Downtown holiday adventure

Eryn and I had so much fun this summer exploring San Francisco that we decided to explore our own city over winter break. The Dec. 20 forecast looked fairly good, so we set out for some fun.

First stop was dropping my car for a seasonal tire swap at Discount Tire on Highway 99W in Tigard. The bus stopped right out front:

Oh, the 12 bus. We spent many hours on this line when we worked downtown. 

We hopped off in the Portland State University district and walked toward the street car. I wonder what this means:

Oh, look... a hidden park and fountain! Too bad it was too cold for the fountain:

We hopped the next street car (first time for both of us!) and rode across the Tilikum Crossing: 

The plan was to ride the entire loop around the city. But we spotted Next Adventure and decided to hop off for a bit of shopping: 

The street car comes about every 15 minutes, so we jumped back on after perusing the store's offerings: 

Back where we started, we decided to check out the other "hidden parks and fountains": 

Pettygrove Park: 

Meantime, Mom finished her doctor's appointment and met us downtown. We set off north on foot, stopping first at Pioneer Courthouse Square:  

It was news time: 

First order of business was lunch. Mom led us to The Oyster Bar: 

YUMMO!

Right across the street was Voodoo Doughnuts. It was the first time for Mom and Eryn: 

Then on to the Festival of the Last Minute at Saturday Market: 

The morning clouds and drizzle parted, and we thought finishing the loop on foot was a good idea. We walked north across the Steel Bridge and then returned south on the Eastbank Esplande. A fire boat put on a show for us: 

Remembering Mayor Vera Katz: 

A quick potty stop at OMSI: 

We loved seeing this in the window:

Back across the Tilikum bridge, this time on foot: 

And since Mom missed the street car the first time, we hopped on board for the short ride back to the PSU district: 

Taking the back roads of southwest Portland, Mom drove me back to the tire store, completing our journey.

I thought this was super fun! I'd love to do it again and see what else Portland has to offer :)