My Birthday Weekend in Portland!!

I love October and again, not because it is my birthday, but because October baseball is better than sliced bread. But it was my birthday weekend and Amy had planned an assortment of activities to celebrate my birthday or so I had hoped. We had taken an abbreviated weekend the weekend before so that we could take 4 days to celebrate the wondrous day in which I blessed this earth. Just Kidding! Friday morning I awoke with gifts and cards from friends and family and Amy even made a good attempt at cooking a Chinese porridge for my breakfast. She did extremely well for her first time. The consistency was a little thick but the taste was spot on. I hope that she will try to make it again as her dabbling in authentic Chinese cuisine yields only delicious results. Amy had also made me a birthday pie, a pineapple pie to be exact, as I am not a big fan of cake. I opened up my birthday presents from Amy, a few small gifts that would compliment our trip. The surprise gift was two tickets to the Carlos Mencia comedy show playing in Portland that evening. It was a great surprise as I really enjoy Carlos’s views on stupidity and “Dee de dees” in reference to society today. So we packed up the car and hit the road heading about 3 hours south to Portland Oregon. We arrived after a little traffic, parked the car and entered the hotel. Upon entering the hotel we were greeted by a beautiful lobby with old Victorian décor. Amy had chosen one of the nicest and oldest hotels in downtown Portland. It had recently been renovated, but was once heralded as the most prestigious hotel in the Northwest, The Multnomah Hotel. The hotel was beautiful. We checked in, settled into our room and then headed out for a quick bite and catch the beginning of the first Red Sox game before the start of the Carlos Mencia show. We enjoyed typical bar fare as we watched a terrific performance by Dice K, regrettably I had to leave the game, but I was sure that the Sox would not disappoint me on my birthday. We walked across the street to the Arlene Schnitzer Theater at the Portland Center for Performing Arts. The outside of the theater resembles the theater in Chicago where the city name decorates the outside of the building on a bright fluorescent sign. We walked into the lobby of the theater and there was the man himself, Carlos Mencia was signing autographs, taking pictures and greeting fans (all for a fee of course.) We contemplated getting a picture taken, but there are not many people I would pay $25 to get a picture taken with. The show was hilarious. The opening acts were not superb but definitely opened the door for Carlos’s comedy. Even after the show Carlos and the opening acts remained on stage to take questions from the audience and see just how far they could take it with their jokes regarding race, sex, and handicaps. Their motto is make fun of everyone, or makes fun of no one. After leaving the show I checked the scores immediately and was elated to find out that the Red Sox had opened the American League championship series with a win against Tampa!

We lucked out with an awesome weekend with weather giving us clear blue skies and 60-degree temperature. Perfect weather to explore the city of Portland. Through her research, Amy had found a restaurant with good reviews regarding a restaurant for Chinese Dim Sum, so we took the short walk from our hotel into the heart of Chinatown and sat down in the Fong Chong restaurant. As soon as we sat down Cantonese speaking waitresses with carts of food greeted us, which is always a good sign of quality Dim Sum. Actually, I retract that statement because the Dim Sum we had was the worse that we ever had. Most of the food was cold, greasy and bland. Their tea I do believe was from Lipton. Disappointed about brunch we soon forgot about the horrible Chinese food as we walked towards the waterfront to enjoy the weekly Saturday Market. Hundreds of tents and venders filled the banks of the river, and Amy was enthralled with the artwork and crafts. They also had many food venders, but our grease filled bellies would not allow us to enjoy their offerings. The river that runs through the city reminds me of the Charles in Boston with the exception that if I drank this water I would not grow a third eye, but like the band the Standell's say "I love that dirty water! Boston, you’re my home!” After enjoying the festivities of the market we felt it would be fun to go and see Lincoln High School where Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons, matriculated in 1972. There he has a sidewalk drawing of Bart Simpson in commemoration of his ties to Lincoln High School so we walked 18 blocks west to fulfill Amy’s curiosity and see the site she had researched. The directions were simple enough, the corner of SW Salmon and SW 18th. We searched all corners and did not see the drawing. I got out my iPhone to find more info. We search for about 20 minutes up and down the block until in one last ditch effort we revisited the south east corner of SW 18th and SW Salmon and there was the etching of Bart. Not sure how we missed it the first time. We continued to explore the city walking through the grid of stores and shops that line the main streets. We explored the Ira Keller fountain on the south end of town. The fountain was beautiful with water falling down layers of cascading rocks. It is probably on of the most magnificent public fountains that we’ve seen. Unlike Buckingham fountain in Chicago or the fountain in Seattle’s City Center this fountain mimics the waterfalls of nature, a prelude of what was to come in our adventures for the next day. We had reservations that night to an upscale restaurant on the north end of