Day 6 in Portland

Our final day in Oregon was a quiet one, with some late sleeping, late breakfast, shopping and time with friends. We spent several hours taking advantage of Oregon's tax-free shopping at the Woodburn outlet mall. W and I made a few nice bargain purchases, and walked out of a Banana Republic because the music was SO loud and the manager refused to turn it down. Oh well...their loss....another store's gain.

In the late afternoon, we headed down to Salem, Oregon to have dinner with Jason and Heather, their two boys and their two dachshunds. It was a great night of pizza, wine, conversation, and playing with kids and dogs. It's too bad that two couples who share so much in common and have such a great time together, live on opposite ends of the country. I'm sure we will get together again sometime soon!

Our journey comes to an end with packing and dropping W off at the airport. I'll be in Seattle for several days with meetings.

Day 5 in Portland

Our fifth day in Portland comprised of two main activites, the Widmer Brewery tour and the wedding of our friends Eric and Katherine. It was a relative scorcher in Portland (80 degrees by 10am and 90 plus by 4pm) so we had a quick workout in the hotel gym.

Then we hopped in the car for what should have been a quick trip across the river to the Widmer Brewery. Unfortunately we got stuck behind the same slow train twice and ended up getting to the factory and gasthaus a few minutes after the video. At the nice hour of 11am, we were sampling Widmer's award winning Hefeweizen, winner of the Gold Medal at the 2008 World Beer Cup. We also tried the Halo IPA, Drop Top Amber, and the Crimson Wheat seasonal. Then we were off to tour the brewery. (Pictures to be posted later.) It was a great start to the morning that we finished with lunch at the gasthaus with some nice beers. You gotta love beer at noon! Even better, we received free Widmer beer glasses and bottle openers just for attending the tour! (Tours are given on Fridays and Saturdays only. Reservations are required.)

After lunch, we drove over to visit the store version of my favorite catalogue, Title 9 Sports. I had the chance to try on and purchase some running gear that I drooled over in the catalogue months ago while W patiently waited and gave fit advice. We need a Title 9 in Chapel Hill!!!

We ran back to the hotel to freshen up and change for the wedding, setting out at a little before 4pm for our short walk to Eric and Katherine's wedding site on the waterfront. It was a lovely ceremony with about 60 people in attendance from all over the country. We hopped on the eco-shuttle for the trip to McMenamin's Edgefield, the reception site. We met up with the honeymooning couple, Brian and Meredith, and stopped at the winery on site for a quick tasting before the arrival of the wedding party. Dinner and dancing ensued on the 3rd floor of the Power Station, where we met some new transplants to Chapel Hill - Kristin and John. We caught up with friends both new and old, and partied late into the evening with the bride and groom at Jerry's Icehouse and the Distillery Bar. Late in the evening (or early in the morning depending on your point of view) we caught up with a friendly cabbie and went back to our hotel in Portland.

The wedding whirlwind of the summer is officially over....next stop Huntsville, Alabama for Arch and Sarah's wedding in November!

Day 4 in Portland

We decided to forego the Residence Inn breakfast and try a local favorite this morning....Voodoo Donuts. It is located in a rather questionable area of town, but is highly worth the hype and the view!!!

Brad Pitt may be a fan of the maple donut with bacon, but I'm sold on the Voodoo Doll donut, a man shaped donut with (ahem....) an anatomical addition via pretzel stick, with iced face and filled with rasberry jelly. W had the triple chocolate penetration, a chocolate angel food cake donut with chocolate frosting and Coco Puffs on top. What a sugar rush we had on our journey to the Oregon coast!

Sights along the 90 minute journey on Route 26 west included signs warning of elk, car washes, tall hills, and lots of trees. It appeared as if many areas were strategically logged or burned. You can see the famous Haystack Rock and the ocean from the highway. We stopped in the town of Cannon Beach and headed to Bill's Tavern & Brewhouse, based on a recommendation from our friend Jason. Great find!!! W is a huge proponent of the 'don't fruit the beer' rule, but a sample of the Blackberry Beauty may have expanded his horizons slightly. A nice wheat beer with just a hint of berry taste, it was perfect for sipping out on the porch while eating lunch and watching the world go by. I stuck with a simple turkey sandwich while W ate the largest chili dog we'd ever seen. It was more a plate of chili with cheese and onions, with a hot dog sort of sitting in the middle. A knife and fork were necessary.

We then wandered around the Cannon Beach shops, found some peppermint ice cream and drove down to the parking area for the beach. You can see by my hair that it was extremly windy down at the shore, with gusts of up to 40mph and temperatures in the 50's. Very different from what we are used to on the east coast beaches....Shortly after, we headed back to Portland.

