I took another blogging break to spend some quality time with Steph since she flew up to visit. She arrived Saturday around noon, while I compulsively checked the driveway for her car. She came up the walkway and we were both smiles, so great to see her after two weeks of nothing but a voice on the other line. We got ready and hit downtown Portland for a "surprise" at 2:45. My suspicions were correct, Steph got me a one hour deep tissue massage! The masseuse was great and I felt so much better after! My neck has been really sore and in pain when I'm sleeping so she worked on that for a bit, but what really felt great were my legs. They were so much looser and relaxed! I glided down the stairs and met with Steph to go have a beer with her friend Ross.
After a visit to North 45 for beers we bounced on down to Rogue's brew pub and had tasters and food. The fish and chips were great, as was the pasta I ate which had a sauce made with their Chipotle Ale. The weather was pretty funky and we lucked out with our timing, five minutes after moving inside there was thunder, lightning, and torrential downpour, until we were ready to leave at which point it had cleared up!
Sunday morning we met up with Steph's friends Chrissy and Adam at the Mikwaukie farmer's market. Some browsing around led us to fresh strawberries and rhubarb which we used in Steph's mom's recipe for a strawb-rhubarb crisp. It was fun to bake after not really touching an oven or kitchen in two weeks. We brought the delicious crisp to a potluck at Steph's cousin's, Karin and Rob, and saw their newborn Flynn. He's so tiny! I walked around with him for a bit, so fascinating to have such a miniature person asleep in your arms.
We came back from the potluck, where the crisp was a hit, and rode bikes down to Hopworks Urban Brewery to meet up with more of Steph's family members, Mike and his son Mikey. Some good conversation and delicious beers and food and we were stuffed again (thanks for the dinner Mike!) We hung around a little longer after they left and got another beer and a tshirt, then headed home. HUB was a really fun brewery, everything had to do with bikes. They even had a cruiser banana seat mounted above the men's urinal to rest your head on if you're swaying a bit!
Sunday I made us pancakes with some leftover strawbs and we drove down to Corvallis to meet my cousins, Teri and Steve. Lunch and beers at Block 15 were great, as was the little walk and bike store visit. An avid tourer in the shop tried discouraging us from riding through Yellowstone, so we're now in the process of looking up other routes and scenic areas to bike through. Suggestions?
We returned to Portland to browse Powell's Books, a massive bookstore in downtown. This was followed by a visit to Voodoo Donuts, where the line stretched around the block and caused us to try out Voodoo Donuts Too across the bridge. We opted for a new flavor, Guava-citrus, as well as their classic Maple Bacon Bar. A little research brought us to Pok Pok for Thai takeout and we landed back at our weekend residence for dinner, dessert, and a little planning.
We both felt a little stuffed after so much beer and food all weekend so I'm looking forward to some riding on Tuesday. But unfortunately that means no Steph. It has been so great to have her here this weekend, I can't put it accurately into words. We have so much fun together and I've missed her dearly on this trip so far. Also I must send out a HUGE thanks to Pat and Ronette who's house we stayed at. They were out of town and were so nice to let us use the house.
It's been a great rest, and I got my Steph fix for the moment, so I'm ready to hit the road again. I've had 8 straight nights under a roof and I'm ready for more camping and exercise!
Sorry there aren't any pics, I swapped memory cards with Steph so my Portland pics are in her hands.
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