A Rose by any other name...

These were the best snow cones ever!


I, K, N, D
Stop and smell the roses (love my cliches today)

You didn't think we left Taco at home, did you?

A different point of view of downtown

"Big Pink" aka, Grandpa's building, RIP

Are these two ever serious?

One of my (many) goals these days is to expose our family to some of the many treasures around this town. We are SO BAD at enjoying that which is in our own backyard. Today we ventured to the International Rose Test Gardens, aka Washington Park, aka the Rose Garden(Portland is the City of Roses, after all). It is probably the most photographed place in Portland. Here is a little history I found on their website:

Founded in 1917, Portland’s International Rose Test Garden is the oldest
official, continuously operated public rose test garden in the United States. In
the beginning, even though World War I was raging in Europe, hybridists sent
roses from around the world to Portland’s garden for testing and to keep the new
hybrids safe from being destroyed by the bombing in Europe.

So, that being said, we packed a picnic and headed off to smell the roses!

...10 minutes later (just kidding) we headed down to the Children's play area where we ran into our good friends the Wrights and their 3 kids who were up visiting for the day from the coast. What luck!!! We played for a while and later they joined us for a spontaneous bbq.

Visit to Rose Gardens - check!

Enjoy some shots we took of the scenery (it was a big hazy- sometimes you can see Mt. Hood, but not today), the snow cones and the roses (aka me pretending I know how to use the marco button on the camera!)