Portland, OR

So, Tim and I LOVE Portland, OR...this may be a place for us to live sometime in the future. Sunday after we left Ashland, we headed to Portland. Tim's parents came with us to extend our visit just a little. We stopped at the Outlet Mall just outside Portland for socks...yep. I have an addiction to Bass socks. I stocked up!! There isn't a Bass near me anywhere that I am aware of! I needed some knee high socks and a couple nicer socks as well. http://www.woodburncompanystores.com/ This place is about 35 miles south of Portland and really incredible! Tim and I went to check into our hotel http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=60&category=Location%20Homepage and then walked to his parents' hotel to meet them for dinner. The NUMBER TWO reason I wanted to stop in Portland was this restaurant...http://www.mccormickandschmicks.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=content.display&pageid=96&id=1 Jake's. Tim took us there the year we all went to Olympia National Park and to the Redwoods...they have this incredible dish that I CRAVE...all of the time. It is Mussels in Puttanesca sauce as pictured! It is so good! So, we ate dinner there...we all had things that were good...and then dessert...don't even get me started. We parted ways and agreed to meet at the NUMBER THREE reason we went to Portland...Voodoo Donuts. Tim and I watched an Anthony Bourdain show where he tried the donuts at Voodoo. Ever since then I have wanted to take Tim there. Monday morning we were at Voodoo Donuts at about 9:00am. http://voodoodoughnut.com/ Tim and I decided to share one and each pick an additional one to try. We ended up with a Triple Chocolate Penetration, Maple Bar with Bacon, and Dirty Old Bastard. Tim's parents weren't so sure about this for breakfast but they ended up with an incredible looking apple fritter! Then we headed to the NUMBER ONE reason to visit Portland, Powell's Books http://www.powells.com/ We agreed on 45 minutes to wander around and then meet back! We did pretty good....it is hard to limit yourself to only 45 minutes! Then we said our goodbyes and headed out! It was about 11am. Tim and I stopped at Multnomah Falls to hike to the top (great way to get rid of that sugar). It was so nice! I was so proud of myself! I made it to the top without too much trouble. I did have to stop and catch my breath a couple times...the trail goes straight up! It was a great view of the Columbia River! We left there and made it to The Dalles for lunch at BURGERVILLE...http://www.burgerville.com/ for fast food this stuff is pretty good and of course I had to try the Caramel Apple Milkshake! Tim and I got home in time to watch BIG BANG THEORY (our favorite sitcom) and HEROES!

Ashland, OR

Had another great weekend in Ashland, OR! Tim and I drove down to meet his parents. We had a rocky start. Thursday night we left after work and on the way, I managed to hit a large 2x4 in the middle of the highway with nails in it. Luckily we were able to make it to the hotel...but the next morning we had FLAT tires on the passenger side. So Friday we started our trip at Le Schwab tires getting two new tires and a repair. We left by 11am to continue down the road....stopped for lunch at one of the McMenamin's http://www.mcmenamins.com/ for lunch, which was YUMMY! Came out to find a FLAT tire AGAIN!. I thought Tim was going to kill someone! Anyway, we went to Le Schwab tire AGAIN...and another hour later, we were on the road. Turns out if we put the pedal to the metal we MAY make it to our first show. We arrived in Ashland about 8:10pm...and ran into OTHELLO within the first 15 minutes...we had seats in the balcony until intermission then moved to sit with Tim's parents for the remainder of the show. It was a great play! (this is my second time seeing the play, 5th time seeing the story) We went out for dinner after the play at Standing Stone Brewing Company http://www.standingstonebrewing.com/ with some yummy soup and pizza...then we turned in about 1:30am!

Next morning we were up and eating breakfast in our hotel, the Stratford Inn http://www.stratfordinnashland.com/ We have stayed there the past two years and it is nice! We went to a Backstage Tour of the theaters and the Shakespeare Fest about 10am which was very interesting, we got to see behind the scenes and some of the places the actors, stage manager, costume designers, etc are during a production plus a little history about Ashland OR and the Shakespeare Festival! Then we walked around shopping, had lunch at Greenleaf http://www.greenleafrestaurant.com/ which is always YUMMY! Then continued shopping and walking around. Went back to the hotel to wait until dinner then headed to Omar's http://www.omarsrestaurant.com/ for dinner before our show. They had the most incredible Prime Rib cooked in rosemary and herbs! We managed to roll out of there in time for our show, OUR TOWN (I never get tired of seeing this play). It was particularly cold in the theater that night...well it is an outdoor theater fashioned after the Globe in England...so you have to dress like you are at a football game. It was between 25-35 degrees both nights we saw the plays and we BUNDLED UP!! For more about the Oregon Shakespeare Festival check out their website! We are already planning for next year. http://www.osfashland.org/index.aspx

We left Ashland on Sunday after eating an incredible brunch at Morning Glory http://morninggloryrestaurant.com/ and headed to Portland, OR!