SALEM & PORTLAND, OREGON

Jaycie’s Bunny Hoppin’ News: FLOWERS & BOOKS!

By: Jaycie Lillie, 5/28/23 – 5/29/23

5/28/23: We were staying at a campground in Salem, Oregon and just 10 minutes from us is the Largest Iris fields in the US! And it just happened to be Bloom Fest! We walked around their show garden looking at every color of flowers.

We took pictures of our favorite ones. They all had fun names!

Dazzle:

Moroccan Sunset:

Grand Canyon Sunset:

Absolute Treasure:

Blutique:

All My Dreams:

Orange King:

Gothic:

African Morning:

There were food places and 4 craft booths. I got plain shaved ice and mommy got a flavored one.

But we were really there for the flowers! Who knew there were a bajillion different varieties of Iris? (bajillion = A LOT!) After we took pictures of our favorite ones we placed an order and they will ship them to our house in September.

We then walked the massive fields of Iris. It was so fun to see all the different colors!

I’m excited to grow our own Iris garden at home!

5/29/23: We were going to get some soft pretzels before visiting the bookstore, but Apple Maps lied and Auntie Anne’s was not there. Ugh – we wasted time! We then thought the store was going to close so we zoomed there! (But not so fast that we could get a ticket!)

After we arrived at Powell’s City of Books (Largest Bookstore in the US) I was looking for the books I like. I got lost and called mommy. She was in the Purple room where the Kids/Young Adults books were. I found “Keeper of the Lost Cities” which some of my friends suggested. In the next room there was cooking, garden, and Agriculture, but I didn’t find anything I was interested in.

I made my way back to the Purple Room and decided to stick with what I like. Mom pointed out that the books were organized alphabetically by Author. (Hand slap emoji) It finally clicked – like a library! I don’t know all the author’s names of each book I want. (My amazon wish list is super long!) I looked at books by Rick Riordan and JK Roling but nothing interested me.

Meanwhile, Jett and Daddy were looking at books for him.

At the last minute I remembered I wanted to look through the craft books. (Hand slap emoji again!) So, momma and I found a computer and searched for the craft section. It was the Pearl room – of course! (My birthstone!) We hiked up 3 flights of stairs to get there and found the crochet section. I looked through lots of books and found the perfect one! It was a complete course for beginners on crocheting. I decided to buy this book and the Keeper of the Lost Cities book.

Jett got 2 books and a LEGO reading light.

It was a successful (but a little overwhelming) shopping trip!

I LOVE BOOKS! The End.

Jett’s Wild Flight: MOUNT HOOD & PORTLAND

By: Jett Lillie, 5/29/23

We drove nearly 2 hours to get to Government Camp, OR and stopped by Mount Hood Museum & Info Center.

It was an old house converted to a museum and they had old skis and snowboards that were on display.

They also had a meteorite which was magnetic and cool to play with. We also saw a vintage snowmobile – I doubt it still works!

We got our passports stamped and picked up some souvenirs. Then we headed 6 miles up the Mountain to Timberline Lodge into Mount Hood National Forest.

When we arrived at Timberline Lodge, we were shocked at how many people were there and were skiing! It was difficult to find parking.

Apparently, they have year-round skiing, and this was the last day (Memorial Day) of the Spring Ski Season. We walked into the Timberline Lodge and first talked with the US Forest Park Ranger. We picked up a US Junior Forest Ranger booklet and learned they have free tours of the Timberline Lodge. It is a very special building and was designed by a famous architect who also built famous lodges at National Parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite, etc. Anyway, we found a place upstairs by the unlit fireplace and worked on our booklets while we ate lunch.

We had fun inside and outside looking at all the ginormous piles of snow.

After we finished our booklets, we were waiting for the 2pm tour and found a shuffleboard game to play. It was really fun.

Then we started our tour of the lodge with the Forest Park Ranger. I learned that the lodge was constructed by the CCC in 14 months after the great depression. A CCC worker got 50 cents an hour. And skilled workers were getting 95 cents an hour. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the lodge in 1937 and stood on this balcony.

It overlooks Mt. Jefferson and the Three Sisters.

They recycled everything and used only local materials like wood, linoleum, and old railroad tiles for iron.

They converted the woodshed to the Blue Ox Bar. And used glass for a wall art piece.

Then this mosaic was used from the leftover glass – you can see the skunk head is brown and the bear is brown (it should be black – no brown bears in Oregon), but the crew ran out of black glass. So, they had to use brown instead.

After the tour, we took some more pictures, said goodbye to the mountain, and then walked out through the snow tunnel winter entrance.

Then we drove one hour to Portland and saw their downtown skyline.

We visited Powell’s City of Books which is the largest bookstore in the US. It was humongous!

The store had 4 stories (2 levels of basements) and so many different rooms named after colors.

I found 2 books which were in my favorite series (The Last Kids on Earth) and I bought them along with a LEGO reading light. My sister bought 2 books as well.

After we shopped, we headed back to the RV. It was a fun day and we got see a lot of cool things.