California here we come...

Here we are in Portland. Day One after Night One of our vacation roadtrip. First, I think I should talk a little bit about my exceptionally nice sister. Not only is she so exceptionally nice that she always brings us chocolate every time she comes to visit but she is so exceptionally nice that she offered to switch cars with me for this trip. Her car is a Honda CRV with air conditioning and mine is a Honda Civic with, um, no air conditioning. Let’s just say that her car is A LOT nicer than mine---even though I do love my car. So, thank-you!!! to my sister for being so exceptionally nice and lending us her lovely automobile.

The drive to Portland was pretty good. There were a couple points where traffic just sort of stopped and crawled but for the most part it was good. Sean reminded me why I love him by feeding me bagels, water and cherry coke while singing along to Avril Lavigne. He knows more words than even I, the queen of popular culture. Driving down the I-5 isn’t particularly scenic so there wasn’t anything really beautiful to remark on. The most fascinating thing was the battle between the Left and the Right as played out via bumper stickers. We saw a couple “If you can’t get behind our troops, get in front of them” (yikes!) and “Proud wife of an Iraqi Freedom Fighter” and “The death penalty is NOT a solution”. The Americans love their bumper stickers!

We had an incredible meal at Tacqueria Neuve (NE 24th). It is one of the best restaurants I have ever eaten at. I found it a couple Portland trips ago and for that Sean will be eternally grateful to my hyper-planning skills. I had a cactus leaf salad with jicama and avacado in a mint dressing to start and then finished up with carnitas (wild boar) and pescado (fish, didn’t ask what kind) tacos. Yummers. I also had a Amorcita margarita which is a shaken margarita made with in-house strawberry infused tequila. Woo! Sean had their delicious limeade, a guacamole de tostada and a huge hunk of marinated lamb. We finished of by sharing a piece of the most delicious three-milk cake I have ever had! It is so creamy and delicious. They frost it with a thin layer of mexican chocolate, ooooooh yummers.

The night ended with “Grizzly Man” the new Werner Herzog movie. It’s a documentary about Timothy Treadwell, a man who lived amongst the grizzlies in Alaska for 13 years. He and his girlfriend were killed by a bear in 2003. Mainly it’s his video footage with narration by Herzog. Let me just say: I LOVE the sound of Werner Herzog’s voice. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever actually watched one of his films but just listened to his voice on the DVD commentaries. Anyhow, it was an interesting movie about a seriously disturbed man. I will spare you the critique as this post is already quite long. Some of his work with the bears was admirable and some of it was purely self-indulgent egotism.

Lastly, if you are ever in Portland do yourself the pleasure of staying at the Kennedy School hotel. It is a converted elementary school made into a hotel with two bars, a restaurant, a movie theatre and other great things. Our room has the original cloakroom as well as a blackboard. I took some pictures which I will post when I have a chance. All you need to know is that it is the most fantastic hotel I have ever stayed in. It is so well maintained and charming. Each of the rooms has a name like: Mrs Palmer’s room, the Music Room, the Thumbelina room. So cute.

Well, we’re off to have breakfast and spend an obscene amount of time in Powell’s City of Books.