My Oregon Trail

Jen and I got to Portland Friday afternoon and headed over to surprise my friend Josh for his 30th birthday. His lady Shannon planned the whole surprise got me to fly out and his other friend Matt to fly in from MN and gathered all his friends for a weekend long celebration. So we showed up at his door and when he finally decided he would open the door he stood there for a few seconds not realizing it was me. When he finally came to he just yelled, what the hell are you doing here? It was great. So after we did that we decided to go get some lunch and beer at this fab place called Mcmenamins. http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=3

We had some wine tasting, then we had beer, and also got a bottle to go. I had one slice of pizza. This was bad news for me.  I ended up throwing up until the next morning. It was rough. Here are some sweet pics from Departure. It’s a restaurant in the hotel we were staying at, which by the way you should check out as well. http://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1757 It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever stayed and and my friend Shannon works at the Urban Farmer there. If you are in Portland, you owe it to yourself to eat there. I wanted to make sweet sweet love to my fresh jam and pancakes.

Josh’s friends are great. I am not good with meeting new people as you all know I am socially retarded but they just have a welcoming factor that is undeniable. I wonder if it’s just the way Oregon made people are.

So then after a late start for me due to wanting to kill myself from the spinning, headache and puking going on I finally ventured out and met everyone at the Saturday Market. http://www.portlandsaturdaymarket.com/ It’s where artisans come to sell their stuff, food vendors peddle every ethnic food you can imagine, fortune tellers give advice and musicians sing for tips. It’s so fun. By the way, its Sundays too. 

Then we had an awesome dinner with about 12 of Josh’s closest friends at a tasty place called Henry’s Tavern. Check out the beer menu. http://henrystavern.com/ After dinner the plan was more drinking and dancing and sadly I wasn’t feeling good so I walked back to the hotel and ended up finding this gem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPkMUU9tUqk I shit myself pretty good over that one.

The next day everyone was feeling rough. As seen in this photo of Josh’s hair.

So Jen and I ventured to the coast alone. Pictures can not do this place any justice. I will show you some but I highly recommend just taking your ass to Oregon. The people are happy, the city is alive and the coast will change your life.