Portland

A whole series of pictures from my time in Portland. I've been doing a miserable job being productive and actually blogging this summer. But, I had a lovely trip and leaving was very hard. The 4th of July weekend was a great but bittersweet reunion for our group of friends- knowing we won't be together like this again for a very long time. 

Hippo

I spent my first day in Portland wandering down Burnside towards downtown, stopping for coffee and pastries and to peruse Powell's City of Books.

Portland's many bridges

The Fourth of July was great. We ate, we drank, we blew off fireworks (okay, we mostly watched), and made friends. Alana and Ian, our Seattle friends, joined us that afternoon. With them we went to a shindig in Southeast and then ended our night at the impromptu celebration that happened at Thea's mom's house. It was hilarious and a helluva good time.

The steel bridge and Northeast

 One of my favorite activities was our day-long bike ride on Friday. We started at Thea's mom's house in Northeast Portland and rode down to and crossed the Steel bridge, crossed the esplanade, rode back up the Hawthorne bridge and stopped at the Waffle Window. Probably my new favorite food establishment, the Waffle Window is exactly what it sounds like. Delicious waffle-y concoctions passed out of a small window off Hawthorne. Naturally, we went back for seconds.

Bike riding on the esplanade

So delicious.

The Waffle Window

 From there, we rode up to Mt. Tabor Park where we eventually stopped next to a reservoir that overlooked downtown Portland and laid in the shade before riding all the way back home.

Mt. Tabor park with a view

 We were exhausted after the ride, but still somehow got ourselves together and made our way over to the Doug Fir for the All the Apparatus show (which was excellent!). I got to order real alcohol at a real bar and got past the bouncer all legal and such. It was nice. The show was fantastic, featuring the sounds of Kithkin and The Horde and the Harem, Seattle bands, as openers. We danced all night long and I definitely slept like a log afterwards.

Doug Fir

 On Saturday we went to the river to enjoy the sun, eat some good food, and swim. The plan was originally to go somewhere in the Columbia Gorge and them go swimming in the Columbia River...but we requested a hike, with no incline, not too far, and with a view. A bit much to ask in a gorge, but we were still trying to physically cope with the previous day's adventures. Thea decided on the Sandy River to avoid the hiking. There was minimal trekking to the river bank where we positioned ourselves.  We stayed for a few hours and when as we left decided that night would be a bring-your-own-steak night. We feasted on steak and potatoes in the backyard and then met Thea's dad for drinks and more food out on Alberta before calling it a night.

The Sandy River

 Sunday was Thea's grandmother's birthday, which we celebrated with a large family brunch in the backyard. All of us friends helped out with the party prep and then got to hang out with the gem that is her grandma for the whole afternoon. Alana and Ian left that afternoon, pushing the reality of the impending end of the weekend on us.

On Alberta

We made pie, walked around, talked, ate even more, and hugged. There was so much hugging. It's nice knowing soon we'll all be a lot closer- once I'm back in Seattle, living with Alana and able to go only 3 hours to visit Portland, but it was still so sad leaving the people and the city I've truly grown to love these last few years.