Portland: Even Better Than the Last Time

Tim and I drove up to Portland to meet up with some friends from Chicago that were in town. It was a great trip. We love it there. If there were actually jobs up there, we would probably move there. I think we may go back in winter to see how bad the weather sucks. One of the most memorable places we ate? The Waffle Window. I'm pretty sure it's one of the best ideas ever. We also went back to Andina with a big group, which was delicious (and much fancier than the Window, imagine that). We took one day to drive up and two to drive back. On the way home, we stayed at the oldest hotel in the Pac. Northwest! I was certain it would be haunted, but as far as I could tell, it wasn't. I wasn't sure if I was happy or sad about that.

MT, WY, and OR, oh my.

A couple weeks ago I flew into Billings, MT for work. I had to drive down a couple hours to Nowheresville, WY to visit with the sponsor that will be hosting the team. The team will be living on a working ranch. It's amazing. I'm jealous. I'm pretty much in love with Montana and Wyoming. However, it's so conservative - a comparable religious vibe to the south. I walked into a cafe to get some lunch and there was three women with bowed heads praying before lunch. Not my thing, but it sure is purty.








Billings is actually pretty cool. They also have awesome antique shops that I may have wondered into during my search for lunch. I'll post my finds later maybe.

Now, on to Oregon...

We went to Portland for my birthday. I liked it a lot. I mean, I could probably live there. But, there's this weird vibe going on (yep, that's twice I used that word, but I can't think of an y other way to describe it. Plus, I live in California now, so you know... I actually don't think I even used that word while living in Chicago except to make fun on Californians.) There were a lot of sorta grungy peeps playing guitars randomly all over the place. It also seemed like people just sorta hang out and work a little at places like Voodoo Doughnuts and coffee shops so they can afford more tattoos. People didn't seem especially happy and there were quite a few disgruntled drivers that likes their horns. I donno... I'll need to go again to double check. Great food, though!

We stayed at an awesome hotel, Hotel Modera. They upgraded us to a suite and left us a bottle of wine on our room. It was so awesome! We also went to the farmer's market, ate at Andina, walked around the Alberta Arts District, drank Stumptown Coffee, ate Voodoo Doughnuts and cupcakes, went to the Chinese Garden, drank Rouge beer, and walked a lot (we didn't rent a car).














Good times!