Visitor Weekend 3, Part 1: Christmas fun at Pittock!

Last Saturday was a fun-filled day: a tour of Pittock Mansion, a walk through the garden of my peeps (aka the Portland Classical Chinese Garden), and dinner at Pok Pok. Since there's so much to say, I'll have to divide the post into 3 separate sections.

Christmas fun at Pittock Mansion
The day was gorgeous! Clear blue sky, crisp wind in the air. So FALL. So perfect for exploring more of Portland, especially with S & T in town!

We started our morning with a trip to Pittock Mansion, a grand, historic house that sits high above Portland. Every Christmas, the mansion is decked out in festive holiday decorations with the theme of "Twas the Night Before Christmas." Each room reflects a different line in the poem; there are even lots of tiny, stuffed mice hidden throughout the house. Each room also has a different Christmas tree. On the main floor is a pianist playing Christmas carols on the 18th century piano and the music echoes throughout the house. In short, the place just screamed CHRISTMAS at every corner, and it was awesome.

The house too, is gorgeous. The interior architecture is absolutely amazing and opulent. For example, some of the rooms are curved and the wood floor pieces are also curved, to match the shape of the walls. Crazy cool!

The views of Portland are also breathtaking. Right now, you get a great city view with Mt. Hood in the background, but I bet a century ago there was a lot more trees and empty land. In any case, almost every room has huge windows to show off the view, even the bathrooms!

Some pics for you all to enjoy:

T & J goofing around in front of Pittock Mansion

The view from the mansion. You can see Mt. Hood in the distance.

4 happy kids in Christmasland

Picking a thorn off his foot?

The pantry filled with mice of all different shapes and sizes!

Scary mannequins in the bedrooms. Why did they put those freaky looking covers over the eyes?? And what's up with those talon fingers?

One of the bottom floor cardrooms, decorated completely in miniature Santa doohickeys