We took a vacation up north in the Portland, Orgeon area. You shoulda been there. Maybe you were. Whatever, we had a great time! Here’s the  play-by-play.

Thursday June 25

And we hit the road running. Well, driving actually. Portland is a ten or eleven hour drive from our NorCal home base. On our way, we stopped in Yreka, right up near the top of California on the I-5, at a small place in a mall, called Linda’s Soup Café.  We had stumbled on this place a few years back when we drove to Seattle and somehow remembered it. Linda’s is not your usual mall food. They even have a vegetarian menu with a whole bunch of items that looked good. Imagine us vegetarians having too many things to choose from!  Anyway, fully refreshed, we headed north again. We stopped in Southern Oregon for gas and remembered the unusual law in Oregon that says you can’t pump your own gas. So we let the man service us and headed north once again. Round about dinnertime we pulled into Portland. Or I should say the suburb of Lake Oswego, where our hotel was. We checked in and unpacked. We got on the internet with our laptops and although the Ethernet connection worked the WiFi didn’t, meaning only one of us could be online at once. That wouldn’t suffice for the whole week, so we had someone from the hotel check it out and they got it working within minutes. Yay! We’ve had Internet problems at hotels a few times, and this was the fastest it ever got fixed. The room was nice too, and the rate was very cheap for a Hilton Garden Inn. In fact, the Hotel situation was great for the whole week. But I’m jumping ahead. Then we walked a block or so to a small and local Thai food restaurant called Thai Basil. Coincidentally, there is a Thai place in our town with the same name. No relation. Both are good though!

Friday June 26

Today was the first day of the Lake Oswego Art Festival, which was one of the reasons we made the trip. The festival was split between a building complex and a park. In the building (and a huge tent behind it), there was lots and lots of art. The theme was mosaic and there were amazing examples of that, but there were also paintings, metal work, ceramics, glass, and other art. We’re talking hundreds of pieces. Then, at the park there were 60-80 vendors showing and selling various types of arts and crafts. There were food vendors too, and music. Mid-day we grabbed some lunch nearby. Petra got a sandwich at an Italian deli and I got a chili relleno burrito (never heard of that before) at Senor Taco and we met at a table in the middle to eat. We took a break from the festival in the afternoon and went to Trader Joes to get some breakfast food and snacks to keep in the hotel room. We had a fridge and microwave, along with the aforementioned Internet and one of the most important things a hotel room can have, an in-room coffee-maker. On our way back to the festival we stopped at a chain Mexican restaurant called Azteca. They said it was a chain. It looked like one but I’d never seen any others. Anyway, just that day they had started a special with two enchiladas, beans, and rice for only $6.99 so both we ordered that. What a bargain! It almost made up for the $8.75 margaritas. Ouch! But they were huge so I guess it was ok. Then back to the  art festival. The music for the evening was Marv and Rindy Ross, better known (maybe) as the 80s band Quarterflash. My wife Petra had always liked that band and had seen them in her early years, so we watched the current version. They did do a few of their 80s hits but everything else was more recent.

Saturday June 27

We ate breakfast (some fruit) in the room and then had the free hotel shuttle take us to the local light rail station (aka The Max). Portland has a great public transit system, much much better than the meager one here. We took the light rail train downtown. We’d seen most of the art festival yesterday so we decided to start exploring Portland today. Big surprise, we checked out a record store first. But we didn’t buy anything there. Yeah, how often does that happen! Then we had a pizza slice at Hotlips Pizza. Mine veggie slice was pretty decent but Petra found her plain cheese a little lacking I think. We wandered around “The Pearl” district downtown and looked at shops and walked. One of our “must” destinations was Everyday Music, a huge new and used record and CD store. I love that place and we spent quite a while there and found a number of items to purchase. We strolled through a couple art galleries, including the Bullseye Glass Gallery, which is always cool. We stopped at the Deshuttes Brewpub and had an appetizer and some liquid refreshment. I had the Black Butte Porter, one of my most favorite dark beers. Our friends Larry and Robin were scheduled to get into town to hang and explore with us and, well, also, their son Brian lives there. Maybe that had something to do with it too. We all checked out the amazingly huge Powells Books (a square block with multiple levels, you could easily get lost in there). Then the five of us stopped at a small local Lebanese Restaurant for dinner. We got a quick look at Brian’s nearby condo and then all went to see him at work. He works as a bartender at The Lotus. He suggested a concoction of about a third Captain Morgan Spiced Rum, a third orange juice, and a third cranberry juice. It was mild and very tasty. It’s amazing how the Captain works with so many things.