town. I begged Amy to let me cancel the reservation so I could watch the Red Sox game. Since it was my birthday weekend, Amy complied without much resistance. So we first checked out the view from the Portland City Grill on the 30th floor of the US BankCorp building. We saw an overview of the city and the surrounding area, as it was a clear day with visibility for miles. As we sat in the lounge we could see Mt Hood overlooking the city, just as Mt Rainer overlooks Seattle. Mt. Hood however cannot match Rainer's sheer size, but the snow capped mountain and the landscape of the city was truly breath taking. Portland in itself is not a large city by any means, but one cannot help to notice the liberal attitude of most of the inhabitants. We then left the Grill to go to the bar to watch the Red Sox game. It was a busy day for most Sports bars as college football dominated the TV screens. We settled on Buffalo Wild Wings and watched most of the game from there. There weren’t many Red Sox fans at the bar, even the gentleman behind us was routing for the Tampa Bay Rays. I really wanted to turn around and say, “I’m from Florida and I really hate the Rays!” We ended up watching the last few innings back at the hotel. It was a disappointing loss. The next morning we awoke. Amy had planned a nice hike through the Oregon wilderness. We woke up and had the hotel’s complimentary breakfast, took a few snacks for the hike and drove 45 minutes to the Eagle Creek Recreational Center to start our hike. Unlike our last hike in Vancouver, we packed plenty of water and began our hike. The beginning of the trail was easy. We traversed through mild inclines of rocky trails and small creeks and we hit our first destination Metlako Falls. The hike was beautiful. The moss and fern covered trees coupled with the sounds of the water rushing below gave way to a very tranquil setting. We soon hit our next destination the Punchbowl Falls which derives its name by resembling a bowl that is being fed by another small waterfall. We continued on the trail for a couple hours stopping here and there and occasionally veering off the trail in an attempt to get great pictures that will one day line the walls of our home and provide us with a nice history of our travels. I was starting to get a little fatigued after the first 5 miles and a little wary that we were on the right track, but after reassurances from Amy and hopes that we would soon reach our destination we kept going on. We walked around the final bend and we could hear what sounded like a great waterfall. We had been walking and following the fiver for 6 miles and finally we were able to see the origin of the water flow. The waterfall was amazing. Twice the size of those we saw in Hawaii. We could really feel the force at which the water fell and hit the rocks. As we walked closer to the waterfall there was a small cave-like tunnel to walk behind the waterfall. It was unlike anything I have ever seen and was totally worth the 6-mile trek in to see this amazing site. The rocks were a bit slippery, and the trail narrow, and with no security to guard you from a fall, my fear of heights definitely kicked in a bit. We came away with beautiful photographs and lasting memories of this wonder of nature tucked deep away in the Oregon wilderness. Now it was the trek back that was probably the most fatiguing part for both of us. Besides drinking a bit of water here and there and sharing a jelly sandwich from breakfast we had not taken any rests on the 3.5-hour hike in therefore our fatigue made the traversing through the makeshift log bridges and rocky cliffs a little more dangerous. The last two miles were probably the hardest. Our longest hike to date was 8 miles so this twelve-mile hike was a bit of a stretch and our bodies felt it on the way back. In retrospect if we had rested a bit we would have been better off than trying to hustle back to the car. We finally made it back to the car sweaty, tired and sore. After cleaning up back at the hotel we headed out to Dan and Louis Oyster Bar as featured in the book "Roadfood" hoping to warm up with some chowder. I thought the food was average, but Amy was happy with her Commissioner’s Stew – oyster, crab and shrimp in a milk based broth and assured me that that was how it was suppose to taste. I guess I didn’t realize the seafood stew consisted of seafood covered with hot milk. It was like a hot seafood cereal and it was very bland. For dessert with walked across the street to Voodoo Doughnuts which has been featured on the Food network as one of the nation’s top doughnuts. We walked into the shop where the liberal punk stereotype afflicted every employee. You could hear the Portland music venue Berbati's Pan and its death metal sounds of the concert next store coming through the walls of the small doughnut shop. The menu was very eclectic featuring some lewdly named to classic doughnuts. To make decisions easier we got the Voodoo baker’s dozen all handpicked by the store. The assortment of doughnuts consisted of different doughnuts with an ecoutramont of toppings including cereal, cookies, m & m’s and icing. Amy and I split the Oreo covered donut and she thought it was the best doughnut she’d ever had. The next morning we left Portland and returned home. It was great way to start year number 27. This weekend's plan is to play some golf with my boss, have dinner at the Todd English restaurant Fish Club compliments of my Aunt in NY, and we also have tickets to see the much hyped up musical, Spring Awakening, which I hear is a bit odd, but highly acclaimed in all the reviews in New York. I know this was long, but Amy typed it up while I dictated on the drive back to Seattle. Until Next time all!!!