No Tax

The first trip, one week ago(ish), was Portland! City of...whatever they're the city of! The original plan was to ride the Amtrak down there, but the day Lyd found out she had the day off from work, tickets went up $12 each way! So, we instead decided to drive our own selves down there and save us some money and time (trains aren't fast...).
Our first stop was North 23rd Avenue (or something like that, I don't remember exactly). It was a decently longish street lined with independent shops and boutiques. They definitely had some cool stuff around there, including phone poles on the street corners absolutely Covered in staples and scrap paper from so many flyers being put up. I can't imagine what Seattle would look like if we had wooden poles on corners like this...
After a stop at Powell's City of Books (which is awesome), we proceeded to Lloyd Center; it's a big mall. We didn't really go in many stores at all, we basically just walk around the entire place then left :). On our way back to the Max (an above ground subway, you might say), we stopped for some sitting time in this little park. I found a ladybug on the bench we were going to sit on.
I also saw a cool tree from where we were sitting.
In all, a brilliantly fun trip. It was an excellent break to just not think about work at all and actually relax for once! There will definitely be a return trip...

I'm tired, let's ride the street car back...