Onward and Upward, Edgefield Bound

The first night in Portland was a great way to start the trip. Good food and good drinks are a solid foundation on which to build a day worth remembering, and that is exactly what we did on the first day of the Dirty Thirty Extravaganza!

The only thing that could have made the evening more memorable would have been to see one the ghosts that are said to haunt the White Eagle. I did my best to keep an open mind and get in touch with my Spidey senses (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Spidey+sense) as to be ready if and when the ghosts decided to stop by.

In the end it did not take long for both of us to fall asleep, so even if we had had a brush with the paranormal we were dead to the world and too deeply entrenched in our dream world to have known the difference.

After a restful sleep we were up and at ‘em and ready to get the party on the road. We knew that we still had some time to kill before we were to meet our friends at Edgefield, so we decided to take the opportunity to do a little bit of shopping. Shannon had a purse and shades in mind and I, a birthday cap.

We did not have a rigid game plan for this shopping trip, we thought we would more or less wander around and see if we could find what we had on our minds. We got such an early start that many of the stores were yet to open. While we waited we made the decision to scope out the area so that when the stores do begin to open we will have a list to follow.

Our first stop was TJ Maxx. We found some good deals, but not for what we wanted. It was not until a few stops later that we found the type of purses that Shannon was looking for. This is not to say that we didn’t find nice purses at the other stores but we didn’t share the opinion of the target audience that a nice purse with worth more than our year old car (I am obviously exaggerating but not as much as you might think lol).

Though I was supportive of Shannon’s trek for a new purse, I was not overly interested in the endeavor. The one thing that I did find quite amusing was what she did with her old purse on the way out of the store.  As I looked back while holding the door for her as we left the store, I saw that I had lost her a few metres back. She was crouched next to the garbage can pulling items out of the old purse and transferring them to the new one. She wasn’t wasting any time J.

After it was completely cleaned out she crumpled up, the now barren, old purse and tossed it in the trash. Everything about the situation made perfect sense, the old purse was not in any kind of shape to be saved for another occasion, but it still seemed odd to toss, what from the outside still looked like a very usable bag, into a department store garbage can.

Needless to say she was quite content with her new purse and had accomplished her shopping goal since it was an either/or list for the purse and the sunglasses, and she was satisfied with the purse we picked up for her.

Now it was time to find what I was looking for. I found a few shops that had fedoras and other alternative style caps, but I could not find the style of newsboy cap that I was looking for. I had all but given up when we passed by a boutique style shop that caught my attention. I turned to Shannon and said “that is where I will find the hat I want.” I had asked the universe to find me a hat and I believed the answer to be in that shop.

We walked in and sure enough, on display, on the back wall of the shop, was the cap I had been picturing in my mind. It was the right style, the right design and everything! It was exactly what I wanted. I took it off the display, placed it on my head, caught my reflection in the mirror and it felt right. All I needed from that point was a price that fit my budget and it was a done deal. I took a hesitant and nervous glance at the tag and…..it was exactly what I was looking to spend. How awesome is that!! Everything about the situation was happening exactly as I had hoped….right up until I paid for the hat.

I asked the shop owner if they had any other sizes and she said that was the only one left. That was ok with me, it fit quite nicely I thought, but I had not had any other sizes to compare it to. It was not until Shannon mentioned that she figured it would look better once I grew my hair out a bit longer, that any form of doubt started to creep into my mind.

As we left the shop I put my old cap into the bag and the new cap on my head. I wanted to show off my new purchase just like my wife was doing with her purse. We did one lap around the block of food carts before I started to feel like the hat was too tight. I didn’t want to admit it to myself considering what I good story I had to tell about how I found the perfect hat, but how perfect is it if you get a headache every time you wear it.

So no longer than 10 minutes after I bought what seemed to be the cap I was destined to have, I returned that same cap to a very confused shop owner who didn’t seem to understand what could have happened in a period of 10 minutes to make me change my mind. I did my best to explain that if it is tight now how will it be when my hair is long again, but I she still didn’t seem pleased about the whole thing. Oh well, she did the exchange and that is all that really matters J.

What is the lesson that I learned from this experience? Next time I ask the universe for a favor I will remember to specify what size I need J.

Shannon and I were all shopped out at that point, so we shifted our attention to finding a way to satisfy our rumbley tummies. It was time to take a second lap around the food trucks!

There were so many options, so many choices, so many different types of food. How can you make the right choice and avoid food regret (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCWJk-mosz4)!! After more than a little humming and hawing we had made our decisions. Shannon being a sucker for dumplings went with Dump Truck’s unique take on the Chinese staple (http://www.dumptruckpdx.com/). I, on the other hand, being a sucker for noodles went with the classic, and economic, Pad Thai from the E-San food truck (http://www.yelp.ca/biz/e-san-thai-food-cart-portland).

While we waited for the Pad Thai to be served we munched on the dumplings together. While we were doings this we were approached by an older gentleman that we assume was trying to ask for money but we could not really understand what he was actually saying. He then proceeded to reach out his hand, looking for me to shake it. Funny thing is that you are conditioned from a young age to always shake someone’s hand when they extend it to you. This being the case, even though one of my hands was holding the tray of dumplings and the other was holding chopsticks, I struggled to get my hand free to engage in the handshake.

As Shannon saw me struggle and almost drop our food on the ground, she came to my defence by telling the guy we don’t have any money to give him and to please let us eat in peace. Initially it seemed a bit harsh but he really was making a nuisance of himself and it would have been super aggravating if we had dropped our food because I went to shake the hand of a panhandler who would have asked for money that we didn’t have to give. We do well to compliment each other and help each other in situations where we could use some support J.

