Portland, OR

This past weekend, Michael and I flew to Portland, Oregon to attend his cousin, Steven Gaynor's wedding.  Our decision to attend the wedding was threefold. One, getting to see his cousin and his "Gaynor" side of the family.  Two, to escape the 100 degree temperatures for amazingly cool 54-77 degree days. Third, to visit the states of Oregon and Washington of which neither of us had ever been. I now have visited 34 of 50 states and  I hope to see them all! So, I have the habit of writing out places that we visit and things that we did or ate on our trip. (You can probably blame this on my grandmother, Nancy Swan.) It is currently on my iPhone and I would like to erase it, but still have it written down for memory later. Therefore, I decided that the blog was a perfect place to write it. Feel free to skip this post if you find it boring, but if you want all the details this is also a great place to get them.

Friday
We arrived at PDX around 2:45pm and headed straight for our hotel for check-in, Courtyard Marriott Portland Airport.  Mike and I then took the opportunity to drive (10 min) north into Washington to see some of the sites. It is literally a bridge across a river from where we were staying in Portland, OR. We drove past Fort Vancouver (which looked cool, but was closing in 45 min so we didn't stop) and on to Vancouver Lake. It was $3 to get into the grounds as it is a state park. It was such a perfect day and in the mid-60's and sunny.  We walked down to the lake and I put my feet in the water which was much more comfortable than I expected it to be. The beach area was sandy and I enjoyed walking along it since I had worn slip on sandals for the day. Mike stayed out of the water with his tennis shoes on. We spent probably an hour at the lake and walked the trails and I even convinced Mike to swing with me in the children's area (which was deserted). It was such a pretty little visit and by the end we were getting hungry. 

We "yelped" a few area locations and were back and forth between a new place called "Uptown Pasta" and "Vancouver Pizza", but settled on the later which was definitely a perfect choice! We started with the cheese garlic bread with a pesto dipping sauce and a marinara dipping sauce, both which were amazing, but the pesto was my favorite! Mike chose a local beer and I got a root beer float with a brand called Henry's which was recommended by our server. Little did I know when I got to reading the label on the bottle sure enough, it is bottled in FORT WORTH, TX!?!!? Right off of I-35 where I grew up. I even googled the address and it's at the Miller-Coors plant. Pretty crazy that I have never even heard of it. I do recommend it by the way. Next we shared a Renaissance salad which was romaine lettuce, bleu cheese crumbles, tomatoes, red onion, cranberries and a raspberry walnut vinaigrette. For extra I could have added walnuts which would have been good, but didn't want to pay an additional 50c or whatever. Lastly, we shared a Tchaikovsky pizza which was basically a meat lovers and was also good, but I was feeling pretty stuffed and I think ate one or two pieces which made for quite a few leftovers. All in all, great dining experience and wonderful way to start our mini-vacation off just the two of us.

That evening we picked up Mike's parents at the airport as they got in around 8pm. They checked into their hotel and we visited with them in the lobby area of Aloft while someone played live music. The guys enjoyed a beer and Linda and I worked on planning out our next day. Around 10:30pm (12:30am TX time) we finally called it a night and headed back to the hotel and to bed.

Saturday
The next morning we picked up Mike's parents at their hotel around 8:45am then decided to take the Tri-Met (like the DART light rail) train into downtown Portland. The parking is pretty scarce downtown and we were planning to do mostly walking this day anyways. We arrived at Voodoo donuts around 9:15 and waited in line for about 15-20 minutes. On the train we had checked out the website so we would know our order when we walked up. We were amazed as we were in that area 2-3 other times how there is ALWAYS a line and sometimes twice as long as what we were in. They are open 24 hours a day and are cash only. Here was our order:
Mike- butterfingering, Memphis Mafia, blueberry glaze
Emily- no name & dirt donut
Linda- apple fritter
Bob- bacon maple, fruit loop and blueberry glaze
Enough said our eyeballs were bigger than our stomachs and we had one full blueberry and parts of other donuts leftover. They were very good though and pretty crazy all the different types that they had.

Around 10am we made it over to the Portland Saturday Market. We walked around all of the various vendors until about 1:30pm. It was such a gorgeous day and there was a lot to see. We got Ryan a little Eagle whistle souvenir which was made by a clay artist and has 2 different holes you cover to sing various songs. It was very cute and $5 so we thought he would love it (which he does). I also did a little bit of Christmas shopping which I will have to keep a secret. ;) Bob & Linda got several things including souvenir animal hats for the two boys. They are so cute and will be perfect for the cold weather.

For lunch we went to 5th and Oak St I believe for some of the food carts, which Portland is well-known for. There were many to choose from, but Mike and I went to "Korean twist on 5th" formerly known as Bulgogi tacos. Mike had 3 tacos- bulgogi, spicy chicken and spicy pork which he enjoyed and I tried a bite also- they were good! I had yakisoba noodles with chicken and vegetables which was also tasty.

