There will be pictures. There will be video. There will be short beer and restaurant reviews. There will be donuts. There will be links.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll get in trouble at work for spending too much time on the internet.
But I digress.
WEDNESDAY
My little lady officially turned five years old.
FIVE.
Years old.
God bless, it goes by quickly. Seems like just the other day she was all
And now she's all
She dressed herself, of course.
And before too long she'll be all
Or maybe
Or
Or even
Pure insanity.
At any rate, she went to school that day. Sara and I brought cookies up for her class and I took her home early. I was going to take her to a movie that afternoon but in a classic Ilse move, she decided instead that she would rather stay home and watch a few episodes of Batman Beyond and hang out. Knowing I was leaving town the next day, I was more than happy to oblige a little hang out time before dinner.
Dinner, at the daughter's behest, was at Central BBQ. Had a good time with family, back to the house for cake and presents. She made out like a bandit and had a great time harassing her cousin as he played wrapping paper clean up duty.
Books, snuggle time, bed.
THURSDAY
To Portland we shall go.
Packed up the newly acquired Kelty Redwing 44 with all the business needed for my three day/three night excursion to the PNW plus a little more (extra pair of pants, shorts, two extra shirts, underoos, Surface RT with touch cover in its factory packaging), double and triple checked, and rode with my lady to the aeroportal. Security at Memphis was quick and efficient (suckas!) and before long, I was seated for my glorious excursion with Delta Airlines.
Pay for the preferred seating, people. It's worth it. That said, no matter how much leg room you have, it won't make your ass any less sore by the end of the trip. Remind me to pack a neck pillow and maybe spring for first class one of these days. Sweet Jeebus three hours in a plane is too long.
At any rate, smooth flight, no real worries. Got into my connection at Salt Lake City in decent time and in an unheard of situation my arrival and departure gates were actually close together! This may happen to some of you more regular travelers on the reg, but I can't recall EVER having my arrival and departure gates literally five gates apart- arrived in C3, departed C8. Flipping awesome planning on SLC's part or awesome coincidence. Still didn't have time to meet up with my arfcom pal, Terra, but the gate proximity made for a much more stress free 42min layover.
Landed a hair early at PDX, breezed through, and was picked up by my buddy Brian, who in a bid for future sainthood, battled through two hours of rush hour traffic to pick my sorry bottom up.
This being my first trip to Portland, I was immediately enamored with the scenery on the drive from the airport to Beaverton, where his abode is located. I am a sucker for fall foliage as we don't really have what one would refer to as "seasons" in Memphis, and who doesn't love mountains? Got a great glimpse of Mt Hood on the way in, and though this would be the only really clear sky of duration of my stay, it's great country to be surrounded by.
Also, dick and fart jokes. And comic voices.
In his second bid for sainthood, Brian stopped us by one of the local groceries for a handcart full of bombers of local beers and we stopped off at Five Guys for some grub to take home. Very thankfully, Five Guys there is better than Five Guys here, so upon arrival at the Link's abode, we plopped ourselves down for an evening of tomfoolery, burgers, and beer.
First beer for the night, if I remember correctly, was Ninkasi's Believer Double Red Ale. Ninkasi is a brewery out of Eugene, Oregon. Check the link for their notes on the beer, which I found to be pretty representative of the beer. A little lighter of a beer than I really like, but still very good stuff overall.
The second beer of the night, which honestly may one of my favorite beers ever, was Elysian Brewing's Valhalla Red IPA. Not representative of Oregon, sadly, as Elysian is located in Seattle, but holy shit was this an awesome IPA. Powerful, but not overly bitter, with just the right amount of citrus and floral notes and a bedroom stare that makes you want to drink it all night. And it's called Valhalla Red IPA. If it's good enough for Odin, it's good enough for me.
This also came up before bed - don't watch it at work unless you're the boss, have a closed office, or wield the power to punch anyone that questions your actions in their no no bits.