It turned out that we picked the ideal hotel for this wedding! While my choice was partially dictated by Marriott points, and partly on the recommendations of Heather and Jason, it turned out that the rehearsal dinner and wedding ceremony are both a two minute walk from the hotel! Katherine and Eric's rehearsal dinner was held at Thirst, a local wine bar. We had the chance to meet lots of Katherine's friends from Penn State, childhood friends of Eric's, along with everyone's family. A nice surprise were the researchers there that W has attended conference with over the years. We also had the chance to catch up with our friend Steve, who we spent a week with at the Outer Banks a few summers back. It was a great evening of wine and people watching, with just a short walk back to our hotel.

Day 3 in Portland

Day 3 in Portland was a little less active due to our 'overactivity' yesterday. In the morning, W browsed the Tour de France action online while I took a test on the 21st Century Physician, thereby completing my Certified Medical Representative status. Twelve courses over two years and I'm finally done!!!!

We got our act on the road and drove to Dundee Hills, Oregon in the center of the Willamette Valley wine country. (For the correct pronunciation - it's Will-AM-ette, dammit!) We ate lunch at the Dundee Bistro, a swanky little restaurant and wine bar that caters to a high end clientele while sitting in a small, slightly run-down city center comprised of less than 4000 people. . We shared a caesar salad and a pizza with white sauce, chicken sausage, radicchio and garlic. Perfect for our afternoon of wine tasting! Then back in the car to the first winery.

There is a blue sign pointing the way to a new winery or tasting room on almost every corner of the towns of Dundee Hills and Newburg. This area of Oregon is known as the Willlamette Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area). Sokol Blosser winery was our first stop. The bride and groom selected it as the first stop on our tour based on the reviews of the wine, the beauty of the area and the dedication to organic production utilized there. We walked through the vineyard walking area prior to the arrival of the wedding party. We found a just hatched baby robin in a nest among the vines!!!

This area of the country is known for its great pinot noir vintages, and it certainly lived up to expectation. We also enjoyed the Meditrina, a mix of syrah, zinfandel and pinot noir grapes. Both the red wine afficianado and the die hard white drinker enjoyed this fruity red.

We met up with the groom and a few more wedding guests at Elk Cove Winery in Gaston, Oregon. (If traveling here from Dundee, DON'T follow the directions on your Garmin. The street it tells you to travel on actually ends at a gate and a grassed over road. We swear we heard banjos....call for actual directions.) The tasting room was not quite as lovely as Sokol Blosser, but the pinot was more to W's taste. We bade farewell to the bride and groom, suggesting Deschutes Brewery as a possible dinner option for the large group, and headed back into town to get ready for the evening.

Four years ago, I was paired with a roommate for hospital training with my company. Turned out to be the best 'blind date' ever. I met my dear friend Heather that way and we've talked at least three times a week ever since. She is married to a PhD (Jason), has 2 dachshunds, 2 boys and unfortunately, lives on the other side of the country from us. We see each other at every meeting (until lately when she left the company for a new opportunity) and finally got the chance to meet as friends with both of our husbands! Heather and Jason picked us up from the hotel and took us to Portland City Grill, a great restaurant on the 30th floor of a building with panoramic views of Portland. We had a great evening of food, drinks and lots of catching up. After dinner and some drinks, we headed out into Portland's nightlife. After a false start or two, we ended up at the Blue Hour. People watching, drink imbibing, and storytelling ensued late into the evening (FRL)! Midnight saw us back at the hotel and Jason and Heather at a cute boutique hotel downtown, with plans for a Sunday afternoon visit to their house in Salem firmly in place.

Additional Day 2 in Portland info

W and I both utilize a Garmin Forerunner GPS to track our speed and mileage while we run and bike. We brought it along to our Multnomah Falls journey. Take a look at what it showed on the elevation after all was said and done.....

Our peak elevation was 2545 feet. Even more interesting was our total ascent, 11,000 feet! So basically we climbed the equivalent of a mountain in Colorado!!!! (No wonder we could both barely walk today....)

Day 2 in Portland, Oregon

Day two of our vacation started with breakfast at the hotel and lots of reading about local trails. We chose to visit Saddle Mountain on the way out to Cannon Beach along the Oregon coast. Luckily, W took a look at the website while I was dealing with a small work issue, and discovered that the trail was closed. Some quick reading and a text to Heather sent us in the opposite direction to Multnomah Falls. We detoured to Target for water bottles and other supplies, arriving at the trailhead at around noon on Wednesday.

We had no idea what was in store for us.

