Day 21: Sunday, July 22, 2012

We started our exploring a little later this morning so we could secure hotels and activity plans and have some extra quiet time with JC.  Around 10:30am we headed a little town nearby named Beaverton.  You may or may not have heard of it but this tiny town is home to the headquarters of Nike, Inc.  We drove to the Nike campus and of course our timing was unfortunate because it was Sunday so it was closed and didn't offer tours that day.  We did however get to drive around a bit on the campus and take pics.  It's massive, complete with it's own various sports fields and each building is named after a legendary sports stars such as Nolan Ryan and Bo Jackson.

Nike Entrance

From there we went into downtown Portland to the official Nike Museum and store to do a little follow up to our campus tour and then stumbled upon a little festival in a park called Sand in the City.  Live music, giant sand castles intricately constructed and displayed, food vendors and people everywhere...it was great!

Nike Museum 

Touch screen Nike wall collage

Metal figure of Michael Jordan that is suspended from the ceiling mid-store

Very first pair of Air Jordan's
(debuted in 1985 to the public; Jordan actually wore them himself during his rookie year in 1984)

Nike/Oregon tribute wall made of bleachers from a local high school

Sand in the City

Then we drove back to the area known as the Pearl District to check out local stores and boutiques, and of course, eat!  We grabbed lunch at a place called Elephant's.  It reminder me of a Jason's Deli mixed with a Fresh Market, and it was packed!  I think the greater population of Portland was there, but now we know why.  It was delicious.

Next came our trek to Seattle.  Before checking into our hotel in the northern part of the city, we went straight to the waterfront to eat at local landmark, Ivar's Acres of Clams.  It was here that we discovered the existence of purple potatoes.  Yes, I said purple.  Apparently they are native to Peru and I don't know why the fad hasn't picked up in the US because they were delicious. (See pic below)

Downtown Seattle!

That's a Peruvian Purple Potato on that fork...

Another delicious meal and Ivar's had a gorgeous view of the water.  This restaurant was on a pier and surrounded by shops and locals playing instruments.  Seagulls were flying.  The sun was setting.  It was almost weird like we were in a movie, but alas, it was real life and I enjoyed every minute.

After the sunset, he headed back through downtown to see the one and only Space Needle!  The Space Needle not only completed our trifecta of tallest towers in the US but is AMAZING lit up at night.  Fun fact:  the Space Needle was originally constructed in honor of the World's Fair held in Seattle in 1962.

The Space Needle - postcard worthy!

Downtown Seattle

Then it was to the hotel finally for some sightseeing research and beauty rest.