The Chinese Garden

Both Emma and I have been meaning to go to the Chinese Garden for a while, but there's not much to see in a garden during Oregon's winter time. But, in what seems like overnight, spring has unexpectedly come to Portland and things are waking up all over the city. Buds have appeared, flowers have started to open and trees are heavy with pink and white blossoms. I decided it was time to make the much anticipated visit to the Chinese Garden. I parked at Emma and Don's apartment, then we took the Max over to 2nd Street. Here are some of the photos I took while we were there.

All the walkways there are paved with these intricate designs.

Trees just like this line the sidewalks all around town....

One of the few plants that already have big, full blooms were the Camellias.


Here is a picture of the tea house where they serve dozens of different types of teas as well as traditional Chinese appetizers. Emma and I tried pickled bamboo shoots, diakon radish salad, and Chinese spiced edamamme. Oh, and I also had my first celebrity sighting in Portland! Patton Oswalt was waiting to be seated as we left (if you're not familiar with the name, he was the voice of the rat in Ratatouille and he plays Spence on King of Queens). Steven made us listen to his stand-up comedy album the whole way to Seattle for our Christmas trip (We all thought it was hilarious, Mom didn't approve). Anyway, Emma were seated on the top floor and we had a great view of the gardens while sipping our tea selections.

Here is Emma and Mark, who slept the whole time!

Wake up, wake up!


Yep, we had a very good time and decided that we should go closer to summer to see how different all the plants look after some prolonged sunshine!