dbxcakes

We went to Portland over Columbus Day weekend to visit our sissy. We had a cute time as expected: we met her boyfriend Andy; ate at Higgins, the French restaurant he works at; hung out with Peppy and Andy's puppy, Polly; hiked; tried to visit the Goonies house; hung out at a brewery; had lots of beer; met the grumpy cat Isis; played pin ball; chased waterfalls; ate donuts; brunched; got rained on at stunning Cannon Beach. It was a packed weekend and Shkrinty drove her sisters around everywhere. Already planning our next trip! 

Just came home from a week in Munich for Ryan's 33rd birthday. He's celebrated the last few years at Oktoberfest in Alpine Village, Torrance. This year, we did the real thing!  It was more than we expected for sure. It was a huge carnival for adults! Compared to the one beer tent that we're used to, there were several large tents, each with a theme and sponsored Bavarian beer. We dressed in dirndls and lederhosen, ate pretzels, pork knuckle, bratwursts, and strudels, rode bumper cars while buzzed, and drank lots of bier (me more than usual). Vi Vadi Hotel was conveniently a few blocks from Oktoberfest. We were also not too far from the city center. We walked around Marienplatz, the main square. Saw a bit of the outdoor market, Viktualienmarkt, mesmerized by the surfers in the river at  Englischer Garten, and had good coffee at Man versus Machine.  We even made time to leave the city a couple days. We visited the oldest working brewery in the world, Weihenstephan. It w