The rest of our meal was uneventful apart from what was happening in our mouths J. It was a taste explosion!! I cannot go as far as saying that it was the best Pad Thai I have ever had, but it was a great choice at the time, and it was enjoyed to the fullest by the two of us that were indulging.

A quick glance down at the watch and we knew it was time to get going. We had friends that we needed to meet at the destination for the next leg of our Adventure. It was time to reunite with Edgefield for the second time! 

DOWNTOWN! Things Will be good when your when DOWNTOWN!

What next!? I will tell you, it was time to “Come on, ride the train, hey, ride it, woo woo” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gEdQ5KpY8Y). We decided it would be fun to give the Portland transit system a chance to impress. We took the short walk down to the TriMet station, the Portlandian tram system!

Taxi cabs can be fun if you can squeeze an epic story out of the driver. Cab drivers have a tendency to cross paths with some real characters all in a day’s work. I once rode in a cab with a guy who moonlighted as a professional boxer while in South Africa. He told me that he had a guy try and skip out on paying his fare by running away into his house.

The cab driver did not take too kindly to it so he jumped the fence of this guys compound (they tend to live in compounds due to the safety issues in Cape Town) chased him down and threatened to kick the guys ass if he didn’t pay. The runner obviously did not recognize the driver from his televised boxing matches shown on local cable, and definitely underestimated his athleticism and desire to recover the money he was owed. I quite enjoyed that one J.

We arrived at the station at the same time as the tram. Our initial reaction was to hustle up and get on that train. We soon realized that was not a great plan since we had yet to purchase our tickets and, furthermore, had no idea where that particular train was heading. As tempting as it was to take that train just because it was there, we resisted the urge for the greater good. Instead we let it pass and turned our attention towards figuring out how we were going to get where we wanted to go.

It ended up being a good call for us not to throw caution to the wind and jump on the first tram that we laid eyes upon. If we had, we would have not only been headed in the wrong direction, but also on the wrong line....it turns out there are several benefits to how we handled our business.

Once we had our tickets and the knowledge we needed to get where we wanted we were in good shape to take on the rest of the night. Our first stop was in fact one step in the wrong direction but a necessary one in order to get on the right tram line. This step backward took us across the bridge, over the river, towards the downtown core.

After arriving at the station we realized it was not the first time we had been there. On our last trip to Portland, Shannon and I had done an unofficial walking tour of downtown Portland. In search of a restaurant or pub with a view be headed in the direction of the river. We soon realized that in the area that we were such an establishment did not exist. Instead we ended up in the “bad area of town.”

This was not a big deal since it was mid morning on a bright and sunny day. Not to say that bad things can’t happen in the light of day, but the threat seems much more serious in the dark of the night. We saw some interesting looking people in that area including a fellow wearing a tiger striped onesy unzipped to below the belly button (talk about a deep v.... http://vimeo.com/68421532). I did appreciate his style, but being around people that appear unpredictable is not an appealing thing to me.

This is how I felt while being at the station at that time of night. It is not a feeling of fear but rather a feeling of edginess. I have noticed that in these environments the people always seem to enjoy talking loud. It is not necessarily that they are in some kind of conflict, but you are never sure because you are used to associating elevated voices with some form of trouble. The combination of all these makes for a circumstance of hyper-awareness not dissimilar to how they train police officers to always be alert, and always have an exit plan.

Of course nothing bad happened to us while we waited, we didn’t expect that it would, we were just thankful to get on our way once the right tram arrived in the station. We eagerly hopped aboard and began our journey....along with the Goth couple a few seats over aggressively making out.

It was more of an adventure for me because I had never been on the tram and I had never been to that area of the city. Shannon had, but she did not remember as well as she could have, Bachelorette parties tend to be that way. I was impressed about how good her memory was in spite of all the stories I had heard about that weekend.

A quick look at the map and we decided that we had just a few more stations to go before we had to make a switch. Just before we were about to arrive at our stop we got up out of our seats in anticipation of disembarking only to look at each other in confusion when the tram, without slowing, blew right by our stop. We could see out the window as we passed the station that it was under construction and was “out of order” at the present time. Fair enough. What followed was that feeling that you get when you miss your stop and are hoping beyond all hope that you will have a chance to get off and turn around sooner, rather than later. In this case it was not too far to walk back.

I do have a funny story about a time that I was not as lucky though. About a year ago today, I was finishing up the training program at my new job and in celebration my fellow students and I decided to go out for dinner at a restaurant literally across the street from our office. I’m talking less than a 5 minute walk....but I decided to drive instead. My reason for this was two-fold. One, it was pretty chilly and two, I figured it would be easier to leave right from the restaurant rather than walking back to the office to get my car.

What happened on the short drive over was I got confused, thinking that I could park closer if I turned into the second drive way, instead of the first. Well considering there was only one drive way in the end, I made the wrong choice. Instead of finding this second drive way that didn’t exist I ended up merging on to the highway. The next exit ended up being a solid 10 minute drive east. Then, instead of turning around and getting back on the highway, I thought it would be a better idea to take the back roads back to the office. Nope, it wasn’t. It was just another bad decision. In the end it took me close to half an hour to get to the restaurant that I could have walked to in less than 5 minutes. “Where were you?!” my friends asked....”you don’t want to know” was my response. So embarrassing lol!

So the situation on the tram....not that bad. We walked back through the dark and deserted streets, another area that could create some fear in the minds of travelers. I have never really felt afraid in Portland and this situation was no different. Once we got back to the stop we had wanted, we found what appeared to be another abandoned tram stop for the train we needed heading south. Usually, we would have walked right up to the stop and looked to see if there were any notices of closure, but this time we chose not to. The reason for this decision was the pissed drunk homeless guy ranting and raving in the direction of anyone that he could see.