FRIDAY
Woke up surprisingly easily and early Friday morning and was a little disappointed in myself that the first thing I did was reach for my phone to check work email. Damn our corporate lifestyle and the demands that it places upon us!
At any rate, very pleasant morning of coffee, email, and chillaxing with more coffee. HOWEVER Brian's wife, Lyndsay, in an apparent fit of excitement over my arrival the previous evening, decided to cast her iPhone against the ground upon which she was jogging instead of holding onto it, so we took a trip to the Apple Store at the nearest mall. This did, however, afford us a few things:
Dinner, at the daughter's behest, was at Central BBQ. Had a good time with family, back to the house for cake and presents. She made out like a bandit and had a great time harassing her cousin as he played wrapping paper clean up duty.
Books, snuggle time, bed.
THURSDAY
To Portland we shall go.
Packed up the newly acquired Kelty Redwing 44 with all the business needed for my three day/three night excursion to the PNW plus a little more (extra pair of pants, shorts, two extra shirts, underoos, Surface RT with touch cover in its factory packaging), double and triple checked, and rode with my lady to the aeroportal. Security at Memphis was quick and efficient (suckas!) and before long, I was seated for my glorious excursion with Delta Airlines.
Pay for the preferred seating, people. It's worth it. That said, no matter how much leg room you have, it won't make your ass any less sore by the end of the trip. Remind me to pack a neck pillow and maybe spring for first class one of these days. Sweet Jeebus three hours in a plane is too long.
At any rate, smooth flight, no real worries. Got into my connection at Salt Lake City in decent time and in an unheard of situation my arrival and departure gates were actually close together! This may happen to some of you more regular travelers on the reg, but I can't recall EVER having my arrival and departure gates literally five gates apart- arrived in C3, departed C8. Flipping awesome planning on SLC's part or awesome coincidence. Still didn't have time to meet up with my arfcom pal, Terra, but the gate proximity made for a much more stress free 42min layover.
A bison arrives at PDX.
This being my first trip to Portland, I was immediately enamored with the scenery on the drive from the airport to Beaverton, where his abode is located. I am a sucker for fall foliage as we don't really have what one would refer to as "seasons" in Memphis, and who doesn't love mountains? Got a great glimpse of Mt Hood on the way in, and though this would be the only really clear sky of duration of my stay, it's great country to be surrounded by.
Also, dick and fart jokes. And comic voices.
In his second bid for sainthood, Brian stopped us by one of the local groceries for a handcart full of bombers of local beers and we stopped off at Five Guys for some grub to take home. Very thankfully, Five Guys there is better than Five Guys here, so upon arrival at the Link's abode, we plopped ourselves down for an evening of tomfoolery, burgers, and beer.
First beer for the night, if I remember correctly, was Ninkasi's Believer Double Red Ale. Ninkasi is a brewery out of Eugene, Oregon. Check the link for their notes on the beer, which I found to be pretty representative of the beer. A little lighter of a beer than I really like, but still very good stuff overall.
Maybe the best IPA ever.
The second beer of the night, which honestly may one of my favorite beers ever, was Elysian Brewing's Valhalla Red IPA. Not representative of Oregon, sadly, as Elysian is located in Seattle, but holy shit was this an awesome IPA. Powerful, but not overly bitter, with just the right amount of citrus and floral notes and a bedroom stare that makes you want to drink it all night. And it's called Valhalla Red IPA. If it's good enough for Odin, it's good enough for me.
This also came up before bed - don't watch it at work unless you're the boss, have a closed office, or wield the power to punch anyone that questions your actions in their no no bits.
FRIDAY
Woke up surprisingly easily and early Friday morning and was a little disappointed in myself that the first thing I did was reach for my phone to check work email. Damn our corporate lifestyle and the demands that it places upon us!