Sunday June 28

Happy birthday to our granddaughter Josephine, who turns eight years old today. We started the day again with some fruit (and a scone) in our room. Ok, so now we’re ready to go. First stop was the Bullseye Resource Center. This is the headquarters for the Bullseye Glass Company, makers of the high-quality art glass that Petra (and others of course) use for their glass art projects. We learned about the “Bull Pen”, the bargain glass room and had a nice visit there. Larry, Robin, and Brian met us there and we all headed over to the Screen Door, a small but inviting local restaurant for breakfast. It was really good food. Then we continued our exploration of the city, first walking the Alberta District, then the Hawthorne area. After all that walking, shopping, and wandering, we were hungry again (surprise) and had dinner in the area at Vege Thai, a vegetarian Thai food place. It was good but not great. By that time it was getting late, but the day was not over. Brian’s band was having a rehearsal and we were invited. Sure, the rehearsal started around 11:00 PM but they had a great rehearsal/studio space and we went for a little while. They are a good band, but it’s a little funny to hear young kids doing that British Blues aka early Led Zepellin. Still, we liked it and thanks to Brian for letting us be there. Rock on, dude…

Monday June 29

After a small snack in the hotel room, we went to have lunch with a high school friend of Petra’s (named Margaret) and her husband Tim. We ended up spending the whole afternoon with them, talking. It was a nice visit. Then we met back  up with Larry and Robin at a nearby movie theater, the Laurelhurst, to see Adventureland, a recent film. The movie was entertaining and we all enjoyed it. But the really cool thing was that the theater served beer and wine and food that you could take into the theater. Some of the rows of seats had been replaced by tables so you could set your food/drink there while you enjoyed the movie. We had a carafe of wine (the ladies) and a pitcher of Oatmeal Stout beer (da boyz) and a couple slices of pretty tasty pizza, all in a movie theater. How cool is that? We sure need some theaters like that here in Sactown! After the movie we took a stroll down the street and paid a brief visit to a large record and CD store, Music Millenium. I found one item before they closed. More music, more fun!

Tuesday June 30

We met Larry, Robin, and Brian for breakfast at the Cricket Café. Yep, another delicious breakfast. I could do this everyday. At least until I went broke. We decided to use a combination of The Max (the light rail) and the streetcar to get around. We went to the Rose Garden, a famous tourist attraction. Lots and lots of roses. I mean lots. We’ll have pictures on the site one of these days. Also at the same general location was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Holocaust Memorial. We saw both of those and they were both impressive. The Holocaust Memorial was especially moving when we read some of the quotes from people who were there at the time. We had a shaved ice and headed on. After a walk back to the condo, we caught the light rail and the streetcar and got off near the Rogue Brewery. We had a snack and I had a couple pints of the Shakespeare Stout. It was heavenly. I mean really delicious. Oh, yeah. Then we rode the Sky Tram, a tram on a wire that goes up the side of a mountain. Yikes! But it was enclosed and it was smooth and there was art at the top. So it was good. Then we headed to dinner at a nice place, a little more upscale maybe than the rest of the trip. It was The Farm and I had the best veggie burger I have ever had, totally different and miles ahead of any other. Go there. Get one. Then we went over to the Doug Fir for a cocktail. It’s a combination of modern retro and log cabin. Weird, no, not really. It was pretty nice. Then we headed back to Brian’s work at The Lotus and spent a few minutes and a drink there. We said goodbye to Brian since we were leaving in the morning. Then after we got back to the car it was another farewell, this time to Larry and Robin. Then back to the hotel for the last night.

Wednesday July 1

We hit the road for home. Bye-bye to Portland, a great city that I liked a lot. We stopped at an unremarkable diner for lunch and got home in the evening. One last meal out, at 524 Mexican, was in order. Then the vacation was over. We had a great time, I loved it!!!!!

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