Muggy In Portland

Drove down to Portland this last Saturday for a Wedding Reception for Ken and Joan. The weather was about the same temperature here except that the humidity was so high it sometimes even felt like it was raining.

The drive down was nice, we stopped at Multnomah Falls for a break and then continued on to the La Quinta Inn by the convention center in Portland. It was very nice for a mid range hotel, I highly recommend it to anyone planning on staying in Portland but not spending a fortune. The Staff was nice, the accomidations were nice the pool was open 24 hours and it was within walking distance to shopping and restauraunts and a short drive from other Portland Activities such as OMSI.

We had a bit of time to waste before the reception so we walked down to the Mall with Edna and walked around a little. It was a pretty cool mall, competing with clackamas obviously, with a skating rink and huge food court.

The reception was fun! It was a "cruise" on an old fashioned Stearnwheel boat, The Stearnwheel Rose. The weather was still hot and muggy and no AC on the boat, but we all seemed to manage keeping cool by sitting on the outdoor decks and drinking lots of, hrmph, fluids :)

The cake was beautiful and there was a live band preforming, nice touch guys. I actually got Kenny to dance with me. I only make him dance once every few years or so. The appetizers were great with little terriaki chicken wings and some kind of wonderful cheese spread, MMM tasty, and a drink line that never seemed to end.

We went to McMenamins Backstage for afterparty crazyness. Though, after my throwup extravaganza at The Beach, I may have been a bit of a party pooper. I really was worried about some of the party goers, I think it was only because of my horrible experience last week. Nothing like getting asked to leave a bar to make you a bit prude the next time out. The bar was beautifull, hot (again no AC, not even a fricken fan in the place) but beautiful and Kenny and I stayed for festivities untill 2am... then we went back to the hotel and swam in the cool water of the pool. It was just right.

The next morning I woke up at 7:30 took a shower and packed, I left the alarm clock on and Kenny, trying to shut it off, set it forward an hour. We got down to breakfast before 8:30 and low and behold, didn't see anyone for the complimentary breakfast. Kenny started on his homework... I was stir crazy bored so I made probably 10 trips to the breakfast room looking for "people I recognized" it wasn't untill close to 9:30 that I found a few of them, I chatted a bit, thankfull to have some conversation. I told Dana that we had planned on going to Powells... she looked a little confused and said, "gee, a bookstore, that sounds fun" quite sarcastically. I guess I'm trained because I was actually looking forward to it. It was, other than test driving a Mini, the only thing I wanted to do this weekend. The Mini dealership is closed on Sundays :P.

Everyone left after breakfast and I was bored again. I waited a few hours, still getting up periodically to roam the hotel, I heard the shower going in Kens room and after 30 minutes or so I went to go bug them. I disturbed them, I was embarrased, so now I was bored and embarrased.

Ken finished his homework around 12:30 we went to check out and eat lunch at Stanfords, an expensive steak house a few blocks away. We called Ken to invite them but they didn't answer. The steakhouse was fantastic, my crab cakes were delicious. I guess at 17 bucks the should've been.

Ken got me out of town and filled up the gas, it seems even though gas stations in oregon are full service they're still 10cents cheaper than any in washington. I drove the rest of the way home. It was busy and I was stressed driving, I wasn't used to cruise control and I was driving badly which made Kenny question me on the road, which made me more stressed. It was a downward spiral which ended up with me giving up on cruise control and speeding from The Dalles on home.

The kids had fun at grandmas house and after they ate the rest of their dinner we all went home and went to bed, except Kenny who finished another homework assignment instead.