At any rate, very pleasant morning of coffee, email, and chillaxing with more coffee. HOWEVER Brian's wife, Lyndsay, in an apparent fit of excitement over my arrival the previous evening, decided to cast her iPhone against the ground upon which she was jogging instead of holding onto it, so we took a trip to the Apple Store at the nearest mall. This did, however, afford us a few things:
- More genital humor - There is a Dick's Sporting Goods as one of the anchor stores of the mall. This is apparently the Links' favorite entrance to the mall, as the lot in front of the store is reportedly rarely busy so it affords easy access, even during the holidays. According to the joke, however, Brian is just naturally drawn to big dicks.
- Trip to the Made In Oregon store, in which I left many dollars in exchange for goods for my wife and baby child
- Trip to the Lego Store, from which I absconded with a larger base plate for baby child's dioramas (Lego apparently thinks that it's cool to have base plates too small to fit everything in a diorama, or no base plate at all) and two of the coveted Lego removal tools. Much excitement.
The great phone debacle having been resolved, not necessarily to the Links' ideal desires, we returned to the Links' abode and Brian and I went back out for lunch and a trip to the Nike campus, his place of employment. Lunch was just some Panera, not awesome but solid, over which we shared more quips about life and work, the state of things, etc. The Nike World Headquarters campus, however, is pretty awesome. I didn't take any pictures (who takes pictures of someone else's workplace?) but they have managed to carve themselves out a nice corner of the world. Lots of great design and layout, plenty of sport memorabilia, and some harmony with nature add up to a pretty impressive set of buildings, I must say. Nike sounds like a good employer in general, and they work with the community as they constantly expand and grow workforce and footprint.
Good on you, international sporting goods conglomerate.
Dinner Friday was a trip to McMeniman's Cornelius Pass Roadhouse. McMeniman's is kind a local chain in and about Portland, and have a tendency to find old, historical spots and renovate them into restaurant/events spots. Good vibe, not a terrible menu (think medium to high pub food), and some pretty decent beer made for a good dining experience. I had a burger with bacon, Tillamook cheddar, and a fried egg on it, half a mountain of Cajun tots (these were awesome), and the Hop Goblin IPA. Decent burger, great beer. Sara was up visiting earlier in February, and their experience was not so good- sounded like a service issue. I found everything to be quite adequate.
Outside the main dining hall, not my picture
Inside the dining hall, also not my picture
Dinner done, we headed back to the house, mom and kids went to bed, and the Brian and I stayed up with a few more beers and a viewing of This is the End, and an attempted viewing of Oldboy. My first time seeing This is the End, and being that this was dudes' weekend of dick and fart jokes, this was highly appropriate, welcome, and high larry us. Check it out if you are into low humor and actors making fun of themselves by portraying themselves.
Who knew coked out Michael Cera was a funny thing?
Yeah, so beer. Trying to remember what else we had Friday night, but I know we had this one.
Eugene, Oregon's Oakshire Brewing's Overcast Espresso Stout. While Brian didn't like this one (he's not a fan of stouts) I found it rather good. A little bitter, as expected with a stout, without the creaminess of, say a Guinness or similar. More of a straight up stout, the coffee flavor is well incorporated and not overbearing. A good coffee oatmeal stout.
There was probably more, but I can't remember it offhand.
Suffice it to say that while we tend to agree on comedies (though I have no use for the Jackass series), Brian and I differ greatly on foreign films. Food, beer, and subtitles apparently make the man fall asleep. He couldn't even make it to the hammer fight. His loss.
Oh, and Friday would have been the day that I would have dragged Brian, kicking and screaming, to see Godflesh at Hawthorne Theater. Godflesh.
Yes, fucking Godflesh. Highly influential progenitors of industrial, metal, etc, hailing from Birmingham, England and MAYBE my favorite band of all time.
Godflesh.
But noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, they couldn't get their entry paperwork approved to make the tour. Due to the government shutdown? I don't know. Perhaps. Perhaps not. Tour rescheduled for next year.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.
I guess that just means I have to go back to Portland in April. Oh well.
More to come...
{continued here)
No comments:
Post a Comment