above: A few moments of sun and snuggling at the park before the “sliding board incident”.
One of the fun things about traveling is that we get to visit friends along the way. Last year, a family that we knew from Charleston moved to Portland. So, one of our stops here was going to be an “old home week” with them.
The Dudes went to school with their kids Alexis and Daniel, the Hippygeek worked with the Dad, Matt and I used to swap stories with the Mom, Brooks at the kid’s bus stop in the afternoon. So, we all had a lot of catching up to do.
We met at a playground so the kids could burn a little energy. Then, a little boy about three years old fell off the slide next to me. When I picked him up, I noticed that his left wrist was mangled and contorted in a way so that it appeared that his hand was no longer attached to his arm. To make it more interesting, he was with a babysitter and only spoke Russian. The babysitter made some phone calls and it wasn’t long before the mother showed up and whisked him off to the hospital.
We had only been in Portland 24 hours and with the fender bender the night before and now this incident, I was beginning to think that Portland was a little too exciting for me.
We went on to their home a few blocks away for dinner and to catch up on old times and before we knew it, it was midnight.
Over the course of the weekend they introduced us to some of Portland’s institutions like VooDoo Doughnuts. The doughnut shop has a perpetual line and I can see why. Where else can you get a doughnut with bacon or even Fruit Loops on it? The Dudes were in heaven. I don’t eat doughnuts (really) because they put me in a sugar coma. But, back home, the hippygeek would secretly take the Dudes by the doughnut shop on the way to school on Friday mornings. At Voodoo, the Big Dude got one with crumbled Oreos, the Lil’ Dude got one with bright blue cotton candy flavoring on it and the Hippygeek went for the Bacon. Needless to say, it was a hit. The store also recently broke the worlds record for the largest box of doughnuts weighing in a 666 pounds and containing 3,880 doughnuts!
We took the kids on a train ride to Pioneer Square downtown where we went on a little walking tour, sampled some vendor cart food and even let the kids go crazy at an arcade. Oh, the big city!
We also went to the Saturday market to survey the local art, food and people. There were some fun, interesting and even well done crafts. I collected a few business cards but refrained from purchasing anything due to our limited storage space.
above: A unique find at the market.
We tried to set up a day to go fishing but, much to the kids disappointment, an approaching storm washed away those plans. Our first two days here were bright and sunny but we have since moved into the rainy season which I heard, will last, until next Summer.
But, the rainy weather doesn’t stop the locals. We were parked next to a bike trail at evening rush hour one day and watched a continuous flow of riders pedal their way home in a downpour.
By the end of the weekend, they had shown us a bit of Portland, both sets of kids had a good “kid fix” and the parents enjoyed a few beers from the local breweries including their own home made brew.
Its exciting to tour big cities but, touring it with friends make it a lot more fun.
“I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar.” Robert Brault
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