I did not fear for our safety but I still chose to avoid any interaction with this dude. I, once again, refer back to my feeling on unpredictable behavior. Instead we kind of just hung out on the other side of the street figuring we would have enough time to cross if we saw the tram coming.

We waited and tried our best to avoid the attention of the drunk fellow. As we waited we saw a girl walking her way over to the station. At this point we decided to make our way over to the station as well. We did this for two reasons. One, she might be able to help us determine if we would be able to catch the tram we wanted from that stop and two, power in numbers. We should not leave one girl to deal with the drunk dude on her own.

It turns out that we were in the right spot, as the young lady was able to help us determine using the transit app on her phone. It was very kind of her but also very naive and stupid. Don’t flash your new Iphone in front of strangers you just met...for all she knew we could have been thieves who would beat her up and take her phone! Lucky for her we are not that kind of people. Don’t get me wrong we definitely stole her phone....we just didn’t feel the need to kick her ass in the process. Is he joking??

No we did not steal her phone. Instead we allowed her to keep it if she could help us figure out the stop that we wanted to get off at, and she did. This was helpful since Shannon had it down to two choices but could not say with any certainty which one was better. We also learned that she was new to the area. She moved all the way from DC to move in with the boyfriend she met while working in the Peace Corp. We continued to chat and traded advice of things to see and do while in the city.

One interesting thing that happened while we were riding this tram was when the drunk guy did eventually try and come over to talk to us. He started stumbling his way over to where we were sitting and then he stopped dead in his tracks. We didn’t quite understand why until we looked down and realized that in his state he did not trust himself to navigate the two stairs it would have taken to get up to our level. He stood there looking confused for a short while before he decided it just wasn’t worth it and turned around and went back to his seat. I would be void of truth if I said it was not a humorous situation J.

A short time later our friend from DC left us, and a short time after that we left the tram. This was the start of a whole new adventure!

First Night of the Dirty Thirty Weekend

Our week was about to get off to a very strong start. We made it to our hotel in time to take advantage of Happy Hour.

Before this trip even began I would say there was an unsaid expectation that we were going to do our best to make it down to Portland in time for Happy Hour. It was never made into formal plans, but as much as we said we should take our time in the morning and not rush ourselves out the door, we got ourselves ready within a certain time-frame in order to get there in time to bask in all the glory that is Happy Hour.

I, for one, am excited to see this trend surface in North America. I remember being both impressed, and a bit confused, seeing the Happy Hour specials when I was in Europe. I was impressed to see drink specials, but I was also confused, wondering how many people would take advantage of drink specials so early in the evening.

It should be mentioned that Happy Hour starts significantly later in Europe, my guess would be because of the long hours they tend to work (especially in Germany) but even so I still thought it was early in the night. This was back in the day when I was still a party animal and didn’t even start to consider hitting the clubs until 9 or 10. But life has a tendency to change, and change it did.

When Happy Hour started to become a thing in Vancouver I had already graduated out of my bar star days, and was much more interested in after work drink specials than I was about late night and early morning jagger bombs at the club (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5QJ9i_o5vo).

Anyway all I am really saying is that I have learned to appreciate the Happy Hour lifestyle and was excited to see what our hotel had one to offer J.

After checking in to our hotel, we dropped off our stuff in our room and did a quick wardrobe change. The hotel room was…..rustic. It was what we have come to expect at a McMenamin’s establishment. It shared a similar décor to places we have stayed in the past and on top of that it was especially old…it kind of reminded me of my Grandparents old house.

It was no 5 star resort but that is neither what we expected nor wanted. It was a perfect room for what we anticipated using it for. It was inexpensive, it sat atop a saloon and its proximity to downtown Portland was not to be topped. The haunted past was a merely a bonus J.

We left our room rocking some fresh and stylish threads (how could we not, we are hitting the town?!) and had yet to see any ghosts. We slipped in just before the end of Happy Hour, maybe there are ghost down there?! There were not, but there were drinks and good food!!

Our first order of business was an order of two Ruby Ales, our McMenamin favorite! With that being taken care of we gave our attention to the food menu (http://www.mcmenamins.com/997-white-eagle-saloon-happy-hour).

We had intentionally avoided stopping for lunch on the way because we intended to do our eating once we arrived at our destination. Stopping along the way would not only eat up some valuable time we could have spent driving, but also would have taken away from the appetites that we fully planned on indulging once we arrived.

After a short chapter of strategizing we determined the Cajun tots and hot dogs were what we were about. The hot dogs were tasty but not really anything rave about. The tots were a different story. It was the beginning of a long lasting relationship with the tots.

We loved them the first time and the second and third. I would like to say that we only ordered them three times during the weekend in Portland but in all honesty I cannot, in good conscience, say that for a fact.

I know that they were the first item that came to mind when we were in a snacking mood and they were also the first suggestion that we gave to our friends when they asked for a good recommendation. Tater tots are not usually anything amazing. They are consistently satisfying, but rarely sought after as anything special. I think what made these tots special was the Cajun seasoning for one and the dipping sauce was the deal sealer. It was impeccable!

As for the drinks, we gave the beer menu our attention as we finished what was left of our Ruby Ales. What we decided on next was the Berliner Weisse, a seasonal sour that was still a part of the line up following the Oktoberfest celebrations that are a big deal at Edgefield (as we experienced last year) and in all likelihood the other McMenamin establishements as well.

I was a bit hesitant at first. I was still new to the idea of sour beer. I know that it has been growing in popularity as the next trend in the micro-brewing scene, but the closest thing to a sour that I have had experience with would be the really cheap beer that I used to drink when in University.

