Back to me-time... Let's pick up where we left off on the Portland wrap-up. After lunch on Saturday, we headed for Old Town Portland (basically downtown) for our bicycle tour. I have to admit I was a little apprehensive about biking around Portland and basically whether we'd be smushed like pancakes. But, turns out Portland is super bike-friendly, and the streets are pretty dead on a Saturday afternoon. So, we strapped on our flattering rental helmets and took to the streets. It was so refreshing to be out on a bicycle, enjoying the summer day. Our tourguide Sarah was amazing too. If you're in Portland and in the mood for a bike tour, look them up!
Halfway through the tour, we pitstopped at Powell's Books. Powell's Books used to be a "must-see" in Portland, and it probably still is. It's a mecca of used books, with an awesome selection and great prices. However, I find we don't purchase books much anymore, what with the library as one of our fun new destinations (for kids books) and the library e-book system or Kindle for me. Still, I am a typical consumer so I had to buy something, and I picked up a book about dogs for Camille. Camille is fascinated by dogs, I think partly because we are very emphatically never getting one. She is particularly interested in which ones are the "bad" dogs, so of course we've been reading up on rottweilers and doberman pinschers first.
After the bike tour, we meandered back to the hotel, stopping in at the Craft Museum (small but cute) and the Pioneer Place mall. I picked up a train whistle for Natalie at the Made in Oregon store and some Briggitine Monks of Amity fudge for the family, which is a Portland staple. I'm guessing that place is filled with pretty pudgy monks based on how delicious their fudge is.
Got back to the hotel, and fancied up for our big night on the town. We headed up to the rooftop bar at the hotel (called Departure - great views of Portland but pretty packed) for a pre-dinner drink and appetizer. Then we were off to dinner at smallwares. smallwares (little s, get it Straight) recently won some "best in Portland" awards and the chef is supposedly on the newest season of Top Chef. It's located on the eastern side of the river, so we had to take a cab, which just seemed like a shame considering Portland's superb public transportation. Anyhoo, dinner was excellent. We had a miss dish or two (I'd avoid beef with plums - not bad, but everything else was so much better) and dessert was a snooze (miso sorbet or some creative non-chocolate choice), but on the whole, the flavors were strong and really tasty. Would highly recommend it!
After dinner, since we're all old ladies and it was 10:00pm, we headed back to the hotel for the night. We did have an early flight and planned to leave the hotel at 5:15am so the thought of being sick/hungover wasn't so appealing. However, we did bust out like party animals and picked up some awesome churros at a Latino Festival happening in Pioneer Square, across the street from our hotel. My husband and I had just had a lively discussion the week before about whether a churro is ever actually as good as you think it's going to be. I can tell you, this one was:
Me, with churro
Flight out, got home by 10:00am and still got in a fun day with the kiddos!
All in all, a great weekend! I highly recommend planning a getaway if you can. Poo poo to guilt, take care of you sometimes!
No comments:
Post a Comment