A recap of our short trip to Portland, OR this past week. Links to photos (use: shuwenng@hotmail.com and 'sharepics')

Day 1: Off to Portland, we hit the ground running!

We got up in the wee hours of the morning (or as Marc would say "the butt-crack of dawn") to make our flight to Portland via Dallas, getting lucky on the way and making it on an earlier connection in DFW, which set us in Portland 1.5 hrs earlier than planned. Into the rental car and we were off to downtown! The first thing we learned was that Portland's blocks are smaller than most cities, so you need to know where you are going fast or you'll pass the streets you want. We found lunch at Bunk sandwiches where Shuwen bravely started on a Pork Belly Cubano sandwich (very greasy, but oh so good with the Gruyere and Pickles) while Marc chose something a little less artery clogging (Roast beef with Cheddar, Carmelized Onions and Horseradish).

Sufficiently stuffed, we walked around the neighborhood on the East side of town and poked our head into the Stark Vacuum museum, which would have been more interesting if someone had bothered to include descriptions and details about the history of vacuum cleaners. Then we headed to the West side of the Williamette river to explore the Cultural District where some old churches, museums and open air markets were. To our surprise, we discovered that is was somewhat difficult to find local coffee joints in the SW side of Portland, but finally found a little nook that had a beautiful old Italian espresso machine that still made a good cup of java. Then we decided to take the MAX light rail to Washington Park where the Hoyt Arboretum, International Rose Test Garden and the Japanese Garden are. We didn't actually make it into the Japanese Garden since it was getting a little late after we wandered around the Arboretum (it's pretty large) and stopped along the many many rows of roses at the Rose garden to smell them and take pictures (we could see Mt Hood from the Rose Garden since it was a clear and very sunny day). The public transportation system between the light rail and the buses work pretty well, and we got to see the neighborhoods around Washington Park, which was clearly rather wealthy.

Back into downtown, we quickly changed in the car into our running gear and headed to the Waterfront Park to get a run in and work off that decadent lunch that was still weighing us down. It was an amazingly hot day... we had underestimated how fierce the sun could be and came back completely drenched. Time for a shower at the hotel, evaluated dinner options, and off to the Tin Shed Garden Cafe for a late grub (it was 8:15pm by the time we got there). We met a group of neat folks at the table next to ours who recommended that we make the scenic drive out along the Columbia to check out the waterfalls and Mt Hood, and the waitress gave us free beer (because she claimed the service was slow although we wouldn't have known better, but we made it up in tips). Our pesto pasta and gigantic heap of a spinach salad was a perfect way to round up the day. The street the cafe was on seemed rather neat, but since it was almost 10 by the time we headed out, most things were closed for the day. Between the time difference and an active day we slept well that night.

Day 2: Wine, wine, OR wine!

Breakfast at Bijou Cafe in the Pearl District/Chinatown was a great way to fuel our day in the Williamette Valley. Since none of the vineyards open until 10am, we decided to get a little nature in by exploring the Champoeg Heritage Park where we learned about the evils of the Hudson Bay Company (fur trade and beaver hat fad), admired a beautiful veggie & herb garden and caught sight of a few bluebirds and their shimmery blue-purple wings in the sun. Then off to some wine tasting along the Williamette Valley!

Our first stop was Duck Pond which was located right off the highway and immediately stuck us as a bit of a tourist trap... but with free tasting flights we didn't complain and actually bough a nice bottle of Pinor Noir from them. Then we headed to the first LEED certified vineyard in the country: Sokol Blosser and though they had a beautiful located vineyard (with a view of Mt. Hood in the distance) and a green setup, we can't say we were terribly impressed by their wines. Still, kudos to them for their commitment to being good to the earth. A little tipsy, we found the Dundee Bistro where we made a point NOT to have any alcohol, and didn't order much, but still left feeling overstuffed by their very fine smoked meats and pizza with grapes. Shuwen sat out drinking at Erath, and somehow we managed to find our way up to Torii Mor, where we shared a flight of 3 whites and a flight of 5 reds. We were glad we held out for these, because Torii Mor had some of the best wines we tried that day (Shuwen's favorite was a $65 bottle of 2006 Estate Pinot Noir), and left with a unique Viognier made from a mix of OR and CA grapes gotten from a grape swap.

