Visit from my Momma

I was really looking forward to this weekend. My mom had the opportunity to schedule a last minute trip to visit and I was very excited. She arrived Thursday afternoon, just in time to head downtown for a little happy hour at the famous Henry's 12th St Tavern. It is the location of the first brewery in Portland, Henry Weinhards, but now is just a great restaurant in the heart of the Pearl District. We had a lot planned for the weekend so we headed home to get some rest and prepare for the next days events.

Friday we woke up to a little rain, but that wasn't going to stop our mission for the day. We were headed down the 84 along the Columbia River Gorge to Multnomah Falls, then on to Hood River to explore the town. First we stopped at Wahkeena Falls and hiked over to the Multnomah Falls. The Wahkeena Falls were beautiful, but when we saw the Multnomah Falls they put the previous ones to shame. The Multnomah Falls are about 620 feet tall. There is a bridge crossing part of the way up the waterfall along a path that is a little over a mile up to the top. We decided to hike it, which proved to be a great butt workout (over 11 switchbacks), but also a great view and amazing watching the water fall from the top.

We had built up quiet an appetite, so afterwards we headed to Hood River to explore the Full Sail Brewery and have some grub. By this time the weather had cleared, and we enjoyed a great lunch over looking the Columbia River. We had just enough time to walk up and down the main street, doing a little window shopping before heading back to the brewery for a tour. The tour was fantastic!! It was about a 40 minute tour of the process of making their beer from start to finish. I have to say, I appreciate beer; the making process, the ingredients and of course the taste. So, learning how it is made was a pretty great experience. They showed us everything from the ingredients used to make it all the way to the bottling of the beer in the end. It was very educational and a lot of fun.

On our way back to the city, we stopped at a Vista lookout and were in aww of the scenery from above the gorge. Being able to look 180 degrees from west to east down the Columbia River was spectacular (see picture at the top of the blog). We then headed back to the city and had a nice dinner at Matadors in NW Portland. This is my favorite neighborhood in Portland and come fall I will live there. The age group of people in the neighborhood is around my age and all the houses have so much character and charm. It has a main strip (23rd) that is filled with great restaurants, shopping and coffee shops. After dinner we decided to walk off all the chips we had eaten, so we walked up and down the street looking and exploring all the great places.

We woke up Saturday to fabulous weather. Our mission for the day was to explore the whole downtown area. We started at Portland State University (my campus starting in the fall) because I wanted to show my mom the school and they have a Farmers Market every Saturday (the same Farmers Market I took Sarah too). I bought some strawberries and asparagus and my mom purchased some morel mushrooms. A rarity, but they are in season right now so she couldn't pass them up. Wanda (not the dog, my friend) joined us for a bit to enjoy the beautiful day, before she had to leave to go study. We then headed down to Pioneer Square, the Saturday Market, the Rose Festival, the Pearl District and everywhere else we could think of going on foot. I think we had to have logged at least 6 miles while spending our time down there. By about 4 pm our feet were beat so we headed home to rest up before going out to a nice dinner in another great neighborhood (Mississippi District). We ended up eating at a place called Lorenzo's, a cute little italian place right on the main street Alberta. We were fortunate enough to get a great seat out on the sidewalk and we enjoyed a delicious dinner together. A lot of people say Portland reminds them of a european city, because of all the little districts and areas of the town. It really is amazing how you can drive 5 minutes in one direction and feel like you are in a completely different town, then head another direction and feel the same way.

Sunday we woke up to the polar opposite of Saturday. It was pouring down rain and it was not letting up. We decided to hang low in the morning, then head to a brunch back in the NW. Our destination was Besaw's, a great breakfast place Nik had taken me too before he left. When we drove by, there was about 30 people standing outside (in the downpour) waiting to get into the restaurant. That was an immediate "Heck No" from the both of us, so we turned around and went to St Honoré Boulangerie instead. I had never been but it looked cute from the outside and it wasn't as crowded. Don't get me wrong it was crowded, but we were lucky to find a seat right away. We both agreed our breakfasts were the best meals we had all weekend. I had a croissant with eggs, herbs, chicken sausage and goat cheese in the middle. I didn't want the tastes to leave my mouth. Since we were in a french bakery, we also both agreed we needed to have a little french dessert to finish the meal off. A canele was the perfect way ending to the perfect brunch.

Mom was leaving that afternoon, so we had time to go to the Japanese Gardens before packing up her stuff and heading to the airport. I really appreciated the gardens. I actually was glad it was raining while we were there, because it kept the crowds away and we were able to experience the piece and tranquility of the beautiful area. The Japanese put so much effort and detail into their gardens and they are so different from what I am used to calling a garden. It was a great way to end the weekend.

Mom thank you so much for coming to visit. I had an incredible weekend with you. It was so much fun exploring the areas I had not been too and of course it was even better with you. I am sad to see you go, but so so happy you came to visit.