6-24-10

MOREL MIRACLE

EATIN' BERRIES IN THE HOOD

SARAH SANDWICHED BETWEEN PATTAPS & MEEGANS

MOUNT ST. HELENS (OR MOUNT HOOD)

CATCH THE WIND

IF A SEAGULL FLIES BY THE SEA, WHAT FLIES BY THE BAY?

HAYSTACK ROCK

WHICH CAME FIRST, CHICKEN OR EGG?

We decided it was about time to take another vacation from our vacation so we made our way out of rural America and back to city life. Sarah flew out to meet us for a few days in Portland, which Jen had been eagerly looking forward to since she booked her flight. Coincidentally, two of the Meegan brothers were on a road trip driving through Portland so all of us east coasters took a trip to the Pacific Ocean. We drove to Cannon Beach and admired Haystack Rock, the third largest monolith in the world. It was a enjoyable day and even though it was sunny, it wasn't quite bathing suit weather. But that didn't stop Pat from swimming in his wet suit, or Mike from going in the sub 50 degree waters with only a bathing suit. Brrrrrr. We strolled through the small community, which looks identical to all other beach communities, and had some lunch and ice cream. In case anyone is wondering, every good piece of beach front property in the US has been discovered and real estate prices are through the roof. Overall it was a lovely afternoon with some highly disputed and controversial lunchtime conversation.

The Meegans parted ways from us, heading down the coast into California, while Sarah and we headed back into the city. Portland, like so many large US cities, has many neighborhoods, and if you don't know which ones to visit, you'll have no fun. We did some research and discovered The Hawthorne District on SE Hawthorne Blvd was a hot spot. To us, it has a similar feel to Williamsburg; it's right over the river, there are a lot of hipsters and restaurants and BARS. It seems people in Portland only drink liquids, and rarely eat food. There are a billion breweries and coffee shops, and the restaurant scene is sort of slim pickins. People seem to just eat bar food here, and finding a restaurant proved to be a real challenge. But we found a diamond in the rough: Chez Machin. We whetted our appetites with hot olives, a mango citrus salad, a savory crepe filled with mushrooms, spinach, and cheese topped with a pesto sauce, and finally a sweet crepe filled with berries and chocolate covered in whipped cream. Each dish was better than the previous. Sarah also ate vegetarian french onion soup (typically it has a beef broth) and she thought it was marvelous. To boot, the restaurant featured local ingredients and cage free, free range and grass fed meat and dairy products.

After dinner we window shopped at all the cute boutiques on SE Hawthorne and since all the stores were closed, it was Aaron's favorite kind of shopping. We were all pretty exhausted after the full day so retired to our hotel for the night.