Houston and Portland

---

After a three hour delay in Costa Rica finally arriving in Houston close to midnight, we were very happy to find Colin waiting at the airport for us. Our last week in Houston was spent enjoying catching up with Louise, Colin, James and Lachlan. We were lucky to be able to go James's Baseball games, James is a talented player and not only fielded well but also hit some home runs. We also were able to watch Lachlan playing in his soccer team and were thrilled to watch him score a goal.

Alex and Marg attended Grandparents and Special friends day at the boys school, and we all attended the boys science fair. We all enjoyed going out for dinner on a number of nights, one delicious meal was enjoyed a local restaurant Ouisies, serving Southern Cuisine. This was the first time Alex had ever had Chicken Fried Steak, an unusual but delicious dish.

After a sad goodbye to the family in Houston our next stop was to the city of Portland. We stayed at the Hotel Monaco, located right in the city, we all agreed we loved this hotel. From the warm welcome at reception, beautiful guest rooms to the comfortable lounge with piano player and complimentary drinks late afternoon, we felt at home.

Walking to a Brew Pub for dinner we found Portland to be a very welcoming and friendly city. The meals at the Pub were very enjoyable and Ron found the choice of 100 different brews nearly overwhelming. Ron really enjoyed a Portland brew flavoured with Hazelnuts while Margies chocolate dessert was so large all three of us shared it.

As we only had one full day in Portland we decided to visit the Japanese Gardens overlooking the city, unfortunately after being dropped by taxi late morning we found the garden did not open until noon. We filled in time walking through the nearby Rose Gardens which altohugh open were unfortunately not in bloom. It was well worth the wait for the Japanese Gardens as they were to rival the Butchart Gardens, although smaller they were beautiful set out and maintained.

After leaving the gardens we had a long walk in the rain, much further than we anticipated, to the Tram stop back to our hotel. In the afternoon Ron went exploring, after walking most of Portland he took the Ariel Tram to great a view back over the city. Alex and Marg spent an enjoyable couple of hours in the shops. We managed to meet up with Colin for dinner as he was staying in Portland for a few nights to undertake his fine furniture making course. We took the hotel receptionist advice and booked in to Andina Restaurant which served delicious Peruvian Tapas.

We only had the chance to try one of the local cafes for breakfast, there seemed to be lots nearby cafes and restaurants and we would have liked to have had more time to try these and the food carts that were found all over the city. We found it an easy city to walk around and there were also free city trams available. Everyone we met was friendly and helpful, one man even stopped riding his bike when he saw us looking at a map to ask if we needed help. We all agreed felt at home in Portland as it was a little like Melbourne.

---