But I was up for an adventure and I decided to give it a chance. I am glad I did! It took a few exploratory sips to acclimatize my palate but a few sips was all it took for it to distinguish itself. It was not in the same league as Colt 45, the beer so strong that downing a six-pack is like drinking nine regular strength beers. Really it was a terrible comparison because Colt 45 is not even actually beer....it’s technically malt liquor lol, pure class in a bottle J.

The Berliner quickly became a favorite and continued to be that way for much of the weekend. This might have been partly because of it being on special, but that was only part of it. It was not my favorite type of beer, but it climbed its way up the charts in a substantial way! It took some getting used to but if you give it a chance you will be happy you did!

After our appetites were satisfied and our thirsts were quenched (for the time being) we turned our attention to where the evening was headed next.

Luckily for us in Portland, you are never too far from a WIFI Hotspot. This has come in handy to us a number of times while visiting Portland. The last time we were there, Shannon and I got separated but did not want use our phones because of the extravagant roaming charges we would have incurred.

So, both of us thinking the same thing, we used the ever present WIFI to log into Facebook to message each other so we could reconnect. Our medium to stay in touch has evolved to Viber, at present, but at the time Facebook more than did the trick.

On this occasion we used the WIFI to set the stage for the rest of our evening. It is not hard to find fun in Portland but you do have to decide what type of fun you are looking to have. Each section of Portland provides you with something a little bit different from the others, so where you decide to go will be based on the good times you are looking to get involved in.

Let the Madness Begin!!

On this particular trip Shannon and I got an early start. We decided that we since we were both able to get the time off, that we leave on Friday morning to start our journey instead of the usual Friday after work.

This was a great way to go about it!! But I guess there are few people in this world that would prefer to work rather than go on vacation. Sure there are people that think that they should be working rather than taking vacation, but I would argue that is not because they enjoy it more, but rather a feeling of obligation or of necessity. I have met few others than my Father that would rather work than go on vacation and that is not a feeling that we share.

Needless to say there was no arm twisting involved in getting me to agree to take the Friday off. I know that it was not a popular decision since it was right in the middle of campaign time at my office, but I had made the plans for the trip a year in advance and months before I even started working the new job that I am working now. So I thought that was enough of a reason to not really care too much about how people felt about me not being present for that week’s campaign meeting J.

Leaving Friday morning was a pleasant change from the ordinary. It allowed us to treat Thursday evening like the beginning of the weekend. In our household, this means staying up a little bit later, snacking a little bit more, and sometimes even including a night cap or two since we would be able to sleep in slightly more than we usually would on a Friday morning. It sounds great and it was great!

After a relaxing and rejuvenating Thursday evening we woke up on our own without the usual help we get from our alarm clock. Not to say that I have any issues with our alarm clock, because as far as alarm clocks go, I think we have found a great compromise (http://www.philips.ca/c-m-li/light-therapy). It wakes us up on time like it should, but it does not do so by using the same scaring techniques used in horror films. Maybe it’s just me, but I prefer not to be woken by a simulation of an air raid siren that has me diving under my bed seeking protection!

This year we woke up at a decent time and we got ourselves collected and ready to go in record time….well at least record time in relation to how things went down on our last trip. We had a quick but adequate breakfast, enough to get us going and then we were on our way. Shannon also insisted that she be the one to drive on this occasion as a birthday gift to me. This was a lovely surprise! It is rare that I ever get the chance to be a passenger on a road trip and honestly I wasn’t quite sure about it.

I didn’t know how I was going to occupy my time just sitting there for a 6 hour drive. It didn’t take long for me to make the adjustment from driver to passenger and I have to say, it’s a welcome change to hand over the reins of the chariot every once in awhile. Thanks again Shannon for being my chauffeur!!

The trip went as smooth as we hoped it would. Traffic was a breeze since we had a head start on all of the other travelers the might have had their eye on getting into the States later that day. There were limited slow-downs in Seattle and Tacoma…much better than last year once again. The 6 hours went by very quickly.

One thing that I would recommend for any road trip is getting your mitts on some new music before you embark on the journey. It takes your mind off the other aspects of the trip that might usually get your attention when you are listening to the same music that you have been listening to in the car that you have been for the past year.

Another tip for long road trips and what you play on the radio, try new things that are not necessarily music. We have tried audiobooks in the past and that was very successful. You get so wrapped up in the book and what is going to happen next that the hours of the trip just seem to melt away.

Something that was suggested to me by my younger sister, who also road trips on a regular basis, was to listen to comedy acts. This was a brilliant idea! Shannon and I downloaded the new Louis C.K. stand up and loved it! He had us smiling and laughing for an hour straight. It is quite difficult to get aggravated in traffic when you are hearing the comic genius that is Louis C.K. I cannot believe that I have not thought of this before! All I can say is try it!

During our trip we encountered a déjà vu scenario. We must have had close to the same amount of gas in our tank at the beginning of this trip as we did the last time we went to Portland just a couple months back, because we engaged in the same “how long can we go on one tank of gas” game and we ended up pulling off at the same exit as we did on our last trip.

We rolled up to the exact same gas station as we did the trip before. The same gas station that Shannon left her only pair of flip flop sandals outside the car as we pulled away to drive the last leg of the trip. All of this was completely unplanned but strangely amusing. Shannon even went to see if they had a “Lost and Found” to see if she could recover her long lost sandals. She did this not because they were particularly special, but rather as a “wouldn’t that be crazy if they were still there” exercise.

Unfortunately they were not there waiting for us to come and save them. Though the woman behind the till was wearing a pair that looked very familiar…..I joke, I was not even in there to see. The experience allowed us to get the gas we need to finish the drive and the closure needed in the lost sandal saga. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors cheap and well used Old Navy flip flops!!