Next, we walked through Old china town (quickly) and toured around Powell bookstore which is famous for being huge (maybe the largest?!) and it definitely was. We stopped for an afternoon cocktail at Davis Street Tavern before returning to the hotels to get ready for the rehearsal dinner.
The rehearsal dinner was scheduled at 6:30 with family and close friends at Equinox. Previously unknown to the groom's family or the soon to be newlyweds, there was a once annual street festival going on on the blocks surrounding the restaurant which caused major parking issues for 5+ miles surrounding its location. We got lucky with a spot probably only 3 blocks away and parked and made the hike. We were however the first to arrive and it was probably another hour before everything got started for the night. The food was delicious though, Mike had a pork tenderloin with roasted new potatoes, spinach and chorizo hash and I opted for a penne dish with tomatoes, olives, capers, ricotta and grilled chicken. For dessert was a strawberry cobbler type thing which was also yummy. After leaving the dinner around 9:45pm it was a walk back to the car then straight back to the hotel as it had been a long day!

Sunday
We started the day picking up Bob and Linda again at 8:45am. We drove to Waffle Window for breakfast which is a quaint walk up counter where you order your waffles and then carry them to an outdoor area of picnic tables nearby. It was nice and cool that morning and such a change from our Texas weather that we appreciatively enjoyed our breakfast outdoors. Our choices- Strawberry waffle for me with strawberries and whipped cream piled on top, Blueberry and lemon curd for Mike, plain for Linda, & a waffle with fresh fruit, granola and yogurt for Bob.

After breakfast we got back in the car and headed to the Japanese gardens. We toured for a few hours learning about Japanese customs/traditions and saw various lovely plants, waterfalls and rocks. ;) I however, found our tour guide rather long-winded and kind of boring. The tour was supposed to last 45min-1hr and we left him after an hour when he was not yet done. We also learned how to distinguish a male "lion guard" from a female. (I can't remember what they were actually called). They guard the front of their entrance-ways and the female always has a cub under one paw where the male typically has a ball. Pretty fun to notice it now.

For lunch, we drove to Don & Louis oyster bar (across the street from VooDoo) where Mike tried raw oysters on the half shell with his Dad as an appetizer. For lunch I had a broiled cod with a side salad and marionberry vinaigrette and french fries. Mike had the same, but with bleu cheese dressing on the salad. After lunch it was back to the hotel for a quick 15-20 min change into our clothes for the wedding.

We arrived at the McMennamin Kennedy School for pictures at 2:45 (we were instructed to be there by 3pm) and the wedding was at 4pm. It was a brief 5 min 28 second service (I videotaped it for them) and then through a quick receiving line and into the reception! The food was excellent-appetizers included tomato/basil/fresh mozzarella on crustini rounds, fruit & veggie trays and a warm flaky pastry with spinach and pretty sure cheese and maybe garlic inside (not sure what it was called). For dinner I opted out of the spicy jerk chicken and went with the grilled salmon in blueberry BBQ sauce and half a portabello mushroom which I overheard a server say had some type of garlic white bean puree on top. It was very tasty and I was pleased with my choice. Other options included corn on the cob, salad, biscuits (with HONEY-you know Mike was pleased), baked beans, and potato salad. The cake was 3 tiers and the bride's sister had made it. It was a white pound-type cake with 3 filling layers a strawberry then lemon in the middle then strawberry again. The groom chose to have various VooDoo donuts on trays which everyone dove into almost immediately. Mike and I split one of the chocolate cake donuts with chocolate frosting and coconut flakes (not sure the official name). Around 9:45pm we called it a night. (I think my body was still on Texas time and I was struggling with the late nights).

Monday
We checked out of the hotel a little before 7:30am and returned the rental car at the airport. We went through security then had breakfast at the airport which was surprisingly also tasty. We found a place that made breakfast to order so we had to wait about 10 minutes, but it was worth it. Mike had a breakfast taco with egg, bacon, jack cheese, salsa and avocado. I had two over medium eggs with ham, potatoes and wheat toast. Our flight left at 8:55 am and it was back to DFW around 2:30pm CST.

That's it folks! We were so happy to be back to see our little man as three days is the longest we have ever left him in 17 months. He was so excited to see us too and while we are still struggling a little to get back on schedule it is great to be home. We could do without this 105+ degree weather, but glad to be home as a family. Mom and Dad took great care of Ryan while we were gone as always and Ryan learned how to blow his eagle whistle to make noise on the way home from the airport. It is still a supervised toy as he could literally throw it to the ground and break it so it's "for carpeted areas only" which are few and far between in our house. Hope you enjoyed the update on our Portland trip!