Day 276 - A Day in Portland - ETB Travel Photography

Day 276 – A Day in Portland

So I spent Saturday evening and the majority of Sunday with
Casey, Ross, and their two wonderful children, Griffin and Claudia. The connection, as usual, is from the horse
show days. Casey competed in jumpers
while I rode hunters. Casey’s husband
Ross owns his own software development company with another partner and enjoys
cooking (more about dinner in a minute).
Griffin is a SMART fifth grader who likes Lego Robots and recently
required an emergency room visit for stitches after a bicycle accident. Claudia, a bundle of energy, is a first
grader who plays tennis and enjoys showing off the latest fashion. Three non-matching, colorful socks, one tied
around the knee, was my personal favorite.

For dinner Ross prepared a mouth watering meal; flavorful steak on the grill, a medley of
vegetables from their garden, a tomato and mozzarella salad, potatoes, and
stuffed mushrooms. Needless to say, I was
in heaven!

This morning we went to a trendy breakfast restaurant. The restaurant opened at 9 a.m. and a line of
folks wrapped around the corner waiting to be seated. Arriving around 8:40, we met Sean and his
boys TJ and Jared, and the eight of us managed to be included in the first
seating, though outside on the patio which fortunately had a roof which covered
us from the stop and start drizzle. The
brunch menu was full of delights. Each
time the server carried plates to other tables we all turned our heads and
stared the food down. The fried chicken
waffle seemed to be a popular choice.
Three fried chicken breasts stabbed with a knife topped a large, puffy
waffle. I think it could have fed three.

Our table ended up with a few orders of praline bacon, sweet
potato fritters with powdered sugar and cinnamon, waffles, French toast, eggs Benedict,
a three mushroom scramble, and eggs and brisket hash. The portions were enormous. I gorged myself and could only finish half my
plate!

After breakfast we were going to wander around the
waterfront, but between the Race for the Cure 5K event and the dreary weather,
we opted for a walk around the neighborhood park with the dogs; Petey, Henry
and Bella. While the dogs took a nap, we
broke out Settlers of Catan (awesome game) and tried watching the Cowboy
game. Interestingly, the Fox station in
Oregon played an English Premier League Futbol match between Chelsea and
Manchester United!?! It was fine with me
because I like soccer too, but really???
I was surprised to see soccer took place of the afternoon NFC game. Lucky for me, I had a friend who updated me
on the football score…sounded like a nailbiter!

In the late afternoon, Griffin’s Lego Robot Team came over to
work out the programming for their robots based on fourteen tasks their robots
will have to complete in competition. I
checked out the board and then headed for the coast in a fog and drizzle. The weather is supposed to clear up tomorrow
just in time for me to enjoy a day on the northwest coast of Oregon before
returning to Portland for another awesome shower and a bed on my way to visit
the Columbia River Gorge. It sure is
tough to leave civilization and good company these days…looking forward to
returning to Portland tomorrow night! Upon looking for a campground for the evening, I did finally see some Roosevelt Elk. I had to take the picture through the windshield.
ETB