For the next 18 months the two of us, Eli and Katy, and our two mutts, Colby and Barlow, will travel the United States three months at a time. Katy, who graduated in December with her Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Elon University, is doing travel therapy and will do 13 week rotations at different locations around the country. We're going to try and use this opportunity to experience as much as we can, and then share our adventures with our friends and family.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Keep Portland Weird



On Saturday Eli and I drove two hours north to Portland, Oregon while our landlady, Paula, was nice enough to keep an eye on the pups.  It was something I’ve looked forward to for a long time with the main reason being that we planned to meet our dear friend Tara Stewart to spend the weekend exploring and catching up.  We lucked out on weekends as the well-known Saturday Market was kicking off it’s first weekend of the year.  It is an impressive set-up and is the longest continually running open air market in the United States that comprises several blocks of vendors selling locally made art, clothing, food, etc. There is also live music and the occasional street preacher.  After several hours exploring the market we walked to Stumptown coffee which is a local favorite and on the “must-do” list Rachel Dirito created for us.  She had spent two months in Portland for a clinical rotation and told us all the best spots to hit!!  After leaving Stumptown we strolled around the city by foot.  We came across an open area with live music and lots of dancing known as the Pioneer Courthouse Square.  This was a people-watcher’s paradise.  It was drizzling at this point but it did not stop anyone from having a good time.



View from our table!
The big pink building
is hard to miss!
After exploring the city, we headed to the Portland City Grill.  Paula, our landlady, recommended this place.  She could not remember the name but told us it was the big pink building which was very easy to spot.  She was right…you can’t miss it.  Just before 4:00 people start lining up to get a good spot by the window of the bar which is located on the 30th floor and looks over the city, the Columbia River, and you can see Mount Hood in the distance.  We rushed in and luckily Tara used her skills to get us great seats.  We enjoyed piano music, food, drinks, and watching UNC whoop Duke!!  Eli asked our waitress if she could put on the game and she was more than happy to but had to come back three times to ask, “now, what are the names of the teams playing.”  We knew we were far from home when someone was not familiar with those two schools and the rivalry it entails, but we cheered loudly and proudly anyways!  Following dinner, we walked back to our hotel, The Jupiter, which was just across the Burnside Bridge and within walking distance to all that we had done.  There were two bands playing in the bar attached to the hotel.  We really enjoyed the first band, the Foxstreet Allstars.
The wait for VooDoo Doughnuts!
On Sunday morning we walked back downtown to finalize our shopping and get Voodoo doughnuts.  We have read that these doughnuts are a must so we were going to get the doughnuts at any cost….even if it was an hour and a half wait!!  Eli initially waited while Tara and I shopped.  After we waited and waited, it was finally time.  Eli and Tara both got the Voodoo doll doughnut and the maple bacon doughnut, which really had slices of bacon on top!!!  We got our box and headed to Stumptown to enjoy the doughnuts and coffee.   After a wonderful weekend with Tara we headed back to Cottage Grove to gear up for another week.

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