After a hike in the woods to aid our digestion and little rest back in the hotel, we hit Pok Pok, another fun restaurant on the SE side of Portland, where we had 1/2 a roasted game hen, sticky rice, a big bowl of fish coconut curry noodles and white turmeric and carrot salad between us. We did take another much needed walk afterwards.

Day 3: Poison ivy, waterfalls, log jams, picnicking, and snow angels on Mt. Hood

We started the day a little inauspiciously at the Lewis & Clark State Park, which we thought would be a reasonable place for a morning run enroute to the Columbia River Scenic drive. Turned out the park really isn't meant for runners (esp not runner with shorts!) because the narrow, windy trail up was covered with poison ivy. Both of us got some, but Shuwen got it pretty badly on all four limbs -- soon many pink bumps were popping up everywhere and we were off in search of a pharmacy at 8am. We had to settle for Walmart, and to its credit, it stocked some cream that was effective enough that within a few hours all was cleared and there isn't any hint of our little adventure. But this incident did not deter us. We proceeded back towards the scenic highway and spent hours checking out the waterfalls and climbing crazy log-jams. Marc even took the opportunity to soak his leg (the one with the calve strain and plantar issues) in the icy cold water for a good 10 mins.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at a farm around the Mt Hood community where we got a wonderful view of Mt Hood (getting much bigger now) while enjoying the bottle of Duck Pond pinot noir, some yummy cheeses, ham, olive bread and fruit we bought from the farmer right there. After bleating goodbye the the goats we set off to the Timberline Lodge (it's exterior was used in "The Shining"), which is a little up Mt Hood itself. We were surprised to find that some people were actually still snowboarding on Mt Hood, and Shuwen made a snow angel on some rather dirty snow. That evening we went to the Hawthorne District in SE Portland (some interesting stores and restaurants) and had a cheap and yummy Vietnamese meal at Pho Van.

Day 4: Mission accomplished!

It was tough to get up so early for the 7am start of the Foot Traffic Half Marathon on Sauvie Island and the traffic was awful trying to cross the bridge to the island (but Shuwen really won't have known any better since she slept most of the way). We got there at 6:45am, promptly got in a long potter-potty line, and barely had a chance to warm up at all before the race started. It was another sunny and hot day in Portland ... just our luck -- Portland has a heat wave the week we happen to be there, and no rain in sight. But we finished decently --- Marc in 1:14, which isn't too bad given his injuries and lack of training; Shuwen achieved her goal of sub-1:45 (1:43) in order to get into an earlier start corral for Chicago. However, Marc almost immediately started to get the chills and started to develop a slight fever. We spent another hour or so exploring the island (went to a lovely Lavender farm and the beach) and headed back to the hotel to rest a little. Marc actually took a nap, which was a sure sign he was getting ill.

But we found ourselves a little hungry and went in search of food (again), which placed us at St. Honore Boulangerie -- a French pastry haven, that seemed to sooth whatever chills Marc had.... probably the bottle of Viognier we brought along with us to enjoy together with our pastries and didn't hurt either. We had a laid back rest of the afternoon at a Powell's bookstore (many places and museums were closed since it was the Fourth), and had a superb dinner at the outside patio of Fenouil by a cute neighborhood fountain and park with children playing in the water. We were amazed by some of the wines they had at this place -- their wine list ranged from $40 a bottle to over $1000! We stuck with beer. Managed to run into Stumptown Coffee before they closed to buy a pound of their famous coffee beans (we walked by the roastery in SE Portland 2 days before, but can't buy things there) before going to the Waterfront to await the 4th of July fireworks.

Day 5: French pastries on a cool day (finally!)

The day we were due to leave Portland and it finally starts to cool down -- not fair. But at least we got to enjoy it a little on our morning stroll/hike at Forest Park. There are some neat homes near the trailheads too, mostly very large, but also incredibly beautiful (not be mention to have the park right next door). And, yes, we returned to St. Honore Boulangerie... we simply could not resist and needed to try other things they had! Our brunch was the perfect way to end our trip in Portland. Off to PDX, return the rental and back to reality in NC.

Goodbye Portland... we will miss your food, drinks and terrain .... hope to visit again in the future!


p.s. Marc has since left for South India (Nepal, Dhaka & Delhi) and is still sick. Shuwen has also since gotten sick (and sprained her ankle on a run). booo....