Parallel Lives

Despite living in separate cities, ET#1 and I quite frequently end up doing/buying the same things. Sometimes it's scary. Case in point, ET#1 and I didn't even discuss it until about a month before school starter, but we had both decided on grad programs in old beantown. I had thought that ET#1 was going to be in Atlanta and she thought that I would stay in NYC. Even though we had spoken to each other quite a bit that summer, the topic of where we would be that fall never really came up. And when it did it went something along these lines:

ET#1: So, I'm going to look for an apartment in Boston.

ET#2: No way! I'm going to be in Boston.

ET#1: I thought you were going to Fordham.

ET#2: Nah, waitlisted and withdrew my application.

ET#2: I am going for BU's JD/MA program in law and [finding new uses for architecturally significant old buildings].

Besides choosing the same city for our graduate degrees, ET#1 and I have ended up buying the same earrings, skirts, music--all without each other's prior knowledge. Labor Day weekend was no exception. I too ended up sampling many beers--in Portland, Oregon. More about that below.

BF and I decided to take an extended weekend trip to the City of Roses over Labor Day weekend. What prompted this? I guess all my talk about Portland having the best breakfast anywhere finally got to him--the affordable non-stop flight courtesy of JetBlue, special weekend rate from Westin, and the ridiculously cheap "compact" car thanks to Hotwire. BTW, am I the only person who would rather have a Dodge Neon instead of the Subaru Outback that was waiting for us? With gas prices at $3.00 a gallon and the prospect of parallel parking, I was disappointed with the all wheel drive Outback. Had we been driving off-road, or if the weather had been less than perfect, then the Subaru would have been great. Hertz also failed to mention that when putting the Outback into Drive, you should NOT move the gear shift all the way back and to the left (which is as far back as it goes). If you do this, then you enable the pseudo manual mode which requires you to shift gears manually. Problem is, there's no clutch and it doesn't explain how to shift. I realized this as I attempted to accelerate in order to merge onto the highway and the RPMs were in the *red* zone at only 35 mph. After a brief scare and frantic phone call to the roadside emergency number we were able to shift out of first and were on our way.

It was a great weekend trip--non-stop eating, drinking, walking, driving/sightseeing, generally not enough time in our Westin "Heavenly Bed." Despite our initial plan of having a "relaxing weekend" we squeezed in trips to Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast (this is where they filmed the Goonies--Haystack Rock is where the pirate ship is supposed to be hidden), the Columbia River Gorge to see Multnomah and other various falls, 5 vineyards in the Willamette Valley (oddly enough, we ended up buying 4 bottles of various white wines, but no Pinot Noirs), and to the Japanese and International Rose Test Gardens.

We managed to have five fantastic breakfasts in only 4 days. Our first meal in Portland was at the Doug Fir Lounge--we washed down our omelets and fried potatoes with fresh blackberry cosmopolitans at 2:00 am. The next morning we went to Zell's (if you're ever in the PDX area, go to Zell's for breakfast!). BF even declared that the lemon ginger pancakes at Zell's were "the best pancakes he's ever had." This is HIGH praise coming from BF. I didn't take a picture of the pancakes, but this dish was also super yummy. With our stomachs stuffed, we headed for the Oregon Coast, did the whole Cannon Beach thing and drove south towards Tillamook where we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory and sampled many types of cheddar, learned all about the history of Tillamook and had several scoops of ice cream that rival Maine's best. Pretty much dairy overload. We ended our day with a trip to a spa for a wrap, vichy shower, and a massage. It's three of my favorite things all at the same time--being massaged while taking a shower and falling asleep during the process. So relaxing. Just what I needed. The downside of all this pampering, we lost track of time and forgot that, unlike NYC, not all places serve dinner at 10 pm. We tried to go to Typhoon but they had already closed their doors. Same thing at Mio Sushi. Our first real dinner in PDX was less than stellar, I can't remember the name of the restaurant, just that it was next door to Papa Haydn's and had really strong drinks.

Day 2 in Portland took us to the Byways Cafe where we once again had excellent eggs and bottomless cups of coffee. The Route 66 theme was a bit kitchy, but you can't knock the food. Plus, Byways had some great people watching. We never did figure out what our fellow diner's tattoo said. Can you? After another hearty breakfast, we set out for the Columbia River Gorge, saw 5 out of the 7 waterfalls along the way and then made our way to the Willamette Valley to taste some wine. Five seemed to be the magic number that day--we went to 5 wineries and ended up buying quite a few bottles. That night, we had tons of sushi at Mio Sushi for dinner.

Days 3-4 involved even more breakfast (Bijou Cafe--best oyster hash around, and Cup and Saucer Cafe--great scones) and actually seeing the city. BF had never been and I took him to see some of my favorite places: Powell's (better organized than the Strand and has clean bathrooms), half + half (my favorite coffee shop in the entire world), the Rose Garden (with great views of the city), the Japanese Garden (which made us feel as though we were back in Japan), wandering around the Pearl District (I can't believe how much the neighborhood has changed since I was last there in 2003, hello gentrification, good bye funky warehouses), dinner at Typhoon (love the miang), Lucy's Table (oh so romantic), and to Rogue Brewery for an afternoon snack of buffalo wings and many many beers.

It seemed fitting that we should sample some beers in the middle of the afternoon--Matt Groening used many of Portland's street names to name many of The Simpsons characters (Montgomery, Burnside, Flanders, Lovejoy and Quimby to name a few). Homer Simpson would have been proud. We tried: (1) Honey Cream Ale, (2) Hazelnut Brown Nectar, (3) Juniper Pale Ale, (4) Chipotle Ale, (5) Shakespeare Stout, (6) American Amber, (7) Morimoto Imperial Pilsner, and (8) India Pale Ale. We also wanted to try the Coffee Stout and the Chocolate Stout, but they were out of stock. I listed these in my order of preference, although it was a toss up between the Honey Cream and the Hazelnut.

I think one of my favorite things about Portland is that it doesn't try too hard to "be cool" and therein lies its coolness. It's laid back, has a great vibe, a great planning ethic, great coffee and even better breakfast, plus, it's CHEAP -- and, here's something you'll never hear in NYC, their version of the MTA decided to expand their subway/light rail system; they finished early and under budget. Even for my sixth trip to the City of Roses, Portland hasn't lost it's cool. As my younger brothers have said, "Portland is like Pittsburgh [a small town with a good heart]; only cooler." What do I have to say? "Yay, Portland!"