With the chance of running out of fuel no longer an obstacle we were back on the road and headed to our sleep quarters for the night. We decided to spend the first night in downtown Portland since none of our friends were going to arrive until noon the next day. So Shannon found us an eccentric, reasonably priced place in the industrial area of downtown Portland. I was happy to experience yet another McMenamin’s hotel, this one called White Eagle Saloon and Hotel (http://www.mcmenamins.com/WhiteEagle) at least until she did some further research and found out it was haunted.

I am going back a little bit in our timeline because this was something that I had forgot to mention.

During our enjoyable, relaxing evening that we spent enjoying our time together and getting excited about our trip, Shannon started to look further into our first night accommodations and found out it had a haunted past. This was not something that I took well initially. Why would I willing spend a night in a place that I know has ghosts? I don’t know a whole lot about ghosts but from what I know most people’s experiences with them are not overly positive. They involve being scared and creeped out and in some cases being sexually assaulted (http://www.spiritualresearchfoundation.org/spiritualresearch/difficulties/Ghosts_Demons/ghostspictures/sexualmolestation1). None of these are situations that I would knowingly put myself in the position to experience.

This being the case, my first reaction was to ask Shannon to cancel our reservations and book us a new spot. She responded by saying that it’s too short notice and that we wouldn’t be able to find any other place that was so reasonably priced in that area…..I wonder why they are so much cheaper than everywhere else lol?

My second reaction was to take a deep breath and come to grips with the fact that we are going into ghost territory, and I decided that I was not going to be scared, because, I mean, hey are you really going to be that surprised to see a ghost if you were told before hand that they might be stopping by? I was now more excited than nervous, and I was ready to see some crazy stuff and have more exciting stories to write about on my blog J.

So back to our trip, we made it from the gas station to the hotel with little incident and we checked in, and even lucked out and found a place to park in the busy lot… and we didn’t even have to pay. Score!

I have once again run out of time so I will save the rest of the story for another time. Hope you enjoyed it up to this point and I hope I have you interested enough to come back and hear the rest of it at a later date!

30^th Birthday in Edgefield

Last year my wife Shannon and I decided to celebrate her birthday in a new fashion. We were drawn to a location that had caught our attention some years back.

My younger sister had gone on a road trip to Portland with three friends. Two of the three friends were making the trip to attend a concert and the other one and my sister were just going along for the ride. What attracted them was that the concert was taking place on a piece of property a short distance outside of downtown Portland. The property was yet another creation by the McMenamin brothers, who seem to be buying up every available piece of real estate that becomes available….especially those that have a haunted history.

The concert was taking place in Edgefield (http://www.mcmenamins.com/54-edgefield-home), about 30 minutes outside of downtown Portland. Edgefield was formerly a poor farm, a place where the state of Oregon housed and took care of their less fortunate citizens. It has now been transformed to what was explained to a friend of ours at the “adult Disneyland.”

What does “adult Disneyland” consist of you ask? Well first of all I would like you to try and imagine it for yourself. Picture it in your mind, feel the feels, smell the smells, and experience the experiences. What would sort of things could result in an adult pulling on the sleeves of their friends saying “we gotta go try that!!” What sort of place could cause adults to be too excited to sleep, their minds running a mile a minute in anticipation for the pure joy to follow?

Are you picturing a place that has its own vineyard and winery on sight? Are you picturing a place with a selection of unique bars where you can sample an impressive menu of beer that is brewed across the path from the winery? Are you picturing a distillery that seconds as the pro shop for the par 3 golf course that winds its way around the perimeter of the property?

Edgefield has all this and more, it has everything that you need to make for a memorable experience. I could go into the whole description at this point but I think that the best strategy would be for me to save that for later. Instead I will finish setting the tone for my birthday weekend.

Shannon and decided that Edgefield would be a great place to spend a weekend away while we celebrated her 28^th birthday. It was a good weekend to take such a trip because we were able to attend on the same weekend that they planned to celebrate Oktoberfest. The weather was awful but that did not stop us from having a time that we would not soon forget. The live music and seasonal beer were a great addition to the pure bliss of the Edgefield experience.

I will not go too much into the details, because once again the beginning part of this post is just to set the stage our most recent encounter with Edgefield. I will say, however, that our first trip down there was a memorable one. It is entertaining to think back on it now but at the time it was less amusing.

It should be mentioned that we ended up leaving on a Saturday and the Friday before was the actual day of Shannon’s birthday. This being the case, she felt that she had little other option than to go out and party. It is somewhat rare to have a birthday that you can celebrate to the fullest on the actual day, and celebrate she did.

One of the fun slash devastating things about including the drinking of alcohol in your birthday festivities is that all of your friends feel the need to buy you a drink as a gift. The thought is a good one, and at the time it is appreciated and encouraged, but this appreciation is not fully recognized the next morning. If you ask me, I would prefer a stack on birthday cards stuffed with cash, like used to be the norm throughout our high school days….mine at least, I was not big into underage drinking…and neither were my parents. I didn’t become cool time later on in my life lol.

Anyway this is exactly what happened to Shannon the next day. She had a really hard time getting up in the morning due to all the “gifts” that she consumed the night before. Our original idea was to leave early-ish in the morning, in order to get to Portland with enough time to enjoy the evening.

We had planned to spend the first night downtown before venturing out to Edgefield the next morning. We had plans to borrow my Mom’s convertible so we could ride down in style. We told her that we would be picking the car up around 9am….but didn’t actually get there until closer to 2pm. Kind of awkward when your Mom keeps calling you asking why you haven’t come to pick up the car and you have to come up with an answer that doesn’t involve throwing Shannon under the bus and telling the whole story. She just…..was really tired. She had a late night last night J.

