Champoeg and Portland

It’s been too long since I’ve driven South instead of East, so this trip was long overdue.

My sister and I were on I-5 by 12:55 on Friday and hit the worst traffic we’ve ever seen through Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia. 6 hours and two Starbucks stops later we finally pulled into Newberg. Emily split to spend the weekend with Josh’s clan, and Buckley the Wandering Bison and I turned towards Champoeg State Park.

Buckley prepares to set up camp

A word to the wise, visiting on non-holiday weekends does not guarantee you a campsite in state parks. Every site was taken when I rolled in. I was about to go trailer to trailer and beg a place to pitch my tent when I found the “hike-/bike-in” area. I parked the car and found a flat spot in an oak grove to pitch my tent.

Home sweet tent!

After breaking my fast and camp in the morning, I quickly cruised to Portland to meet up with Melissa, Austin, and Finn (the Jack Russel mix) for the Rose Parade. It had been over a year since we had hung out, and our day was full of food carts, froyo, dragon boat races, and random meanderings through PDX.

Food carts, a Portland Tradition. I highly recommend Eurodish (bottom right)
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After saying goodbye to my friends, I made my pilgrimage to Powell's Shrine City of Books. A few hours later, I stumbled out with a few purchases and many additions to my "to read" list!

I was tempted to buy it and leave it in a random hostel in Germany this summer...