Local-like

We got up in the morning and took the shuttle back to the airport, then the light rail downtown, then walked to the train station.

We had a couple of extra hours before the train left, so we had lunch at the fun restaurant Katrina and I both loved; Wilf's.

I made sure we got to sit at a table with big red chairs.

Anna really liked them.

At the train station we got a map of downtown and the recommendation that we have ice cream at Cool Moon, so we wandered that way. There was a park across the street and both the park and the ice cream shop were packed with parents and kids. It was a pretty hot day. After we got ice cream, we headed over to the park.

There was a nature-y looking splash park, with water and rocks and tons of kids. First we let Anna walk around, trying not to get her dress wet. That didn't really work.

Then I convinced Matthew to just let her play in her underwear. Why not? I was thinking we'd just try to dry them out on the rocks before we got on the train.

She had a wonderful time, playing and cooling off, and I was happy that we let her. Why not be hippie parents? We were in Oregon.

I was chatting with another Mom, and she offered a pair of never-worn underwear she had in her bag. (Her daughter wasn't potty trained yet, but she kept carrying them around, just in case) I happily took her up on the offer. (But wished I had something in my bag for a thank you gift-note to self-pick up some cute GC thing to take with me when I travel) Anna loved her Tinkerbell panties. It was the highlight of the day.

Then we got on the train, riding mostly in the observation car. We got some snacks from the dining car, Matthew watched agricultural stuff out the window, I read People Magazine, and Anna listened to stories on my ipod.

Then she really wanted to "do homework" on one of the little tables, so we went back to our seats for a bit.

We rented a car in Eugene (Kias are loud!), bought Anna a car seat at Target (left ours in the car, but found one on Clearance!), and drove the windy roads to Medford.