. Funny what you realize you did or didn’t capture throughout the day on your camera.
All in all it was a lovely day. Friends, coffee, books, donuts, walking, gardens, laughter, train rides, water. Thank you, ACTS Co-Op, for providing a great family adventure for us. Thank you, Tung and Debbie, for letting Angie and Zach come with us. Thank you, Nancy, Julia and Daniel for being our Portland buddies for the day.
Project 365 – Day 168 (June 17th)
Kathy
