Our final day began with sunshine and a cup of coffee at the Blue Kangaroo, a little place in the Selwood neighborhood. After a nice wake up snack (yummy bagels), we loaded into the car and went to visit another neighborhood called Mississippi. There were tons of neat little shops and resteraunts, and it was really nice to wander around and take pictures.

From there we headed to the main event, Portland’s famous food carts. Allison had done some research ahead off time, so after wandering around and looking at all the great food we got a fresh baguette sandwich with butter, home smoked ham and gruyere to split. Super fantastic!!! From another cart we ordered a cup of great mushroom soup. I also got a spinach ‘pita’ from a Lebanese food cart, and an order of jambalaya from a place called The Swamp Shack. Wandering around the variety of food purveyors, and smelling all the great aromas made for a really entertaining experience not to mention a delicious lunch.

Our last stop in Portland was the Horse Brass pub. They had a ton of great beer and a really classic vibe. But after nursing a pint, it was time to head for the airport.

We all had a great time. Thanks to Jody for hooking us up with lodging and tour guides, as well as being a great travelling companion. Can’t wait for the next adventure.

Our Sunday started with a stroll down the street to a cafe called The Delta. It’s an ecclectic little diner that is apparently also a bar at night. We sat down right away and looked over the menu. They had a lot of great choices and I picked the biscuts and gravy, having seen the massive biscuits on their way to other tables. Allison ordered the Brioche french toast, and Jody couldn’t resist another round of corned beef hash. The girls also decided to partake of the build your own bloody mary bar, which was really neat. I abstained, since I had never had a bloody mary and also would be driving soon. The bloody mary bar was really fun, and I got to sample both concoctions. I’m a fan now.

It was raining when we left which made the walk home a little miserable. After a quick respite, we drove down to Hawthorne to check out the Powells book stores, which are apparently a landmark. The ‘normal’ bookstore wasn’t anything that special, but the Powells Home And Garden bookstore was awesome. Not only did it have a great selection of cookbooks and other culinary literature, it had kitchen knick knacks and other interesting bric-a-brac. It also has a walk-through to the market next door. The market had the most beautiful breads, cheeses, cured meats, veg, and fresh pasta. I wanted to eat everything and then buy more to gorge later. We settled to just pick up a container of the outstanding local hot sauce we had at breakfast. And it didn’t end there, because attached to the market was a great looking little resteraunt where your food is prepared right in front of you, reminiscent of Benihana.

From the bookstore we headed to a place we had read had the largest selection of local beers on tap, Belmont Station. They had a HUGE selection of six packs from all over the world, but we tried a few of the beers they had on tap. Apparently they had just finished up a dark beer festival, so that’s all we had to choice from. But we were able to find a couple of really nice dark ales to sit and enjoy.

For dinner we accidentally chose a great looking little crepe shop that turned out to be closed, and so we just popped into a local italian chain which was pretty good. From there we headed to the famous Voodoo Doughnuts for grape, blue raspberry, Arnold Palmer, and mango doughtnuts. YUM!!!

After some board games and some laughs it was time to call it a night.

Today we popped up early, grabbed a cup of coff and a shower and set off for Zell’s for breakfast. It was a great little breakfast place offer inventive favorites with seasonal local goodies. I had a German pancake with pear compote that was yummy, Allison had a salmon scramble, and Jody had corned beef hash that was outstanding. I was totally jealous.

Once we had completely stuffed ourselves, we took a little walk around Laurel Hurst Park. It’s a great little park with a lake in the center. Walking was the perfect way to get our digestion going and we were entertained by the dogs playing (including a pair of adorable Corgis).

From the park we headed downtown, planning to head to the Portland City Grill which is near the top of one of the highrises. Unfortunately, once we arrived, we discovered that they didn’t open until 4. So we walked around downtown, stopping at a place called Jake’s for some hot and surprisingly STRONG drinks (Irish coffee & hot toddie).

We continued our walk around downtown, stopping in a few places here and there, and ended up at a sandwich place called Kenny & Zuke’s for some authentic Reubens, which were absolutely outstanding. They had some really great pickled onions.

After lunch, we stopped back home for a little nap and then some games. After a mellow evening we hooked up with one of oldest friends who lives up here. We went to the lounge where her husband works, called the Night Light Lounge. They had tons of great local beers and really great snacks, we had nachos and fries.

Hanging out with Wendy was a really fantastic way to end the day.

A couple of weeks ago we were hanging with our friend Jody and for whatever reason, we all decided to take advantage of super cheap Southwest fares to visit Portland.

Today is day one of our trip and it started out looking really bad. We all jumped in the car and left Napa around 3:30 to jump in 80E traffic for our 7:30 flight from Sacto. We ended up making great time and arrived at the airport around 5:30, which was great. But as soon as we got in line to check our bags we realized that our 7:30 flight had been delayed until 9:45. Dreading the thought of spending the next four hours twiddling our thumbs we got up to the counter and crossed our fingers that their might be seats on the earlier flight leaving at 6:30. Holding our breath, we were told that the flight was completely full, but we were 4, 5, 6 on the standby list. So we went through security, got a snack and a coffee, and waited for the flight to arrive. Finally the woman at the counter started calling off the standby list, and surprisingly we made the cut!

In Portland we are staying with some of Jody’s old friends and so they picked us up. We headed out to a bar called Back Stage, which is literally the back stage of an old theater that’s been converted. They had mediocre burgers and decent beer, but he ambiance was priceless. Really cool vibe.

We left Back Stage and went to a patisserie called Pix for dessert. They were very fancy little treats and lots of neat apertif. But by this time we were all pretty wrecked and ready to get some sleep, so I don’t think we could really enjoy it.

But I’m really glad we got the earlier flight, because otherwise we would have missed both of those opportunities and we would just be getting in now, at midnight.