NW Trip '12 - Day 10

6/11/12 - Day 10: Given our early bedtime the night before, we got up and left Mt. Rainier relatively early (grabbing breakfast at the Inn's cafe on the way). On the way out of the park, we stopped for a brisk 1.5-mile hike at the "Grove of the Patriarchs," which was a "must-see" according to our National Parks book. The hike was nice and quiet, winding through some very old, very tall douglas firs and across a suspension bridge before making it to "the grove." The grove consisted of several 1000+ year old trees that looked like they were straight from Jurassic Park (in size and age). We took a few pictures, hiked back the way we came, and hopped in the car to head to Portland!

On the way to Portland, we made the biggest mistake of the trip: we stopped for lunch at Subway. We didn't realize it was a mistake at first, but once we got into Portland and found a parking garage near Pioneer Courtyard Square, Cari made good use of her empty sunchips bag. :/ It wasn't a very pleasurable experience for her, obviously. Once she was..umm..done, we walked down to the square and took a few pictures of the flowers (see above). I also went out on a hunt for ginger ale. After hanging out and hoping that her stomach would settle, and then seeing that it wouldn't, we decided against further sightseeing and drove across the city to our hotel near the airport, the Clarion.

We took it easy the rest of the afternoon -- Cari rested for a bit while I did laundry and checked work email. Around dinner time, I drove to Target and bought some chicken noodle soup for Cari and stopped for takeout at Buffalo Wild Wings for me. It was a relaxing, recovering night of eating, watching the Kings win the Stanley Cup, and yes...folding laundry. I'm sure Portland is a nice place, but there really wasn't much we wanted to see/do here, so having a day of rest (which was much needed) was probably a wise decision. Maybe we'll make it back one day and see all the splendor that the city has to offer ... until then, good riddance!