That was just the beginning of the adventure. We didn’t even make it down to Portland until close to 11pm. It started out with nightmare traffic crossing the border, and then again outside Seattle, and then again outside of Tacoma. This was due to some awful weather that was also doing its best to delay us even further. At one point it was raining so hard that all traffic slowed down to half of the speed limit since they could not see more than 10 feet in front of their own vehicles. This would explain all the accidents that were responsible for the traffic delays we were experiencing. It was raining so hard that we got completely drenched on the 5 second excursion from the McDonalds lobby to our car parked right out front. Needless to say the roof of the convertible did not get a chance to do its thing on the journey down.

All things involved the trip down was not the best start for the high expectations that we had for our trip. But it did not take long for things to turn around. The time we did get to spend in downtown Portland did enough to entice us back and the epic time we had celebration Shann-Oktoberfest at the converted poor farm in Edgefield was enough for me to name it as the destination of choice for me upcoming 30^th Birthday celebration!!

Day 5- Back to Reality

This post is not as exciting as maybe the last few but you cannot live your life on vacation...or at least I haven’t found a way to yet, but believe me I am fast at work trying to find a one J. 

So day 5 started very early, I am talking at 4:30 am. We really did do ourselves (and our camping neighbors) a favor by doing the majority of the packing the night before. But we left a few things for the morning. We figured that it was worth it to pack our tent and our bed in the morning. Sleeping on the ground without a tent would be an interesting idea, but interesting ideas are not always GOOD ideas. I did mention before that adventure was the main purpose of this trip and packing up a tent and rolling up sleeping bags in the dark was an adventure J. We were louder (carrying a bag of empties to the recycling is not quiet) and brighter (had to use our lantern for some things) than we planned on being but one key factor that is not to be overlooked, since it was so dark and since we were gone when everyone else got up.....they cannot be sure who it was...genius!

We were all packed up and ready to go when 5 am rolled around. We were 80% sure we had everything and 20% didn’t particularly care if we did or not. We were still half asleep and trying to be as considerate as possible. Then we were off! I was in a strange sort of haze where I was obviously awake and coherent but still felt like I was in a dream like state, but don’t worry I was fine to drive J. It do not take long for Shannon to slip off into dream land and I did not interfere, she had done her job helping with the packing and we do not have the type of car that allows two people to drive at once so I had no reason to stop her. There is a strange calm when it comes to driving, running or really doing anything, at a time when you are, for all intents and purposes, alone in the world. I know it will not be a popular recommendation, but I will still recommend trying it sometime. It gives you a whole new perspective which can be especially refreshing for anyone living in big cities where you constantly have to share your environment with a large volume of people. It is not something I plan to make a habit of, but I appreciated it in the moment.

We decided to drive up the coast on the way home. It would take a bit longer than other available routes, but we budgeted for the time and were excited to take the scenic way home. After a few directional issues were ironed out with the GPS we had our route programmed in and we were ready to go. The early part of the drive was virtually uneventful. The sun was rising from the east and the water was to the west, plus on top of everything it was heavily overcast....and don’t forget still very dark out. It was a few hours and many miles before there was much of anything to see. Things started to pick up a bit after we stopped for a healthy sausage and egg mcmuffin as we were pushing through the veil of darkness. After that we took in some small fishing towns speckled along the river side when the road took us inland and some quaint beach towns located along the coast. Many picture opportunities missed by our camera but well established memories in our minds. It was a good thing that the roads were clear because I spent more time gazing at the coastline looking for an excuse to wetsuit up and catch a few waves, than I was on the road ahead. The waves were visually stimulating but not to the point where it warranted unpacking half the car to get my gear and repacking around a wet board and a soaked wetsuit. I did, however, start a list of places I want to visit my next time down the coast, and that was good enough in my books. Knowing that the water would be colder than a witches’ tit also helped keep me out of the water. I continued to drive until we hit the renowned Cannon Beach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannon_Beach,_Oregon). I did this for a chance to get out of the car to stretch and wake myself up, but I was not disappointed. It was beautiful! I imagine it would be beautiful anytime, in any weather, but the early morning fog gave it a ghostly, haunted feel, not creepy, more mysteriously engaging. We snapped some amazing landscape photos, traded positions in the car and were back on the road with my lovely wife behind the wheel.

It did not take long for me to check out of reality and into the Sandman Hotel (get it *nudge *nudge??). Our touristy stop at Cannon Beach was as much for the sightseeing as it was to avoid falling asleep behind the wheel. So, needless to say, I have very little to say about the next part of the trip. I awoke once while on a bridge with no land in sight, freaky but fun, and then regained consciousness close to Westport, WA our usual surfing destination. This brought back some good memories for us, but none that are really interesting enough to share in this post.

There were only a few other things worth mentioning on the ride back. One is the Quizno’s miracle, and two was the awesome time we made on the way back. The Quizno’s miracle was when Shannon told me that she really wanted to eat a Quizno’s sub for lunch and she wanted to eat between 10 and 10:15. Fast forward now to when the car clock moved from 9:59 to 10 and the roadside sign we passed immediately after was for a Quizno’s at the next exit....BOOM, mind blown! Second, I ordered an arrival time of 2pm and we arrived home at 2:15...not bad at all. Plenty of time to get to my ball game and on time....and we won the game too! Brilliant!

So that was our trip to Portland, and the Oregon Coast! I hope you enjoyed the tales of our travels! The next question is; what do we have to look forward to next? Well seeing as this took me sometime to get through (I do have a day job after all) I should have two more trips to write about, our random trip to Penticton and our Labor Day Classic Camping/Surfing trip in Westport. Stay tuned, I promise I will make it worth your while J.

Portland the city of dreams?!

