Boys' Day Out in Portland

After a big effort from the boys on our hike yesterday we felt it was time to make good on the lesson that sometimes we do things that parents like to do and sometimes we do things that kids like to do.

So we spent a few hours this morning at a family fun centre riding go karts, playing in the indoor playground and driving arcade games like Mario Kart.

As if that wasn't mega-awesome enough, we had lunch at Denny's and THEN went to Walmart so the kids could spend their pocket money.

With the kids occupied by their new purchases (gee $7 goes a long way over here!) Nath and I decided to check out the Portland city centre from the comfort of Bessie.

After spending all of 20 minutes driving through Portland city I feel confident (cough!) in saying that there's a big time university-town, grungy vibe to the place.

There's also something wacky going on Eg. There was a line 20-people deep out the door of a place called Voodoo Doughnuts.

Are they really just selling doughies? Can the doughies really taste THAT good?

Either it's a front for something else or there's a tendency here to jump on the latest bandwagons.

Even on the outskirts we saw a Japanese sushi takeaway place (very small joint) with a cast of thousands waiting to get through the door.

Voodoo doughnut's byline was something like "the hole is where the magic happens". Mmmmm still not convinced.

Portland also has a HUGE number of nudie bars in residential areas. Just an observation.

And yes, lots of bridges!

We finished the day by heading out on the 26 south west towards volcanic Mount Hood.

We grabbed a campsite at the forestry service's Tollgate Campground - and have the whole campground to ourselves tonight and a massive set of raging rapids on the river right beside us! Nice!