april in portland

Last Thursday, Daniel and I caught a flight up to Portland to visit our friends Evan and Marissa. And their dog Lola.

This is the third year in a row we've made a trip up north to visit these guys. Six months ago, they moved from Seattle to Portland, so that's where we headed.

Their place was just lovely and they welcomed us with some amazing cheeses and cured meats. And wine. Portland does not mess around when it comes to food. We went to dinner at the Woodsman Tavern, which was great. Daniel ordered cioppino but when our food arrived, they mistakenly gave him a pork chop- which looked so good he insisted on keeping it. It was a smart move. The next day, Marissa took us around town. We started with a very good, very large breakfast at Broder and then headed to the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden.

Last year, when my mother and I were in Portland, we read about a garden dedicated to Beverly Cleary over in Grant Park. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 was the first chapter book I ever read- I love Beverly Cleary. So I thought it would be sort of special to check out the garden.

It wasn't. 

There was no garden to speak of- just three rather creepy bronze sculptures of some of the characters from Cleary's books. Daniel thought it was hilarious. Oh well.

Then we went window shopping along Mississippi street. Daniel tried on a sweater at a vintage store. 

It was $175. He did not purchase it. 

Then we went to lunch at Pok Pok. The Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings were insane. 

If I had any sense, I would have stopped there, but I couldn't resist a cookie from Tabor Bread.

It was a buckwheat chocolate chip cookie- quite good. Tabor Bread sells all kinds of different flours, including fife. I'm not sure what fife is.

The next day, Marissa had to work but Evan took us out to see the waterfalls.

Multnomah Falls are the big attraction, but really, all of the waterfalls were all stunning. We hiked a bit and got some incredible views out over the water. The weather changed from one minute to the next- everything from bright sunshine to hail, all in the span of thirty minutes.

And then we went back home and prepared our 3rd Annual Seafood Feast. 

This year, it included oysters, scallops with chorizo, pasta with clams and mussels, and grilled steelhead. A great tradition. Afterwards we all piled on to the couch to watch Louis C.K. 

The next morning, we decided we had time to fit in one more meal before our flight and walked to The Country Cat for brunch. We found out our flight was delayed, which gave us just enough time to swing downtown for coffee at Stumptown and a visit to Powell's Books. 

We had the best time- Portland is so awesome.