A Surprise Road Trip to The Oregon Zoo

Y'all know I love a good family fun day out. I especially love it when I do not have to plan said fun. Saturday my husband surprised us with a trip to the zoo in Portland, Oregon and I am so glad he did.

Our Saturday started out like any other. After we had breakfast I got everyone dressed because I had an errand to run. After my errand instead of driving home my husband headed South on the Interstate and told us all to enjoy the ride.

All of the kids slept for the entire two hour and thirty minute car ride. The scenic drive was beautiful. We saw livestock wading in a river at one point. This place keeps getting more magical by the weekend.

Once we arrived at the zoo we were all famished. The omelettes that I made for breakfast had worn off and we needed to eat asap. Luckily, there was a restaurant just on the other side of the ticket counter of the zoo.

Cascade Grill had your normal amusement park/zoo offerings but everything was so fresh. I treated myself to a bacon cheeseburger. It was delicious going in but my clean eating body did not like this treat. I will save you the details.

My two Mikes, I swear they were happy and excited. This is what it looks like when you've just had an amazing burger. You're just caught in a daze.

We got rolling shortly after lunch to see all the sights. Mikey and Savannah talked about every single animal they saw.

The Polar Bear exhibit was pretty cool. Everyone was measuring themselves against the bears.

I thought it was neat that the zoo offered beer and wine. The Oregon Zoo also has a Summer Concert series and opportunities to camp out. People were there pitching their tents and Savannah was really intrigued by the whole "spend the night at the zoo" thing. She may want to do that.

I'll have to plan that for her and her Dad.

There were plenty of misting stations to keep everyone cool. I also noticed that the zoo provided lots of water refill stations at no cost.

We headed home just before the zoo closed. The kids talked their way into some nice souvenirs before we loaded up for the ride back home.

I am so glad that we are getting to explore so much before school starts in a couple weeks. It is so unlike my husband to plan a full day for the family and I really appreciate that he stepped out of his comfort zone. It was good to be able to just ride and not worry about anything.

Hopefully, this is the first of many trips to Portland for us. How was your weekend?