vacation bender, day 3

saturday began with massive amounts of rain.

and cold.

and more rain.

our plan was to head to mt hood and stay at the timberline lodge.

so we set out in the rain.

we stopped at bridgeport village to do some shopping first.  there was no reason to hurry to mt hood since the weather sucked.

the weather got worse and worse the closer we got.

and the fog.

we stopped in government camp, the small town at the bottom of mt hood.

finally time to head up the long and windy road to the timberline.

it became harder and harder to see the higher the elevation.  the fog and rain were so bad you could not see 5 feet in front of you.

needless to say, i barely saw the lodge when we arrived.

so we checked into our, um, room.

it was NOT the four seasons.

it was the most expensive rustic, cabin-looking room i've ever stayed in.

the whole lodge was, well, a lodge.

there was a definite creep factor to the place.  

could it be that the outside of the place was in the movie "the shining"?

we ate dinner at one of their restaurants.  surprisingly the food was really good.  even more surprisingly, it was crazy expensive.  even more so than you would think it would be.  but could we really be surprised given the cost of the room?  but still, $17 for a turkey sandwich?

lee polished off her meal with their signature hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps.  

we went for a walk outside.  the place is dark and creepy at night.

we finally went to bed after another day of overindulgence.  

vacation bender, day 2

after the pitts mansion, vacation hunger set in.  again.

martha and i went to old town and went to the people's sandwich of portland.

yum.

i still love that place.

luckily so did martha.

after stuffing our faces, we walked to the river (willamette).  the weather was actually nice so we walked around.

so were other people.

all the fountains were running.

there was a helicopter flying really low.

after lee got off work, we went and crushed another meal.

friday night's fare was italian.  iorio restaurant in the SE section of town.  

fan-damn-tastic.

we left miserably full yet we had to find gelato.

pittock mansion

lee had to work at the clinic so martha and i headed to the pittock mansion.

it's a mansion built in the early 1900's that sits up on a hill with great views of portland.

basically it's a big old allergy attack waiting to happen.  all the furnishings were 100 years old and it smelled like it.

some parts of it were pretty neat though.  of course i was fascinated by the bubble mirror in one of the bedrooms.

then there was the creepy child's bedroom.

vacation bender, day 1

my mom (martha) came into town last wednesday night to hang out with lee and i.  i do not think we stopped moving or eating the entire time.

thursday morning we headed to milwaukie (oregon) to pick up my prize gift basket from the dave's killer bread store.

between the 3 of us, we sampled everything they make.

we went across the street to check out the bob's red mill whole grain store.

it's a retail store, restaurant and mill.  

we then went to crush it at pine state biscuits.  not as good as the first time lee and i went but still good.

lee then had to head to work, miserably full.  heh.

martha and i head to the omsi museum (oregon museum of science and industry).

i've wanted to go since i moved here but haven't gotten around to it.

we wandered around the new "identity" exhibit.  i took 2 photos before i was told they weren't allowed.

they also have a lot of kids stuff and space stuff.

and an earthquake simulator.  a little too real for me.  i lived in california after all.

we then went to see the hubble imax movie.  one word:  stunning.

prior to dindin, we went to the chart house restaurant for cocktails.  it's known for amazing views of portland.  we partook in happy hour with one of lee's classmates, aubrey.  love her.

since it was lee's birthday, we went to her favorite restaurant for dinner, andina.  a delicious peruvian restaurant in the pearl.

it is now my favorite restaurant.  damn that food was good.  

so were the drinks.

here's lee on the long drunk walk back to the car.

happy birthday sissy.

dogtoberfest

last weekend lee and i took the pups to dogtoberfest.

it's an event held every year to raise money for an emergency vet here in portland.

it's held at the lucky lab brew pub in the SE.

they were doing a big dog wash and had food (hot dogs), beer and music.

and a million wet dogs.

both dogs got washed by volunteers.

they were wet and tired afterwards.  but clean.

chow

recently lee dusted off her japanese cooking skills and made one of our faves.

okonomiyaki.

it's like a japanese pancake of deliciousness.

it consists of cabbage, noodles, ginger, green onions and some batter-y stuff and topped with japanese style bacon and egg.

sounds weird and it is.

but oh so good.

especially when it's cooked right.

maybe next time, lee. 

not bad for your first try in a while.

here it is cooking.

winner winner!

first let me say that i've been a blog neglector.  where does the time go?

i'll try to catch up...

i won 2 contests this week.

and the prizes are all dave's killer bread swag.

not bad.

i won one contest by answering a bread question correctly.

i was one of the first 15.

i won a dave's killer bread sin dawg t-shirt.

got it in the mail yesterday.

love it.

next, i won a photo contest from the portland food exchange.

they wanted photos of gardens so i submitted a few.

and won.

sweet.

i won 2 loaves of dave's killer bread, a sin dawg loaf, a t-shirt and a $20 gift card to their store.

i think my sister is more excited than me.

let's hope this winning streak continues...