2008 Summer Trip - Part III

After our early evening of shopping, we phoned the Oregon Emotos. They were out and about, but we got in touch and made arrangements to get to their place in the evening after dinner. Dinner was a quick stop at the Elmer's located near the Woodburn outlet stores. Elmer's is an Oregon institution. They opened in Portland as a breakfast place serving primarily pancakes in 1960.

The next morning we woke up to the arrival of Yuki, Lianne, Ojiichan, and Obaachan to join in the fun to celebrate Alyssa's birthday. Ojiichan had said earlier that he wasn't going to make it so everyone was surprised to see him. So off we went to Meeka Sushi for Alyssa's birthday lunch. Diane's parents were there waiting for us so too was Chuck. He was apparently on his way to eastern Washington for a gig that evening and decided to swing through Portland (never one to pass up good Japanese food).

The food was great just like some of the reviews that we found for the place later on. This was topped off by the traditional singing of Happy Birthday with Ryan adding his own twist as you can see in the video below.



So when will Alyssa be asking for the car keys now?

After lunch we drove out to the Bonneville fish hatchery, where we were able to feed rainbow trout and check out sturgeon. The hatchery is located at Exit 40 east on SR 84.

Spending time with family is always one of the highlights of our trips to the Pacific Northwest. Before leaving for Seattle, we were able to spend a little time with the Lee family (Diane's younger brother and his wife and two kids) from Detroit. Here's a picture that we took of the kids while in downtown Troutdale for an ice cream break.