Lake Oswego, Oregon - Uneventful and Wet

Well, after two days in Seattle getting ready, putting the cargo carrier onto the roof rack, sorting stuff out one more time, we said goodbye to our friends and drove off in the rain, south on I-5 towards our first destination, Lake Oswego, Oregon.   There is nothing much to report on this first day.  We stopped off to see the "kids" (Rowan, Coby and Jack) and took them out to lunch at the vegan restaurant, "Quickie Too."  It was pretty good food, homemade seitan and so forth, but the milkshakes were 8 dollars, which seemed pretty steep.  It had a Rastafarian theme, with lots of pictures of Bob Marley.  The service was kind of slow.   The advice I got (not that I was anxious or anything, as we are on a road trip and in no hurry) was "just pretend you're stoned."  That way, I guess, I wouldn't have to worry about the service.  But I wasn't worrying; I was being happy.  (Get it?  hahahahaha)

Here's the gang, with their eight dollar vegan milkshakes.  

Our next stop was supposed to be the world's largest wooden bird statue.  I was really excited to see it, but it was bucketing with rain, and it is in Centralia, so it's not like we're never going to get a chance to see it again.  It's at a huge flea market, and it would probably be fun to drive down there some time, visit the bird, go the the flea market (and the western outlet store of course), and stay at McMenamins Olympic Club Hotel.  Here's a link to the Yard Birds Mall if you want to go there without me:

Yard Birds Mall

There is also a link on the Roadside America site, which is a great place to find quirky stuff at the side of the road, if you go on a road trip.
Roadside America tip about the giant bird
We drove right past the bird this time, dropped Jack off at college, and now are relaxing at the Lakeshore Inn in Lake Oswego, a nondescript hotel by the lake, whose patrons, I am sure, are mainly parents of Lewis and Clark college kids.  We should probably make our reservations for Jack's graduation in 2016 while we're here.

Despite the uneventful and rainy start to our journey, we are wildly excited for the adventures that lie ahead of us.