We made it back from our trip to Oregon. We very, very briefly went to Washington as well, because our GPS (aka Mrs. Garman) failed to give us sufficient warning for an exit, and we had to continue across the border before we could get back to our Portland destination.

Miles did just wonderfully on the plane. He got a little grumpy a few times, but he only really cried for about 10 seconds. It’s a lot easier to fly with him than take a long car ride, apparently. The fact that there were two adults dedicated to entertaining him, as well as various fellow passengers and flight attendants, helped a lot.

Fun things about our trip:

• Best quote: while we were waiting to get things sorted out with our rental car, a little boy (probably about 3) went to the bathroom with his dad. As they emerged, the little boy said, “But if we went potty and there’s soap in there, why didn’t we wash our hands?” The dad just mumbled and quickly ushered the boy out of the office.
• Powell’s Books, a huge independent bookstore in downtown Portland with outlandish numbers of new and used books and a cool coffee mug for me.
  
• Portland coffee. I went to a different coffee shop every day to try the local brews (and had to try some local pastries along the way; woe is me). Even the bad coffee (e.g., free hotel coffee) was good in Portland.
• Fish and chips and an IPA in a brew pub.
• Hauling Miles around the Portland art museum. He didn’t let me stay as long as I might have liked, but he seemed to enjoy the portraiture. He likes looking at faces.
• The MAX light rail system, especially the fareless square that includes downtown and our hotel. We bopped around all over the place.
• The Bijou Café, where Denny had the best cheeseburger of his life. I had a bite. It was freaking awesome. My sandwich was good too, but his was better.
• The gorgeous beach at Cannon Beach, featuring Haystack Rock.
  
• The friendly bunnies on the grounds of our Cannon Beach hotel (photo credit: Denny)
  
• Just relaxing with my family.