A Portland Recap

Well as you all know, Portland was awesome.  I mean, I did get engaged to C while there, so why wouldn’t I say that!  Also though, it is a beautiful city and I got to spend some quality time with my mom and brother!

When we first landed there on Thursday night, it was cold and rainy.  I went from 100 degree temperatures to the 40s and 50s! It was such a change.  We checked into our hotel and immediate found some place to eat….Red Robin.  I highly suggest you stay away from their pretzel bites appetizer, it was quite terrible.

Rainy but very green!

 The next morning we woke up and went in search of the famous Voo Doo donuts! Usually, there is a line around the block, but because the rain was still off and on, there was really no one there!  We waited in line for maybe 10 minutes.

After that, my poor brother got to go on an all-day shopping excursion!  I introduced my mom to my favorite store, LUSH, and we spent several hours at several different shopping areas in the city! At lunch, it was drizzling, the pouring, then hailing, then drizzling and then the sun came out.  All of this happened within a 20 minute period of time.  It was pretty crazy!

When lunch was over, we headed to the famous ice cream parlor, Salt & Straw.  It had a seriously cute feel to it and some wildly creative flavors.  I mean, sea urchin? Wild flowers? Pear and Blue cheese?  Who puts these things in ice cream?  They do! We tasted tested almost all of them, including Orpah's all time favorite ice cream...Olive Oil. In case you were wondering, it wasn't bad, but it was pretty darn boring!

After shopping some more, we headed to the Portland City Grill for happy hour, a place a friend of mine had suggested.  It is on the 30^th floor of a building downtown and has beautiful views! We ate (or and drank) to our hearts content and then headed back to the hotel to relax.

View from PCG

Saturday around lunch time we took a tour of the Widmer Brothers Brewery.  I think it is so incredible to go and check out the operations of pretty popular brands.  We also got to taste several of their varieties, which hey, I’m not gonna complain about that!  After the tour we headed over to their Pub for lunch…..and several more samples!

After lunch we picked up C from the hotel (he was finally in Portland!) and went back out for some wine tastings. And another wine tasting. Oh and one more wine tasting.  At least I think.  After that many I was good and happy, we could have done anything!  Since C had a game the next day, he was our designated driver which was awesome. 

After a tasty Italian dinner (and I believe a visit to some food carts) we headed back in for the night to play some Farkle.  Have you guys ever played?  It’s a really fun and easy dice game.  My mom got us all started and C and I play almost every week!

Sunday was game day! Mom and I shopped a bit in the morning and then we all headed out to the arena after lunch.  The arena in Portland that C played in was the same one the Trailblazers (NBA) played in the night before.  It’s so amazing to see how quickly they transform those places for a completely different sport!

As I mentioned before, C played an awesome game. He had 3 sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble return.  He ended up being named the defensive player of the week and even won the “sack pot” he does with the guys (hello Groomsman tux donation money)! 

After the game we headed over to Buffalo Wing Wings…..and we got engaged :)  Then we partied all night long.  Or until 1am haha. I’m definitely not a wild one.

The next morning we hopped into a car and drove all the way to Seattle just to fly home!  I wish we would have had more time to explore Seattle, but those darn Trailblazers had to be in the championship tournament!

Mount Olympus in Washington

Portland was really beautiful and I would love to go back for a longer period of time.  I am sure C and I will definitely be taking more trips there because it instantly became a special place to us!