Keep Portland Weird

I almost went 0 for June.  I don’t think I’ve ever done that.  The sense of relief from my readers is palpable.

We went to Portland recently to see our girl.  She is doing great up there and we had a lot of fun.  She didn’t mind being our Uber driver for the extended weekend.

We got a cheap Airbnb not too far from her domicile.  The first night we walked over to a cute little close by neighborhood for dinner.  We were laser focused on visiting as many cute little neighborhoods as possible.  Sarcasm aside, there were many cool places to hang there.  The cost of living has shot up over the past several years but it is still way more affordable than SF.  Most places are.

Dinner that night was at La Moule, which translates to The Mussel, which is what my wife had for dinner.  We asked for a table for three and were told we had a 1 ½ hour wait, so we bagged it.  As we sat outside forlornly discussing our other options, the hostess popped out and said she could squeeze us in at the counter.  This turned out to be very cool as we could watch the cooks at work.  The food and service turned out to be great.  DJ says check it out on your next Portland trek.

The next day started with breakfast at Jam.  It was a little overcast as we went to a nearby nature area to commune.  There was a group on a tour and another family hanging out.  We also saw some bikers, of which there are many in Portland.  We decided there was not much to see there so we crossed the Columbia River into Vancouver, WA.  My wife wanted to see the Columbia.  My take is you see one river, you’ve seen them all.  We walked along the river and at one point ran into an older gentleman that chatted us up and volunteered many facts about the Columbia.  He was a retiree from L.A. that had been up there for many years.  When he brought up the river’s role in WW2, I mentioned that my old man had served in The Philippines and that his division was the first into Japan during the occupation.  Pops ended up back in The Philippines with his second wife, where he passed away in 2009 at the age of 88.  My bud #1 like to tell the story of our discussion many years ago.  He asked me once if he had ever been in The Philippines before.  I said the last time he was there he was carrying a machine gun. 

Gosh, I guess I went off the Portland topic there.  OK,
I’m back.  After the nature and Columbia tour, we had dinner that evening at The Wayfinder Brewery with my brother in law’s childhood friend Bob and my daughter’s roommate.  We stopped at Bob’s house beforehand.  He’s been in his place for 25 years.  He’s a professor at Portland State. 

Sunday was Father’s Days.  After a Nordic breakfast at Café Broder, we headed to the Pittick Mansion.  We didn’t go inside because there was a $10 entrance fee and I am wildly frugal, but we did catch the fantastic panorama view of Portland.  We also toured the house of the groundskeeper which was preserved in its pre-war condition.

We then headed to The Rose Garden.  Many other people had the same idea but we were able to grab a good parking spot. After about an hour of looking at roses, which is btw one of my favorite activities, we took the shuttle up to the Arboretum, where the girls took a hike while I rested and perused my social media.  That night we were invited to the home of Mr. and Mrs. H, our former FC neighbors who moved to Portland about three years ago.  Mr. H was one of SB1’s scoutmasters and Mrs. H designed our remodeled kitchen.  We were joined by a young couple that also went to UCSD and now call Portland home.  After a round of Tiki drinks, which I was highly anticipating after seeing many of their FB posts, we were treated to an excellent BBQ dinner on this balmy backyard evening.  Mr. and Mrs. H are thriving in their recently built gorgeous Craftsman style home and it was great to see them.

Monday brought us some good weather and an outdoors breakfast at The Fireside.  Chow was good but I was preoccupied with the store next door, The Meadow, which is a "resource for high-end salts, chocolate bars, wines & bitters, plus fresh-cut flowers".  Since I have been searching for a resource for high-end salts for much of my adult life, I was ecstatic that I had stumbled onto this place. 

After loading up on a few pounds of salt, we took a walk around the neighborhood.  I took a picture of a place that sells crystals and sent it to my bud 4M and told him that is what he is getting for Xmas.  Oddly I got no response.  We also got a donut at the famous Blue Star.  I remember hanging at Dunkin Doughnuts on Route 211 in Middletown back in the early 70s, but I never encountered a $3.50 doughnut.

Later we headed downtown to wander, ending up on the promenade on the Willamette.  At some point we found ourselves at The Hub for the second day in a row, because I liked their beers and their Cobb salad.  I am a creature of habit.  After that we gave the girl a respite from her parents so she could go do some studying.

Our last dinner in Portland was at Toro Bravo.  This is the one I was looking forward to the most and it did not disappoint.  We had about a 45 minute wait but if passed quickly.  I ordered a Tanqueray Rangpuur martini for my wife and me.  When I found out that it is lime infused, I was worried that it would piss her off, but she was cool with it.  I breathed a sigh of relief and drank up.  Stuff just rolls off her shoulders.

For dinner we enjoyed a number of tapas as well as a paella.  The fried anchovies was one of my favorites.  We also had stuffed dates with bacon, which they call the Toro Kiss.  As usual, I ordered the second cheapest wine on the list.

Afterward we had the 50 Licks ice cream experience.  This is not a “what the hell you want, chocolate or vanilla” deal.  I believe they have a mandatory minimum of 10 flavor tests per customer, in order to speed up the process.  We also got some instructions as to how to form a line properly.

Tuesday morning we were on our own, as the girl had to head to her nanny gig.  I had the bright idea of going to Burgerville for breakfast, because it was close.  Bad idea.  Fortunately Off The Waffle was not too far away, so we chowed down there for our last Portland meal.  Adios PDX.