Pioneer Square:

Portland’s known for their food carts, and we had one we were dying to try:

The Vegan Food Cart: Homegrown Smoker

We got the side plate with Cornbread, baked beans, collards, MacNoCheese, and the STFU puppies:

Their menu brought back some sweet memories of my grandma from Oklahoma. Now, if only I can find some biscuits and gravy…

Later in the afternoon we drove over to the Vegan Mall to pick up a few things for my mom. Before we went shopping, we stopped at The SweetPea Vegan Baking Company and picked up some tasty treats.

Lemon Pastry, chocolate chip cookie, bostom creme pie cake:

I also ordered some vegan chili for Little T, but we didn’t prefer it. I was expecting a beany chili and we don’t usually eat a lot of fake meats, so it wasn’t what we were used to and Little T only had a few bites. I’m going to have to stop here again though, because there were some other things on the menu that I’d really like to try.

There was a beautiful park where I wanted to take Little T, but I couldn’t do it because there was a homeless person sitting on one of the benches and I’m still having a hard time from what happened last month. I usually wouldn’t have walked through the park anyway, but it was too hard right now. I’ve noticed that I’m also really jumpy when I hear police sirens. =/

After the park, we got lost and took an accidental scenic drive around Portland (teehee). Little T took a nap, and then we went to have dinner at Big T’s conference. On the way we stopped and showed Little T a living wall. We’re trying to teach him plants, leaves, flowers, branches, etc. Whenever we give him a flower to smell, he blows his nose at it instead of sniffing in to smell the rose. Ah well, he’s getting there.

Travleing by shoulders=Little T’s favorite way to travel in Portland:

We had a great time at the dinner, and Little T managed to obtain a tiny football from one of the conference vendors. We chatted and played with Little T until they started to take the tables down and we figured that was our cue to leave. 😉

During the day, Little T and I have been going solo while Big T’s been working hard at the conference, so the next day we took the metro to the Children’s museum.

On the way, we stopped in a building with some fountains and I snapped a picture of the other side of the street. I don’t know what it is about the colors in Portland, but the stones and the lights on the building are so beautiful. It’s peaceful, walking through the buildings.

On the metro. This is the only way I get pictures of myself on vacation (I’ve got to get Little T to stop relying so much on his pacifier, if any mommy out there has tips, please let me know):

The Children’s Museum was wonderful. Little T loved exploring the exhibits and stayed for three hours. I was planning on staying for only two, but after lunch I put Little T down to gather up my things for the metro, and he went running/screaming with glee back into the museum. Erm, I guess he had other plans for us. I couldn’t resist his enthusiasm and decided to let him stay.

The digging room:

The Train room:

The Theater room:

And playing with a giant light up peg board:

We didn’t get back until 2:00, and Little T slept until it was time to go meet Big T and some colleagues for dinner. We went to Persian food, and they had a very extensive vegan menu and homemade pita bread and we were in heaven.

After dinner, we walked by Powell’s Bookstore on the way to Voodoo Donuts. The outside of the donut shop was covered with glitter. (!!!)

I asked the lady at the shop which vegan donut she recommended, and she handed me a donut called, “The Old Dirty Bastard”.

It had dark chocolate, oreos, and peanut butter. It was a donut sent from the heavens and it gave my taste buds a ride on the flavor train to yumsville. My tummy was a little upset afterward, so I wondered if I’d been given a donut that wasn’t vegan by accident, but it might have been the sugar overload. Definitely stop there if you’re in Portland.

When we were finished, we walked back and listened to some street artists. One of them came up and hugged us because he said he was adopted like Little T. 🙂 Little T enjoyed the music and I think the artist got a kick out of watching Little T having such a good time.

So that’s what we’ve been up to so far. I bet you’re all looking forward to the weekend, I hope you have a great one.