Portlandia Day 3-5

Day 3
On our third day in Portland we headed back downtown, walked along the waterfront, and checked out the Saturday Market. We met up with Mikie again, had lunch at Bijou Cafe, and roamed the Saturday Market. Local artists displayed their creations and we saw some of Portland's talented as well as their "weird" performing on the streets.

That evening, after Niner and Shkrimpy dealt with much drama to get the keg, we had a party at Shkrimpy and Skotty's house. We met some of their friends, hung out at their large back yard, had taco's, and everybody helped empty the full keg of Rolling Rock. Niner cooked the best taco's ever (I'm not the only one who thought so.). We concluded that it must have had something to do with grilling the chicken on Shalanna's friend's seasoned grill! Everyone worked on the 15 gallon keg all night, but unfortunately the rest of it had to go down the drain..

Day 4

After what became my routine morning cup of coffee at The Arbor Lodge, a cafe just around the corner from the hotel, we took the Max (train) back downtown to get a little taste of Gay Pride weekend in Portland.

 We made it in time to see the parade, saw a bit more of the city, visited Powell's Books, and had delicious, cheap burgers and truffle fries at Little Big Burger (Move over In-N-Out!). 

We hung out at the Gay Pride weekend block party, saw a few performances, including a couple girls doing some Cirque du Soleil type acrobatics. Niner bought me a cute watch for our anni at Isaac Hers. Then we had more oysters at Jake's Famous Crawfish. Can't get enough of the Fanny Bay oysters!

Day 5

Although the typical Oregon rain caught up with us, Niner and I still were able to make the most of our day. 

 We started our day back at Alberta where I had this delicious scotch egg at Helser's. That had to be the best bratwurst I've ever tasted wrapped around that egg! We walked around and started our tax free shopping at the boutiques in the area.

 We then headed over to the Southwest part of Portland to see the International Rose Test Garden. I can't believe it was free to roam around the garden and be surrounded by beautiful roses, some with the sweetest scents.

 We ended the day in that part of town with a couple chocolate truffles at Moonstruck where Shalanna picked us up from, and some yummy flavored ice cream at the popular Salt & Straw.

Day 6
On our last day in Porland, we managed to fit in a few more great meals at Ping for ramen, Dan & Louis Oyster Bar, and shared a donut from Voodoo Doughnut. And we really took advantage of the tax free shopping at Pioneer Place, the same mall we shopped at during our first visit.

 Thai coffee at Ping.

 Raspberry filled, chocolate glazed Voodoo.

And we renewed our vows at the 24 HR Church of Elvis, the weirdest things I've ever seen. This thing was about a 2 meter wide space of what I can closely describe as a ghetto, old school arcade. There were several compartments with the oddest, most random items: exercise barbies, a samurai looking figurine, those swaying plastic flowers, beads, and of course photo's of The King of Rock 'n' Roll. When we fed the machine with quarters, a robot voice married us as Robot and Snuggles aka Kate and Allie aka Elvira and Juanita. If that's not weird, I don't know what is!

Shkrimpy took us to the airport that evening and we were back to LA in no time! Portland is such a fun adventure in such a quick flight!

It was great to spend some time with our Shrimpy. We <3 Shkrintlandia!