after almost two and a half weeks in vancouver (interrupted by a trip to seattle), Noa and I were heading out of van. Other than a great hike in deep cove, i refrained from taking a lot of pictures in vancouver. i mostly just focused on hanging out with friends, and eating lots and lots of food.

anyways, thanks to my dad, we had a ride on friday morning heading towards portland. since he would continue driving all the way to arizona, i drove down so that he could relax and look at the map and regale us with fun stories to make the time fly by faster. we also happened to stumble into serious pie again for as a mid trip lunch snack. oops. we got to portland with no issues, and my dad dropped us off at our air bnb place for the weekend, and off he went onwards with his journey. Thanks again for the lift, we really appreciate that you drove us down.

on the road

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So portland for four days, with our friends mel and jeff. we had previously hit seattle with them a few years ago, and we all enjoy hanging out, eating good food, and jeff and I share a passion for beer.

that afternoon it was time for happy hour, and we started by walking over to bridgeport brewery. from there we made it to deschutes. from there it was powells books and some shopping while jeff and i had perhaps another beer. it was a great friday. and awesome warm weather!

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the following morning it was overcast and grey. apparently portland gets a marine layer in the morning, that supposedly burns off. well it was my task to go get our rental car for the rest of the trip, so i woke up, and ran out to get going. the airport is quite a ways away. well, i had put shorts and flip flops on, and as i was walking towards the trolley, i was slightly cold. then i missed the trolley, and i did not look forward to waiting 15 min for another, and then having it still take an hour to get me there. so i tried to find a cab. after some wandering, i found a main road, and a cabbie that would take me. im glad i did, because i learned that one of the main freeways across town would be down for construction the whole weekend.

well i got the rental car, and as i was booking i was looking for fuel efficiency, and a small enough car that would fit all our crap. well, i guess i didint realize what i booked, because when i went to get the car, i got a 2 door altima. i hmmed and haawed a bit with myself about upgrading, but finally settled on well, it would be fun to drive down the coast in this, and while inconvenient for four people, it would be just for a few days. in the end i think i was right, it was the right car for us, but SORRY AGAIN mel and noa. they had to sit in back…..

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a major milestone of this trip was trying to find a specific bike for mel. well, the shop she had called had them, and we found one that fit like a glove, and my was it nice!

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having found that and having it tuned, off we went for breakfast

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as the name implied, we were not let down. twas tasty.

from there it was back to the bike shop, and second breakfast

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that afternoon we hit up the farmers market

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after that it was wandering around seattle, looking at the crafts store, and then we went back to the house to go swim in the pool a bit.

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That evening we went to a restaurant called the Farm Cafe and had a yummy dinner together.

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The following morning we wanted to try a breakfast place called the screen door, that is famously known for its long lines. so we decided to get there, half an hour before they opened, and it was still a gong show.

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we got in about 45 min later, and it was well worth the wait.

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having gorged ourselves, we did some more walking of portland, getting a few last things. then we met up with two of my fellow hebrew students that i met in tel aviv. they are from portland and were there, so it was nice to catch up. plus it was at rouge brewery, probably my favourite still. after that we went back to the house for some more pool time.

the river

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the train

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the pool

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that evening we had made reservations at oven & shaker, a restaurant from a james beard nominated chef for pizza. it was good.

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walking home

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the following morning we went out for breakfeast again, and then by the time we got back, it was time for Mel and jeff to head home on the train. i dropped them off at the train station around 1, and then noa and i filled the car, and left to continue our grand adventure down the oregon coast.

portland is such a fun city. there is so much to see, so much to eat. personally, if only it didn’t get that marine layer in the summer, it would probably be a great place to live.