Portland Life

After zooming through the majority of our US and Canada route, we were looking forward to staying put.  Portland provided an excellent destination for an extended stay.  It is by far my favorite city, and although he cringes at the high hipster-per-capita, even Ryan appreciates the awesome beer, food, and public transportation.  We spent the majority of our time in hotels near the airport, where Ryan enjoys watching the planes on final approach.  I just like it because the hotels tend to be less expensive.  It was easy to take the MAX into the city to grab eats and drinks and sightsee.  Two items were on my Portland-To-Do list that I never accomplished when I lived here.  


1.  Japanese Gardens.
I have wanted to visit the gardens for a while, and while they were really pretty, the overwhelming amount of rhododendron almost kind of ruined it for us... but we still had fun running around, regardless of the lack of tiny trees.  

(squishing trees...)

2.  Voo-doo Doughnuts.
After seeing this establishment on numerous Food Network and Travel Channel specials, I had to try it out!  We waited in line for 20 minutes or so, in the tiny building, sans air conditioning (or air flow at all, for that matter).  Finally, we made it to the counter and had to choose a half dozen among a variety of flavors that ranged from the "Triple Chocolate Orgasm" to "Cock and Balls".  Decisions, decisions.  We picked a few each, and ran like hell with our pink box to the nearest safe sitting locale (I say safe, because there are herds of homeless in the area... and not the helpless vet type, but the crazy meth type).  Anyways, the doughnuts were delicious!  Of course, Ryan had one of the more colorful ones offered, with crazy blue and pink sprinkles.  I opted for the aforementioned TCO, which was a devils food cake doughnut with fudge frosting and topped with Cocoa Puffs.  YES.

(the classic VooDoo, with a pretzel through the heart and raspberry filling)

There were also a couple of staples that need to be mentioned.  Mostly, beer related.  We always go to the Rogue restaurant.  The food is pretty good, but it's the beer that brings us back.  The variety is excellent.  I couldn't decide if I wanted a Chocolate Stout or a Hazelnut Brown (I love them both), so the server suggested a Snickers, which is half and half!  It was awesome and we even left with two growlers (the Nut Brown and Double Mocha Porter).  Also, the nearby Deschutes Brewery produces Black Butte Porter, and you can get it at pretty much any bar in Portland... yet another reason to fall in love with this city!  

We stumbled upon a couple new spots worth mentioning.  Mother's Bistro downtown was a great find.  The beers weren't overpriced and the food was way good.  They have a Mac-n-Cheese of the day, which I admit I opted for twice.  The first time it had artichokes, gruyere, and pancetta.  The second visit it was Southwest Mac, with chicken, jalapenos, and monterey.  Ryan's Salmon Cobb salad was pretty awesome looking, with so many toppings you literally couldn't see the lettuce below.  Cassidy's is right near the Crystal Ballroom and has a stellar happy hour.  We waited until 10pm and then they have an extensive gourmet menu where every option is full size and only $5.75!  The mussels and clams were perfect, as were the battered calamari and japs, but the highlight was the pork belly with mashed potatoes drowned in a wild mushroom gravy (chanterelles and morels if you were wondering).  Totally worth the trip across town!  Finally, the Tin Shed in northeast Portland.  The food was great, but the atmosphere is what is worth returning for.  Every Wednesday night is movie night, so they set up a projector in the garden and feature such classics as "Revenge of the Nerds" and  "Grandma's Boy".  Check it out!

(the interior of Mother's is one of the best parts, lot's of gold and black and crystal!)

We ventured outside of Portland to visit Mt. Hood and use a spa gift certificate in Silverton.  Unfortunately, our spa visit fell the day right after our Mt. Adams adventure.  Ryan was extremely sunburned on his face and neck, while my arms caught the brunt of the sun (I remembered to put sunblock on my face though).  We had booked him for a creek side deep tissue massage, but the burn guaranteed no relief for his neck muscles.  I opted for an exfoliation, because I knew I would probably scream if someone tried to massage my calves.

(the site of Ryan's creekside massage)

Another great thing about this trip is the opportunity to catch up with old friends.  On Friday morning we drove to Multnomah Village to meet up with Jamie, my coworker from my ODOT days.  When it comes to great conversation, Jamie is definitely at the top of my list.  To say I got super lucky with the ODOT job is an understatement.  As we spent hundreds of hours driving to sites across Oregon, it could have been miserable if I was stuck with someone who wasn't enjoyable to talk to!  I also think Ryan really enjoys meeting up with Jamie because he is a down-to-earth geologist who worked in industry (albeit mining) before he started with ODOT.  He is a lot like us in that sense, where we prefer sustainable living and generally try to keep a small carbon footprint (for lack of a better word), but yet we are honest with ourselves about our resource needs as a society.  That evening, we were able to meet up with another friend, Justin.  We know him from Virginia Tech, another geologist, and as he has been working on geomorphology issues around Mt. Rainier, it was really cool to catch up!  


So, that's pretty much what we've been up to this past week... and thus I seem to find myself scouring job ads in northwest Oregon....