BC Day Weekend in Oregon

The anticipation had been building all week. Work seemed less important and more of an obstacle. The countdown to Oregon was on. We had Oregon fever. The only thing left between us and the excitement of the road trip ahead was several mindless hours of work. I speak on the behalf on my gorgeous wife Shannon, and not myself. I know she was working as hard as usual, but I also know that she wanted to be busted out as soon as humanly possible. I, on the other hand, had the luxury of “working from home.” Though the work I was doing at home would not be considered productive in the mind of my Director, it served a purpose. It allowed us to break free at the soonest moment. I packed the car and got everything ready so, when the time was right, I could jailbreak my darling and head straight for our destination. At 4:30 I was there waiting with the car packed full of supplies and big ol’ smile on my face. As soon as I saw Shannon walk out the side door the fist-pumps started....”Oregon, Oregon, Oregon!!”

So we were off. We both placed our orders to the Universe for an arrival time of 10:30pm. It was a bit ambitious, I admit, fully realizing that our last trip to Portland took almost 9 hours. But we did not let that deter us. We were feeling good already, and had plans to feel great! With our order placed and nothing but positive energy coursing through our veins, we were ready for an adventure. As far as adventures go, it was not so much the destination itself that made it an adventure, but rather the fact that this was our first trip as a couple where we did not have a hard time line to stick to. Shannon has a talent for planning. She has planned many great trips for us in the past, but this time we wanted to try something different. Let the universe guide us and see what interesting experiences would come as a result. We were ready for anything!

I will not bore you with the details of our drive down but I will share the highlights during our 6 hour drive. I think the best part was the sandwiches the Shannon had picked up from Big Lou’s Butcher Shop on Powell Street. BBQ pulled pork and bulgogi chicken were on the menu. We shared one in line at the Peace Portal border crossing and another at the half way point of our drive just past Seattle....it was good motivation to get there as quick as possible. Hard to pick a favourite, they were both rewardingly tasty. Aside from that it was mostly good music (Bang Bang from Will.i.am and Back to Black from Beyonce and Andre 3000 from the Great Gatsby soundtrack were the theme songs of the trip), lovely scenery, thought-provoking conversation, and traffic that was smooth, smooth, smooth! Nothing better on a road trip that making good time, a sentiment that I share with George Constanza, as seen in the Bubble-Boy episode when he loses Jerry early on in the trip to the cabin (http://www.tv.com/m/shows/seinfeld/the-bubble-boy-2287/trivia/). There was a little bit of excitement when we tried to squeeze every last drop out of our fuel tank trying to make it into Oregon where we assumed the gas was cheaper since they do not have sales tax (neither of us have any evidence this is true). We didn’t end up making it...but Shannon did manage to leave her only pair of sandals for the trip next to the car as we pulled out to complete what was left of our trip into Portland on schedule. After a lengthy discussion that spanned the rest of trip neither of us could figure out why or how that could have happened. It did make for an interesting outfit while checking into our hotel later. At the gas station she had changed into a more comfortable and stylish sun dress to look her best as we rolled into the City of Roses. However, the whole tone was affected when she realized the only foot wear she has to fashion were a pair of hiking shoes. Not the sort of first impression she was looking to make as we blew into the city.

As the clock hands made their way to the 10:30pm position we rolled up to our hotel. A short wait at the border, very little slow down outside Seattle, and only a small delay going through Tacoma. All things worked out for a perfect arrival time. We are off to a fantastic start! Then with a little “sight-seeing” aka learning how to navigate the one-way streets to get us to the destination we just missed on our first pass. But hey we are tourist after all; why not take the opportunity to explore right?! We arrived at the Crystal Ball room, mistaking it for the Crystal Hotel. Not where we wanted to be but we got our first glimpse into the party life of the city. I parked behind a Party Bus Limo fun of girls out on a Stagette. One girl was trying to rock climb the brick wall, one girl was lying on the sidewalk and several girls and the driver were trying to convince them to get back in the limo. It was 10:30; the night was still young though it appears they had already had a lot of “fun” with the promise of more to come. As tempted as I was to try and tag along, being someone who loves to have fun, I realized leaving the car parked illegally with my wife desperately trying to find out hotel would be crossing the line of spontaneous to reckless and irresponsible. Not how I wanted to start my long weekend, though the pull was strong.

After our “sightseeing” we located and checked into our room at McMenamins Crystal Ball Room (http://www.mcmenamins.com/CrystalHotel/Location) across from archaic, but deservingly popular, Jake’s Famous Crawfish (http://www.mccormickandschmicks.com/locations/portland-oregon/portland-oregon/sw12thave.aspx). We already had somewhat of an idea of what to expect, since we have visited another one of the McMenamin brother’s spots in Edgefield, and we were not disappointed. The Crystal Ballroom though significantly smaller, had the same unique flair and atmosphere that I have learned to expect at a McMenamin’s location. Being in the city the Crystal Hotel cannot offer the same amenities as in Edgefield, but the proximity to downtown allows the guests the opportunity to experience the unmatched charm the McMenamin’s locations are known for, with the added benefit of easy access to downtown Rip City. There is so much great beer flooding the street of downtown it would be a shame to spend too much time in one single location. The McMenamin’s beer, served exclusively at McMenamin’s establishments, is right up there with my top choices in Portland but you never know what that brew pub down the street has just come out with. In the words of Frank the Tank in Old School “We were out at the Olive Garden for dinner, which was lovely. And, uh, I happen to look over at a certain point during the meal and see a waitress taking an order, and I found myself wondering what color her underpants might be. Her panties. Uh, odds are they are probably basic white, cotton, underpants. But I sort of think, well, maybe they're silk panties, maybe it's a thong. Maybe it's something really cool that I don't even know about.” As much as you love IPA’s (and Oregon is certainly the place to go if you do) do you want to risk missing out on that really cool beer that you didn’t even know about?! Not me, not ever!