The trip began on Trail 442 heading West to Wahkeena Falls. The trail ascended quickly, passing small waterfalls (and a slug) along the way. Past Wahkeena Falls, we moved up the mountain via a series of sharp switchbacks on Trail 400 / 420, paved to make things easier - but still a challenge for the heart, lungs and legs! I took a break under Fairy Falls and got soaked.

We traveled up to Wakheena Springs to the see the start of all of the waterfalls we saw along the way. Then we hiked up a nearly completely overgrown path to a summit of 2400 feet at Devils Rest. Both Mt. St. Helens (what is left) and Mt. Rainier are visible from this high peak. The rest was all downhill, past Ecola Falls and Weisendanger Falls and to the Multnomah Falls Overlook, the most visited tourist attraction in Oregon. It was an 8.5 mile trip that lasted until nearly 6pm! We took over 100 photos and had a wonderful time looking at waterfalls, wildflowers and the nearby mountains.

We decided to forego the highway and follow the Historic Columbia River Highway back to town. What a great choice! We stumbled upon both Bridal Veil State Park and the gorgeous falls there, as well as Latourelle Falls and the Vista House at Crown Point.

After some extensive cleanup, we headed into Northwest Portland for the New Old Lompoc brewery and pubhouse, where W had an amazing mac&cheese dinner with ham, tomatoes & scallions. Mac & cheese seems to be on every menu here so he figured he had to try it. Then we wandered down the street for a quick peak at what we would be drinking on Saturday evening, by going into one of McMenamin's many Portland watering holes. McMenamin's started in the 80's with some beer loving brothers opening up a pub and has grown into an entertainment and beer staple of the Pacific Northwest. From schools renovated into hotels and pubs to beer halls that show movies, they have it all. Eric & Katherine's wedding will take place in two days at McMenamin's in Edgefield.

Visit to Portland, Oregon - July 8th, 2008

After an unreasonably easy and pain-free set of flights, W and I arrived in Portland for some much needed vacation and the wedding of our friends Eric & Katherine.

Upon arrival, we grabbed our car and headed downtown to the Residence Inn on the riverfront. We laced up our running shoes and headed out for a 3 mile run along the waterfront and across some of Portland's many bridges.

Then upon the recommendation of my friend and local resident, Heather, we set out for the Pearl District of Portland on the streetcar, to the newly opened Deschutes Brewery and Pub. We had a great dinner that included our own personalized flights of beer. We browsed around some of the downtown stores, including a gigantic REI, the Puma store, and the North Face, wandered through the Pearl and found ourselves at a local gelato cafe. We grabbed something sweet and planned to catch the streetcar back to the hotel.

Unfortunately, everytime we arrived at a streetcar stop, the LED sign indicated that the ride was over 10 minutes away....so we just kept walking. We hit the Safeway for some sodas and snacks....and walked some more. We were approached by many of the locals who were interested in some spare change....so we walked some more, eventually walking all the way back to our hotel - a 3 plus mile journey. We figured we'd rest later. It was a great introduction to Portland...we're looking forward to our next adventure tomorrow!

Trip to Asheville - July 3rd, 2008

We arrived in Asheville, NC on Thursday afternoon at about 5pm. The purpose for our holiday weekend escape is the impending nuptuals of our friends, Brian & Meredith, on the Biltmore property on July 5th.

Per the suggestion of our friend Elizabeth in Mebane, we began our tour of Asheville at Barley's Taproom on Biltmore Avenue. We devoured one of the BEST pizza's we've ever tried and sampled some of North Carolina's finer brews. On the way in, we saw the Catawba Valley brewer delivering some kegs while wearing a great shirt that said "Screw Milk....Drink Beer.' I had the chance to introduce myself to the brewer, Scott, at the bar and inquire about a T-shirt. While he didn't have any available there, he gave us his contact information and an informal invitation to the brewery, located about 50 miles east of Asheville.

After Barley's, we walked around downtown Asheville, by the Grove Arcade, St. Lawrence Basilica, the Thirsty Monk and more before meeting up with Brian, Meredith and the wedding crew for drinks at the Biergarden.

It was a long day of travel so we turned in early.


More later which included:
Friday, July 4th golf for W
a 4.7 mile hill run for me0
a speedy audio tour of the Biltmore Estate (beautiful!!!!)
a forever drive to get off of the Biltmore property
Rehearsal dinner at 1816 Bistro with a slideshow by yours truly
skipping out on fireworks with Eric & Katherine to get coffee at the Double Decker Bus
Saturday morning 4 miles for me, bike ride for W
BEAUTIFUL wedding service at St. Lawrence Basilica followed by reception at Lioncrest on the Biltmore property
Sunday - brunch and departures


Next stop..... Portland, Oregon!!!!