Willamette River - Portland, Oregon

 A cold but clear day meant a long walk over several bridges and multiple miles on both sides of the Willamette River.

Rock Creek Trail - Hillsboro, Oregon

 

Rock Creek Trail is another regional trail that extends into several cities and runs through multiple parks. We parked near Orenco Woods Nature Park in Hillsboro and headed toward Bethany/Beaverton. This one will definitely take several visists to complete.

http://www.thprd.org/parks-and-trails/rock-creek-trail

Lunch Time Stroll Downtown - Tigard, Oregon

With beautiful weather and a long lunch you've got to get out for a long walk. We have a loop that we follow that just happened to pass the school office staff TWICE. 

We started on Pathfinder-Genesis Trail to Fanno Creek Trail. From there we took the Heritage Trail to Main Street and back down Fanno Creek Trail again.

Ballot Drop-off - Tigard, Oregon

 Like the Visine advertisements from the 80s and 90s - It gets the Red OUT!!!

John Tigard House (East Butte Heritage Park) - Tigard, Oregon

 

We've heard of the John Tigard House but always seem to forget to check it out. This was an after dinner walk so the house was closed and it started to get dark on our walk home. Hopefully we'll remember to come back again and explore the area with more daylight.

https://www.tigard-or.gov/community/east_butte_heritage_park.php

Tigard Transit Center - Tigard, Oregon

 We enjoyed the Outdoor Museum on the Heritage Trail on our way to grab coffee at Symposium. Out of chance (and curiosity) we walked across the street to the Tigard Transit Center. Commuters park, walk or bike here to catch the WES train to the Beaverton Transit Center MAX station. We were surprised to find moveable art. It was a mix of strange cast of characters. We could have stayed and played if it wasn't the middle of a pandemic. We decided it was best not to touch anything, but just enjoy it from an arm's length away.

Fanno Creek Trail - Tigard, Oregon

 There was finally a break from all the smoke from the wildfires. Yay! We completed a six mile trek today.

After Dinner Stroll Downtown - Tigard, Oregon

 It's a little rare for us to get out during the week. It's even more rare to go at night. We left shortly after dinner when it was still light out but it was dark by the time we got home. We saw some new murals in downtown Tigard and we found the 99W overpass lit up in a variety of colors.

Greenway Park - Beaverton, Oregon

 

So we were actually on a six mile stroll on Fanno Creek Trail. But we grabbed coffee at Lionheart Coffee and spent more time exploring Greenway Park. We saw a lot of people playing disc golf. Some of their throws were quite impressive.

http://www.thprd.org/parks-and-trails/detail/greenway-park

https://www.lionheartcoffee.com/ 

Marquam Hill - Portland, Oregon

 We had some time to kill after an appointment at Shriners. On the way home we decided to pull over and see some views.

Tualatin River - Tualatin, Oregon

 

We felt a lot more comfortable on the water after our rafting and kayaking tours with Adventures Without Limits so we decided to try this on our own. Our first attempt at launching failed because Cook Park was way too crowded. But just upstream a little ways was Tualatin Community Park.

Smith Berry Barn - Hillsboro, Oregon

 

Oddly enough, this place randomly showed up on Google Maps. We often randomly drag the map around to look for green areas indicating parks or nature preserves. Okay, sometimes it's just a golf course that tricks us. Anyway, we looked this place up and decided it was well worth the scenic drive to get there. They were almost sold out of berries that day but we did get to visit with some goats and chickens.

https://smithberrybarn.com/

Summerlake Park - Tigard, Oregon

 

We needed to get out of the house for some video calls that were happening. This is one of our favorite local parks. 

https://www.tigard-or.gov/community/summerlake_park.php

Eastbank Esplanade - Portland, Oregon

 We completed a large loop around the Portland waterfront. We actually parked on the West side but our main objective was to check out the Eastbank Esplanade and the area around OMSI. It was all nicely paved and mostly wide paths. Going over the bridges was a little bit crowded but we went slow and kept our distance.