The rooms at the Crystal Hotel were designed in a similar way to the rooms in Edgefield but did not fail to impress with their art work. The theme of the hotel is based upon the famous musicians that have played in the Crystal Ballroom (our first stop while trying to find the hotel). Each room has its own sub-theme based around famous song lyrics. Ours was “You keep on knocking but you can’t come in” from Little Richard. On his own I believe that Little Richard does an outstanding job exuding personality but seeing the caricature of him drawn on the wall of my hotel room made my experience that much more special. One thing worth mentioning is, because of the interesting choice of locations that the McMenamin’s use for their hotels it is not always possibly to have a bathroom within your hotel room. Though, this threw me a bit on my first visit, I soon realized it was a minor detail and did little to affect my overall opinion of my stay. If anything I think it added to my experience as it seemed to fit with the themes that make each location attractive to the guests seeking a new take on hotel travelling. So I knew what to expect when we arrived, though I was pleasantly surprised to have a private sink in our room. Nice touch!

Well, enough about the hotel. We didn’t travel all the way to spend our time cooped up in a hotel room, though I did want to give an honorable mention to the check in staff at the hotel. They were pleasantly quirky, very helpful, and a pleasure to interact with. Dealing with unfriendly hotel staff can sometimes put a damper on the trip right from the get go, but on the flip-side, awesome hotel staff heighten your expectations and get your mind in the right place to have fun.

So after getting settled in and such, it was already past 11:00pm. This does not seem late. In many places in the world 11:00 is considered the start of the night life. In Korea, bars are open all night, so if you are getting crazy at 11pm you better have endurance or you will miss the best part of the night passed out in the corner of the bar. However, in Portland, even on a Friday night, places are starting to slow down around 12. Some places stay open until 2 am but not all. Imagine our disappointment when we find out after we have been salivating over all the beer we want to sample off the menu only to find out that we missed last call…..come on! I realize that I need to love Portland for what it is and not what I think it should be, but it seems like such a shame to have so many bars and restaurants around the city close down before the fun even really starts. Vancouver is slowly changing their out of date liquor laws, so fingers crossed Portland will jump on that band wagon. So much awesome beer to drink and a limited time to do it! This is not to say that we did not get a fair chance to sample. Our first stop was Henry’s Tavern (http://henrystavern.com/). While there, we enjoyed a number of beers from their wide selection and some wings from the happy hour appetizer menu. Then we made a break for the well-know Rogue Distillery and Public House. Upon arrival we picked out two winners from the menu, one of which was said to have been brewed from wild yeast found in some dude’s beard (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/rogue-beard-beer/208151/). As disgusting as that sounds, I was intrigued. Being a fan and a user of the beard myself, I felt compelled to be open to anything beard related strictly for the sake of solidarity in the beard population. This was our first set back, after finding out we had just missed last call we were again on the hunt for our next beer. We found another place the just up the street that looked promising….well not promising but looked like we might be able to get at least one beer before last call. Again, no luck but he did point us in the direction of another place that he recommended. It turns out this was another dead end. We did not find the place he suggested. We found one of a similar name but did not seem to fit the description he had provided. “This place is pretty popular, normally has a good crowd on the weekend” he said. The place we found was a couple regulars away from completely empty, neither the type of place described nor the type of place we were looking to populate. So with time running out we headed back to the hotel bar. It turned out to be the perfect location to save the night. A plate of truffle fries, two ruby ales, and a Strawberry Basil Lemonade later we were content to comply with last call. No more beer to be served but we had our eyes on yet another indulgence….Voodoo Donuts (http://voodoodoughnut.com/index.php).

 

Where does everyone go after a night of heavy drinking? Where does everyone who is not satisfied to call it a night at 2am go to next? Let’s just say it was not hard to find Voodoo donuts, just follow the stream of partiers. I have heard Voodoo donuts bragged about on more than a few occasions. I had heard of the crazy combinations and their scandalous bumper stickers saying “I got VD in Portland.” But I was not fully prepared for the sheer volume of flavors that they had available. When trying to decide how many to get and which flavors we wanted to try, we were in a state of panic. The line in front of us was getting increasing shorter and we were no closer to deciding our strategy. We ended up opting for a voodoo dozen picked by the worker. He told us he would pick the best ones, and he did not disappoint. I was a bit hesitant getting so many, not because I wasn’t excited to eat them all but more so out of fear that I would eat them all in a short period of time (no one wants day-olds, am I right?). But when the price is just over a dollar a donut I could not say no. How can you go wrong investing in donuts at least twice as good as Tim Horton’s at a lesser price? Well simple, you can’t! So once we were loaded up with 13 donuts it was time to head back to the hotel room to feast in bed. This is something that I would never allow in my house….never, never, never. The thought of it makes me skin crawl. But when on vacation in someone else’s bed, ain’t no stoppin’ me.

 

But we could not leave without at least sampling one each before the long (10 min lol) walk back. Well, one turned into two very quickly but no harm done. Once back in the hotel we got into our PJs, set up the tablet to watch Toy Story 3 and opened up the box of donuts for round 2. One recommendation I will provide, is to do like my wife suggested we do. Simple mathematics tells you that after a night of drinking and two donuts, you will not have much room left in your stomach to eat many more donuts, no matter how scrumptious they are. So as Shannon suggested we “sampled” all of the donuts. A bite here and a bite there and we were able to taste every donut at least once and still be able to get to sleep without a bloated feeling similar to Violet Beauregard from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We did not see much of the movie; instead we fell into a sugar induced coma, with visions of donuts twerking and pints of beer krumping to Ludacris and Jermaine Dupri’s “Welcome to Atlanta” in our heads.