Portlandia

Hidee Hoe Neighbor! Its me checking in after probably the fastest week in all of history. I woke up on Monday morning with a bunch of plans and now Thursday evening and I'm scrambling to get stuff done it seems.  I'm talking about work of course. My real life doesn't appear to be nearly as organized.

Tomorrow Blueberry and I take off to Portland for the weekend. You may recall that last year I took Blueberry to Vancouver BC for her birthday.  This year we (read I) decided we should head south. It started with another GroupOn deal and is ending up with me getting a refund for my GroupOn deal and having to book another hotel.  (Side Note: GroupOn customer service really is quite good. When I contacted them about not being able to book the hotel they tried to book the rooms for me. Then they couldn't so refunded me my $$.)

I've been planning this trip for about 2 months now.  I've been to Portland a number of times but never as an actual tourist.  The Sister lives in that area as do many friends from college.  It seems whenever I go there it's to visit one of them.  This time though, Blueberry and I are tourists.  Maybe I'll make us use a fake accent or something.

I've got a LIST of restaurants I want to try.  I'm now addicted to trying the restaurants from Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.  With the app Flavortown on my iPhone I can find a decent restaurant anywhere.  My plan?  These are the places I need to try.

Pine State Biscuits
Voodoo Donuts (not a Triple D place but very popular in Portland)
Byways Cafe
Food Carts
Deschutes Brewery

and now I guess I have to try Mother's Bistro.  And it seems I'm going to have to eat 5 meals a day to get in all these restaurants. Challenge Accepted!

Our plan, like anytime I travel, was to take the Hop-on and Hop-off bus tour. But being the Pacific Northwest this type of tour doesn't start until the weather is more decent...apparently. Their bus tours don't start until May.  So we'll be checking out Portland on our own two feet. Should be interesting.