Adventures in Drinking: Portland

I stayed in Portland this weekend and Miss B stayed in the Bay Area. She needed to pack up her classroom and I needed a break from traveling every weekend. One activity for fun was to take my friend Amy out to start her birthday week. She is hitting the big 4-0 later this week and we made an afternoon of walking around SE Portland drinking beer and eating sandwiches. We wanted to start at Bunks for sandwiches however they were closed. So we walked up to the Green Dragon Brewing Company and had a beer. I don't drink much beer these days but what I had was good. A pilsner that seemed more like something other than a pilsner and I can't remember the name of it. We then wanted to go to the Roadside Attraction bar but that also wasn't open yet. Just down the street was the Basement bar. I liked this place a lot. We sat outside (didn't rain at all on our adventure!) and we had a good chat. Drank a PBR on tap there. How could anyone mess that up? Also played pinball "Junkyard" which they used to have at The Pilsner in the Castro. We then made it over to Roadside Attraction which was essentially a small version of Zeitgeist. Same type of crowd. Same outdoor setting with picnic tables and layout. Lots of lesbians. I mean lots. Had a Mt. Shasta Weed Amber there and it was good. Lots of water too so I could sober up later to drive back to Hellsboro. Eventually we made it back to Bunk and had our sandwiches. Amy had a roast beef and I had meatball. We also had a side of Tabasco mixed nuts. Very good! Drank a lot more water there and chatted some more. Eventually made it back to Hellsboro after a nice day in Portland which started with yoga, then a massage, and ended with seeing the movie Bridesmaids. (Not as good as I would have thought.)

Went to the Random Order cafe today after yoga. Yes, that is yoga two days in a row at Yoga Union in SE. It's a good studio and the one which is probably the most anusara focused here in Portland. This sandwich was delicious and of course I got it with bacon as bacon is not meat, just delicious. The Random Order cafe is over in the Alberta Arts district. Tried to go to a different one in SE however the lovely google maps couldn't get me there. Or should I say, I couldn't get me there.

This is some art work at the Random Order cafe. I like the robot on the left. Says "I am here to share" which we should all remember more often. I guess it's the two days of yoga in a row kicking in which is bringing that profound statement to the forefront of my brain.

Amy told me the story of what happened to "Coffee People" this weekend. This place used to be my favorite coffee shop in all of Portland and there were several around back in the late '90's and early 2000's. Turns out they sold all stores to Starbucks and sure enough, all old coffee peoples are now Starbucks. The only one which exists is at the PDX airport and then Pat and Judy have a store on 15th and Fremont which has all the favorite drinks (mine was the Velvet Hammer). I will find it someday.

Currently I am watching Giants baseball and have the fine pleasure of hearing the SF broadcasters whom I love. They are losing at the moment but am anticipating they will bring it back to sweep Oakland this week in the Bay Area Classic.

Miss B and I are off to WI next weekend for my mom's 70th birthday party. I am flying from PDX, she from SFP, and we will meet in Chicago, then drive to WI. She is then flying back with me to PDX and staying the weekend for the big blow out of Amy's birthday party. Am hoping several folks from SF will be joining us for that. My favorite bears are considering it as is JEthan. A few work friends from SF coming up too. Should be very very fun!