Labor Day Weekend in Portland

Portlandia: Take II

Well, for those of you who know me, you know I've always got this insatiable itch to get away. So I decided to take full advatage of the long holiday weekend, and visit my wonderful friend, Marianne in her fun and quirky city! Portland: where hipsters abound, and young people go to retire.



I flew in late on Thursday night, and was met by Marianne and her boyfriend, Ryan (AKA Ralph :) where we finished the evening catching up over local craft beers, while Ralph sipped his whisky from a coffee cup! Friday morning, I woke up to a fantastic breakfast feast! How wonderful to be able to eat fresh food from your own backyard! We had wonderful home-made roasted-peach scones, and omlet's stuffed with with goat cheese, delicious sweet cherry tomatos, roasted peppers and onions, made mostly with fresh veggies from the garden, and with the freshest eggs right from the hens behind the house! The last time I was in Portland, it was winter, so this was an entirely different experience :)

I think this one's name is Nancy...

The magnificent Blue Moon

After copious amounts of coffee and afternoon pedicures, we loaded up the car and took a little roadtrip to Corvallis to visit Marianne's friend, Pavel. Once there, we made a fantastic mexican dinner and drank local brews by the firepit in the back yard, & witnessed the Blue-Moon. Apparently those are pretty spectacular and equally rare, however it looked just like a regular moon to us! The next morning we were up early for a wonderful drive along the PCH down the Oregon coast.  The Oregon coast is so wonderful with crashing waves against the rocky shore line! There were hundreds of little eddy's where little tadpoles and anemonies could be found! We went to a couple different beaches, and would have had a fantastic picnic on the shore, except someone *AHEM, Pavel!* forgot the food on the kitchen counter (we somehow managed the the cooler with beer though, haha :) We finished the night in Newport, where we watched the sea-lions at sunset and had dinner in the quaint little coastal town. It was such a wonderful day, with wonderful friends, and one that I will remember for a long long time :)

This place was meant for me :)

catching tadpoles :)

My sweet friend

breath-taking!

Bringing a little bit of CO to OR with a Fat Tire

So serene.

I just LOVE this picture!

Just giving Ralph a piggy-back ride :) Don't worry, I got this!

Playing in the sand

Sunday night we got to spend time with some of my other fantastic friends, Alexe and Eric! We met up at an art festival downtown, where we saw the filming of The Real World Portland, and were informed that Alexe and Eric's puppy, Whidbey, will make a cameo appearance on the episode, because he's just so darn cute! We then proceeded into the evening with food and drinks at various places downtown, and made our way to a micro sour-beer brewary! Alexe's brother, Pat met up with us at the end of the night, and we had a fun time laughing at our slight height difference :)

The cast of "The Real World, Portland

The star of the show, Whidbey!

Drinks at stop #2

Cascade Brewery - - Sour Beer!!

Alexe, and Marianne :)

Alexe's brother, Pat. (a little height difference...)

Monday (Labor Day) was spent walking around downtown with Marianne and Ryan, and enjoying my final hours in town. Portland is such a wonderful, quirky city and I just can't wait to go back! It is somewhat similar to Colorado, but vastly different with the greenery and the rolling hills! Some of my favorite people call Portland 'home' now, and  therfore I like to think that I have a little bit of 'home' in Portland!

Food carts EVERYWHERE! You don't see that in Denver!

As always signing off; farewell, Porland! Until next time :)