Keep Portland Weird!

Once a year, the Association of Healthcare Internal Auditors (AHIA) holds a conference.   This year the conference was in Portland,  Oregon.   I was pretty excited for a change of scenery and have never been to the Pacific Northwest. 

My co-worker April and I left bright and early on Sunday morning for a 7:30am flight.  We made it to the gate just in time and took off for Denver, Colorado.  When we got to Denver around 9:30 local time, we had time to wander the airport and have a fabulous brunch.  Even the restaurants at the airport served local, farm-fresh food.  Then we boarded another plane for Portland.

High above the clouds....

The view from my hotel room....

When talking to people before our trip, the one thing we heard from everyone was how fabulous the food was.  We asked our cab driver for his recommendations, and he absolutely did not steer us wrong.  Sunday night we went to a local restaurant called Tasty N Alder.  O.M.G.  The food was divine!!  We shared some wagyu skirt steak, cedar plank salmon, skillet corn cake and sauteed swiss chard and kale.  SO GOOD!!!

It was a long day of traveling, so we were in our hotel rooms pretty early.  It's funny how I always dream of a quiet relaxing evening alone, but all I could think about while there was how much I missed Clint and the girls.   

We ate at more local restaurants, including divine stuffed salmon and crab cakes at a place called Jake's Famous Crawfish and heavenly Vietnamese at a tiny local favorite called LucLac.  Each evening we walked to dinner and explored downtown.  Portland was a really fun city, but I would have really loved to be able to explore the mountains nearby instead of staying in the city center.

Funny little things we found while exploring.  I texted this to Clint to see if he thought it would be a good souvenir for the girls.

One of my favorite spots is a bookstore called Powell's.  It's literally an entire city block,  Instead of each genre having it's own section in the store, There was a color coded room for each genre.  Also, the store sold used and new books.  It was really a cool spot!  We also did the tourist spot called Voodoo Donuts.  I'm not a huge fan of donuts, but ordered a fritter called the Memphis Mafia.  It's a donut made with banana pudding batter and covered in chocolate and peanut butter.  I ate one bite to try it and threw the rest out.  it was good, just way too much sugar for my blood!

Powell's book store

Who knew enough people still wore Dr. Marten's to need a place this big??  Then I started looking around, and people in Portland definitely wore them!!

The bike lanes downtown were really cool.  the were huge, green and in the middle of the one-way streets.

Tuesday morning April and i did a 5k that was sponsored by the conference.  It was early (we started at 6am), but we were so glad we got up and did it.  The path took us down to the river and over a bridge.  It was beautiful watching the sun come up!

My dinner at LucLac - One of the best meals I've ever had!!

VooDoo Donuts

By Wednesday I was definitely ready to get back to my family.  We had class that morning, then loaded up for the airport to catch a 12:00 noon flight.  We had to stop in Oakland, CA to pick up more passengers, then landed in Las Vegas for a layover.  April had never been to Vegas, so we talked about playing the slot machines while we were there.  It's so funny how the second you step off the plane you can gamble.

By the time we got to Vegas, we grabbed a quick dinner and sat at our gate.  About 20 minutes before we were to board the plane, April convinced me to go try our luck at the slots.  Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a big gambler, but I knew Clint would be disappointed if I didn't at least play some.  We found the closest dollar slot machine and I put in a $20.  I was un-enthusiastically pulling the handle to place my bets when I realized I was only playing one line.  No one EVER wins by betting one line.  I told myself when I played down to $15 I would bet 5 lines, increasing my bet to $5 per pull.  I was so lost in my thoughts, I didn't even notice on my 5th bet when the "Wheel Of Fortune" rang out.  April asked what that meant, and I explained that I got to spin the wheel.  As the wheel spun, I noticed the highest amount on it was $1,000, which was right next to $15.  I waited for the wheel to stop and it did - on the $1,000!!!!  I immediately cashed out and walked away with $1,015.  Not bad for started with $20!!  

This was the view sitting at our gate waiting to board the plane.

The Memphis Mafia.  This thing had to weigh 3 pounds.

The flight from Vegas was soooooo long and we didn't land in Nashville until after 11:00, getting home at midnight.  It was a fun trip for sure, and I'm sure by next year I will be ready for the next conference.  However, for now I'm thankful to be home with my crazy crew :)