Portland and the Empire Builder

24 hours in Portland is just enough time to walk most of the lively, downtown area. We spend the evening we arrived dropping our bags at the hotel and heading towards the Williamette River. There's a park along the water where bike messengers feverishly speed by while pedestrians take in the views. Nearby is the shopping district and Pioneer Square which, we learned, became the epicenter of downtown during its revitalization. We enjoyed dinner at one of the best Thai restaurants in the Northwest, Typhoon! Marc and the waitress convinced me to try the lemongrass clam chowder, and it did not disappoint.

We started the following morning enjoying breakfast at a Italian bakery before heading off to our church walking tour. Every block has beautifully constructed Gothic style churches over 100 years old. The next neighborhood we visited was the Pearl District, a hip locale of renovated warehouses, before grabbing our bags and making it back to the station in time to hop on the Empire Builder.

The first couple of hours we rode along the Colorado River Gorge. Pictures to follow as words cannot describe the beauty of the landscape. We woke up this morning to evergreen covered mountains sprinkled with snow. We wove in and out of the ranges, cutbacks and straight through Glacier National Park. Keeping an eye out for animal footprints proved successful because we eventually spotted a herd of about 20-30 golden brown elk less then 20 feet from our tracks.

Lunchtime is coming so we're off to the dining car. Have been enjoying the big picture windows in the lounge are all morning.

National Park RoadTrip Part III

Started in LA, headed to Denver, through Utah. Had a beautiful scenic route the entire way. Spent a week in downtown Denver, Nicole relaxed at the hotel while Eric went to training. Roma loved the huge park nearby, played ball every day. Hottest it got was 90. Left on Friday afternoon for Pam's and Doug's house in Colorado Springs. Met Evy and enjoyed shrimp and grits and good company. Stopped for the night somewhere along the highway and made it to Santa Fe in the morning to snoop about town and enjoy some sought after Mexican food- enchiladas and sopapilla! Temperature around 100 degrees. Continued down to Albuquerque, checked out town via Route 66 and made it to Chandler, AZ (home of Danine) late at night. Woke up to discover a beautiful resort with amazing views, nice facilities and a casino! Spent the day checking out the sights courtesy of Marco and Danine, hung out by the pool (see Eric below) where it was 113 degrees and grabbed a meal at a local diner (see group shot below). Woke up on Monday to drive back to town, watched the thermostat in the car hit 113 again and gradually go down to 79 which is when we knew we were back in Santa Monica.