Weekend in Stumptown...

We wake up fairly early considering our evening and head straight to the park blocks for the Portland Farmers Market, and a MUCH anticipated breakfast.

We slow down along the way to view the vintage cars being showcased as part of the Portland Art Museum's Classic Cars exhibit.  It was ford day, which means a lot of muscle cars, but really our attention went to the Shelby Cobras and a beautiful woody with the most amazing crafted teardrop trailer I've ever seen.  Seriously, this thing made me almost consider pulling one around behind the bus.

But, we had places to be and food to eat.  Today is the day i make up for my last trip and finally get to have my Reggie Deluxe breakfast sandwich from Pine State Biscuits.  Now, for those of you not from Portland...you're missing out.  This perfect sandwich creation has actually attracted national attention form the likes of Bon Appetit, Esquire Magazine and Oprah...and even more importantly, it is hands down my favorite breakfast treat.  Pine State started as one of Portland's many food carts, serving the very farmers market where we are eating...but is also now one of the biggest success stories as they have now grown to two full-blown brick and mortar establishments (our home location on SE Belmont and a new one on NE Alberta) as well.  This place may be single-handedly responsible for why I weighed more when we lived in Portland (that and my complete lack of restraint when it comes to biscuits, fried chicken, gravy and cheese).

We stood in line behind a young boy who was absolutely convinced that if he kept looking he would see a dolphin passing through the tree lined grass in the park blocks.  Frankly, who were we to argue...that sounded wicked awesome!
We talked with him about whales and dolphins while his dad tried to convince him that a squirrel was more likely... Im not sure our assistance was fully appreciated.

Wendy Meyer showed up in time to grab a tamale and watch us all fall into a post reggie coma, and then we headed back to begin our days.  Somehow our walk prompted talk of the honey badger, and kelly introduced jen to one of the worlds great viral videos.  The video below isn't for everyone, but really..."honey badger don't give a shit"

We went back to the hotel for some alone time and a quick nap before renting a car so that we could see the best part of Portland...the East side.
Just over the Hawthorne bridge we immediately pass by something new...a "goat banquet".  A herd of goats grazing on an empty lot in SE and presumably available to keep your lot in check if interested.

As interesting as the goats were, we chose instead for a bit of competition and stopped in at Blitz Bar for some ping pong.  In Vancouver we can barely find a bar big enough to house a pool table...this place is big enough to host a half dozen ping pong tables, pool and shuffleboard tables, and countless other games.  We ordered some totchos, sliders and a couple of cocktails and after a few hours of pong, our total was a whopping $13.  I love this town.

We move on and drive around town seeing our old hoods and making sure things are okay with our properties.  Great to see a few new projects underway and sad to see a few much loved businesses gone or going...  We end up off Mississippi avenue and stop in to Prost.  This place was the shell of an old church that we wanted to buy several years ago (but clearly weren't successful), and they have turned it into an amazing bar with food carts in the parking lot.  I settled on an amazing bourbon infusion while jen had a serrano infused bloody mary.  They do good work here.

We decided to head over to Kennedy School for a movie mcmenamin's style.  Also purely Portland- the idea of a $2 movie, and sitting in a loveseat eating pizza and drinking a beer (or in our case spiked lemonandes) while you watch.  We watched hangover 2, which surprisingly enough was hilarious and lived up to the legacy of the first one.

After the movie we headed to the Pearl and met Brock and Kelly at Wendy Meyers loft for a nightcap, relaxing conversation and a bit of youtube love (yes, the honey badger made another appearance).

Sunday saw a rubicon soccer rematch in the morning, lunch with Jenn and Craig, and then a bbq and bonfire with friends in the afternoon.  More good times with some the peeps from Thursday night as well as the addition of the Munks; Alicia, Adam and their new daughter; and Craiggers, Joanna and their son.  Wow there was alot of kid at this bbq compared to the last one we would have had with all the same people.  Must be something in the water coming out of the reservoir.  We ended the night with Moses handing out parting gifts and showing us his dance moves (both fast and slow).  No chance this kid doesn't play in a band later on.  Special thanks to Brent and Dee for hosting and giving us the opportunity to see everyone in one day.  Awesome times indeed.

We love you Portland (and all you lovely peeps in it) and we'll see you soon!
xo