Day 9: Cascadia, OR to Portland, OR

We left early and stopped at Walesback Beach, another recommendation by C & C. The trail to get to the beach is steep and overgrown but worth it. Through the thick fog we could see small islands in the ocean. The beach was gorgeous and hard to describe. It was the perfect start to a new day.

We drove until about lunch time and stopped at a small place called the Crab Shack (maybe that is wrong but the picture will show the name). Filippo enjoyed his first clam chowder and a fresh crab sandwich. It was so good that we wanted to bring some to Portland to our cousins. The man suggested we go to the boat on the dock and buy the same alive one he had just bought to make this sandwich. He said it should be fine in the back of the car. If it starts to get angry just put it in ice water, that’ll calm it down. Sadly this sounded too dangerous so we went with some freshly local canned tuna.

We arrived at Portland at Patrick and Kelly’s house around 6, a little behind target but grateful to have finally reached our target. We were greeted by the worlds most adorable two-year old, “Hi”, Dane said confidently. I would go as far to say that Dane may be a golf prodigy. He is incredibly talented and smart. I even tested him, holding up a golf club, I said “what’s this”. The answer I was looking for was “club.”

“Iron”, he said with a smile on his face. Not being a golfer, I wasn’t sure if he was telling me the metal it was made of or didn’t know what it was. So I held up another. “putter,” he said still smiling. He also knows his colors, some dumbers and letters. And “Go Pack Go.”  In Minnesota this kid is kindergarten ready. I don’t know if they are raising geniuses in Oregon but Dane is pretty impressive (and did I say adorable).

Filippo capturing a picture of the cutest kid in the world.

After putting our stuff downstairs, and taking a break from quizzing Dane, We all went to the Hub, a local family friendly brewery where we were treated to great pizza and great beer. After Dane went to bed, Filippo and I were taught a game that we quickly became obsessed with, Euchre. For those of you saying to yourselves, I’ve taught you that game before- I forgot how to play and I forgot how much fun it was. It took us all a while to understand if Filippo understood or if he was cheating, but by night two his confidence reached a peak and it was clear that he understood.