Father's Day - Portlandia - 2012

We decided to continue the tradition of traveling for the Father’s Day Celebration.  Cleaned the car, packed our bags and took off Thursday afternoon along with Jillian and Oliver.  We had reservations at the Hotel Monaco… and even Oliver got an email from ‘Timmy’ the hotel’s dog, letting him know they were excited to have him come visit! 

Thursday night, after we enjoyed some wine at the evening reception, we walked to the Pearl District and had dinner with neice, Dawn and her husband Russell and kidlet, Kelsey.  Vietnamese food.. first time, enjoyed it.  Came up during the evening, that there was a Walk/Run for Epilepsy on Saturday… Kelsey suggested we participate, her sis Jessica would also be there… Well, that’s all it took, and we registered online that night for the event.  Oliver even came along and met up with Oscar, the Campbell labradoodle.  So, all in all, the morning of Saturday was gorgeous and we ended up walking about 5 miles (the walk was 3 miles on the Portland Waterfront… gorgeous sunny warm).  When we were finished, we walked to one of the food cart blocks for replenishment!

 

 

Got ahead of myself… Let’s talk Friday…Started the day off with ‘VooDoo’ donuts…a special treat for Dad.  He had never had them before and Jillian knew just where to go.  Later, we drove to Clackamas and played a bit of puttputt at a gorgeous golf course.  Oregon and Washington: I think these two states have the corner on lush green surroundings (we better with the moisture we have!).  Anyway,  it was a comfortable temp with lots of sun---nice!  Friday evening found us at the Hotel Reception again, but this time Julie and Jens Andersen joined us and we headed off to a great dinner at the “Red Star”…. Followed by a showy presentation of a Spanish Coffee at Huber’s.  A great meal but even better people to be with!  We were quite the tired campers by now, but knew we had the walk the next morning, so we were in bed by 11.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, the walk was great as I said.  After we came back to the hotel, had our meal, Oliver and I ended up laying on the couch in our room and promptly feel asleep.  That gave Jerry and Jillian the chance to drive some go karts and mini-race cars at Malibu Raceway.  Jillian, who is a lead foot most of the time, I hear, was like a little old lady driving the course… oops, she told be not to tell… Oh Well!... Jerry also hooked up with one of his best friends from elementary school, Nick P. Later, that evening we had RSVP’s at The Urban Farm, located in “The Nines” hotel, for dinner. Very nice, but we missed having Halley along with us for the Father’s Day celebration 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday morning, we awoke.. and guess what.. still more adventures.  We had an Epicurean Portland Walking Tour to participate in.  Started at 10 am and ended a little after one.  We  went to a variety of places, and had a bite at each one…. Plus we learned about the history of Portland and the different areas we walked to.  Highly recommend it!  Oliver couldn’t come but he had won the hearts of the staff in the back room at the hotel, so he was having his own fun!  Oh, on top of this, unbeknownst to us when the day started,  this was the Pride Weekend… So there was a parade and other activities (now, all the rainbow balloons were making sense).  As they say, everyone loves a parade and the streets were filled with happy folks! 

All the good time in Portland had to end, so we left around 2pm for home. Jillian and Oliver got some snoozes in on the way home. But, wait, one more fun time… Dinner with Darren at Harbor Lights!  And, as they say, ‘a good time was had by all!’