Midweek Adventure

Davan and I set off on an adventure yesterday afternoon.  It actually took some convincing to get Davan out of the house.  The poor kid hasn't been sleeping well and has been kind of tired.  Plus, at least this is my theory, she tends to want to save her energy for Thursdays and Fridays, which, admittedly, are very busy with lots of physically active things. 

Thursdays, for example, look like this:  Up at 7:00, shower, dress, breakfast and out the door by 8:15 to ride 5.5 miles to Trackers.  Trackers from 9:00-4:00 with lots of tromping about in the woods, followed by the 5.5 miles ride back home.  She gets home in time to have a bite to eat, tell me a little about her day and then is off again by 5:15 to walk over to Do Jump for Zig Zags from 5:30-7:00, followed immediately by advanced aerial composition from 7:00-9:00.  After walking home, she has a snack and then pretty much goes to bed.

Friday isn't quite as packed, but still busy and holds her most physically challenging class of the week, straps.

Anyway, back to Wednesday.  After I pried her out of the house with a crowbar, we had a very nice afternoon.  We walked through Fred Meyer's on the way to the bus stop (we debated bikes vs bus - bikes would actually have been quicker and I am not a fan of the bus - it makes me nauseous, but Davan was, as mentioned, feeling tired, and she really wanted to ride the street car, which was part of the route, so we went bus) to pick up two cans of food (more on that later).

We hopped on the bus and Davan started reading.  Crazy if you ask me, but she didn't.  I listened to my MP3 player, but still felt nauseous by the end of the ride.

Downtown, we transferred to the street car.

We enjoyed standing for the ride, which usually helps me feel better, and made it easier for Davan to hang from the stanchions.  We all have our priorities.

Then we rode the tram, which was our main reason for heading out yesterday.  We had a Groupon for the tram that was set to expire tomorrow and we did not have time to do it today (see Thursday's schedule).

The tram goes up to OHSU, which is on top of a hill, and has been there a few years now.  Davan has been asking to ride it since it was built.  Better late than never, no?

It was a fun ride with good views.  We just went up, went out on the sky bridge, got Odwalla juices and rode back down.

Then we got back on the streetcar and rode until we got to a selection of food carts, something like this (not my picture):

We got a couple things to share - pumpkin curry and fried rice, both with lots of veggies and tofu.  We got back on the street car and rode to our stop, where we found a place to sit and eat.

Davan and I both liked the pumpkin curry the best.

She kind of hogged it.  She doesn't look repentant.

After our late lunch, we went here.  Now, Davan, even at 13, is a huge Safari Sam's fan.  She and three of her buddies spent 6 hours there one day this summer.  I was the lucky parent who got to take them that day.  Don't worry, though, I had my laptop, wifi access and a book.  Other than a sore but from the wooden bench, I was okay.

Safari Sam's is even cooler than it looks in the pictures at their website.  There is a black diamond challenge course and lots to do for physical kids.  And parents.  I can fit in their jungle gym pretty well.  I'm happy when Davan has friends to roam with, though, as I get worn out/bored much faster than she.

Any-who, Safari Sam's is a fair drive from here and this place, PlayDate PDX is not too far from here - decent bike riding distance, even.  And, yesterday, they had a canned food drive.  If you brought two cans of food per kid, it was free.  Awesome chance to check it out.

Davan would have had more fun with friends, but she did play with a little boy...who then started to annoy her, but wouldn't go away...and wanted to stay for a couple hours.

Her general review, though, was not bad, but not nearly as good as Safari Sam's.  Sadly, she doesn't want to change her birthday party location.  Yes, she's nearly got her December birthday all planned out.

After romping (turns out she had some available energy, after all, hmmmm), we headed back to the street car, where she actually wanted to sit - shocking!

We ended up just missing our bus at one stop and sprinted four city blocks to catch it at it's next stop.  We're pretty awesome, no?

Davan was in serious need of a drink once we boarded.

But it wasn't long until she was settled in with her book once more.

Davan ended up being so glad we'd gone and had a ton of fun.  I had a very nice afternoon, too, and didn't even feel bad about sitting and reading while she played, as I'd gone on a two hour walk/hike that morning.