We started this morning early, with an 7:00 AM PDT appointment for new trailer tires and an oil change. We found a nearby bakery to eat some delicious pastries while we waited. Their coffee was pretty good, too.

After the work was completed, we headed to the Portland Japanese Gardens and the Rose Garden. They were quite wonderful. I’ve attached just a few photos of the great gardens. It was very relaxing to wander through and loose ourselves in especially the Japanese garden. The roses were only partly in bloom – we are probably here about one week too early. But we did see some roses.

After the gardens, we stopped at Javier’s Taco Stand, which had delicious tacos. It brought me back to my days in Morelia, Michoacan. Ah, those were the days.

We spent the (relatively) short drive to Seattle trying to make reservations in Anchorage and future days of our trip. Before you ask, I don’t know why I didn’t do that way earlier. Anyway, since I was on the phone and Char was looking up hotels in the AAA guide, we missed our exit by about 30 miles. Oh well. We just ended up at an RV park closer to downtown Seattle and further from Olympia National Park. No big deal.

We spent the evening in the Space Needle and grabbed some dinner at a fantastic seafood pub with delicious (and potent) local brew. Very nice!