Heritage Trail - Tigard, Oregon

 

Tigard recently opened this Heritage Trail with and outdoor museum. It conveniently connects the downtown area with the Fanno Creek Trail at Woodard Park. As soon as you approach the downtown you are greeted by Symposium Coffee. It's a favorite local coffee place but it does have limited hours.

Fanno Creek Trail - Tigard, Oregon

 

We had to walk to the library today to make absolute 100 percent sure that it's closed due to the pandemic. Because that's what you do when you are in denial about your favorite place being closed. It was alright though. We took advantage of the parts of Fanno Creek Trail that we often ignore. We passed by the library and continued all the way to the Southern end of the trail that was navigable by wheelchair.

Tualatin River Greenway Trail - Tualatin, Oregon

 

We spotted this nicely paved 12 foot wide trail before and decided to head back to see how far it goes. According to the City of Tualatin the part that they maintain is 4.6 miles, but it does extend into neighboring Durham and Tigard.

https://www.tualatinoregon.gov/recreation/tualatin-river-greenway-trail

Portland Waterfront & Artwalk Tualatin

 

With everything closed due to the pandemic we headed for the Portland waterfront for a stroll on the West side of the river. It was a little too crowded and the bicyclist were having a difficult time keeping their distance so we drove out to The Artwalk in Tualatin.

https://www.tualatinoregon.gov/recreation/artwalk

Pathfinder-Genesis Trail - Tigard, Oregon

We had time for another lunchtime walk. It was chilly but dry. We spotted sidewalk chalk art shortly after arriving on the path. We took a different route today which led us to a backyard with the most friendly goat. He came frolicking over to us when we stopped to take a photo. We saw lots of ducks and squirrels on the way home.

Woodard Park - Tigard, Oregon

The weather was still nice enough to take a long stroll to one of the nearby parks. Kate decided to go on two wheels.

Cook Park - Tigard, Oregon

Another lunchtime stroll. This time we returned to Cook Park. We ran into school staff out for a jog. It was a really nice surprise to see them since school has been closed due to Corona Virus.

Fanno Creek Park - Tigard, Oregon

We took a lunchtime walk on the paths at Fanno Creek Park with some detours through parts of Downtown Tigard. We liked seeing our name on a boat shop so we paused to take a photo. :)

Pathfinder-Genesis Trail - Tigard, Oregon

This nice path actually runs through our neighborhood and is nicely maintained by the City of Tigard. The trail branches out in a few spots so you can choose your own adventure.

Cook Park - Tigard, Oregon

The Tigard Library parking lot was full so we drove over to Cook Park to take a stroll and waste some time. We explored a side of the park that we ignored all the previous times that we've been there.

Kidfest! at Portland Expo Center - Portland, Oregon

Groupon had a great deal on family tickets to Kidfest!, which included an early admission for special needs children. We got to do trampolines and paintball before the general admission.

Dirksen Nature Park - Tigard, Oregon

We had a little bit of time to kill before needing to start dinner. It was just enough time to walk to Dirksen Nature Park.

Wells Fargo Museum - Portland, Oregon

We were going to have lunch at a food cart downtown so we decided to waste a little time first at the Wells Fargo Museum.

Timbers Fan Axe Billboard Photo Shoot - Portland, Oregon

We heard about this event on Facebook. Timbers are celebrating their 10 years on Major League Soccer by hosting this fans photo shoot. Once they upload all the photos (thousands of them), fans will vote on which fan photos to use for billboards.

We were standing in line when reps from Dutch Bros coffee approached and offered a colorful jersey for free! It was getting late and we were needing to return to the van for a diaper. The wonderful staff were concerned about us leaving without having a chance to participate. So they jumped into action and escorted us to a secret elevator and placed us in the very front of the line so we would be next. Claire from Portland Thorns and Timbers saved the day!!!

10th Birthday Party at Big Al's - Beaverton, Oregon

We had so much fun bowling at Big Al's over the summer that we decided to have a birthday party there. We invited close friends from UCP and friends from school too. It turned into cosmic bowling but that seemed to be okay for everyone. We all had a blast!