Day 1 – Portland, Oregon
Our summer adventures are off to a great start! Addison is competing at the National Conference for Educators Rising, hence the family trip to Portland. Kendra is one of the club’s advisors, so she and Addie left early yesterday morning with all of the high school students, while Kate, Evan, and I hopped onto a flight yesterday evening.
We started our morning with cappuccinos together, and then walked Addison and Kendra to the convention center, where we parted ways for the day. Evan (who has grown five inches since January) declared he was hungry, so the first stop was breakfast at J & M Cafe. Epic choice. I had an incredible scramble of eggs, garlic, leeks, mushrooms, and mustard greens, with home fries and toast. Kate went for home fries topped with cheese and salsa, while Evan got avocado toast topped with scrambled eggs and a hot chocolate that looked amazing.
While we were eating, I could smell BBQ. Real BBQ, not the pretend kind we have up north. After we paid our bill, we walked across the street and met Jason, who was smoking ribs and brisket for Bryan Furman BBQ. I am so sad we weren’t able to get back up there for lunch – it’s only open on the weekends, and only until it’s sold out. And they have banana pudding.
Our next stop was a bus ride into downtown Portland for the Portland Art Museum. I was thrilled to visit the Rothko Room and the Hockney exhibit, but there were so many great exhibits on display in this space, featuring a range of artists and media.
Before we left, we had fun making Hockney-inspired glasses and a bow tie in the museum’s maker’s space.
Portland itself is FULL of street art, public art, and murals!
This may come as a surprise, but it had been four hours since breakfast, so naturally Evan was hungry again. To keep him motivated for our next stop, we had Shake Shack. It was a quick stop before hitting up the infamous Powell’s Books – the largest independent bookstore in the world. I wasn’t sure what to expect – and from the outside it looks bland, but the inside is awesome. Picture a labyrinth of books and trinkets, and interesting things you just have to buy because, why not?
Evan walked out with four new books, Kate with three, plus some mushroom figurines, new socks, and a sticker, and I managed to hold myself back with just two books. If nothing else, we have summer reading covered. Although Evan has already requested a return trip for tomorrow…
By this point, the twins were toast. (Which, to be fair, was not surprising. We didn’t get to the hotel last night until 2:30 our time, and their internal clocks felt like it was 6pm…) I took them back to the hotel and hit the gym for an hour to lift while they decompressed.
Kendra joined us for a rooftop dinner at the hotel. The weather was incredible today, so we really enjoyed eating outside. Kate came back to the hotel room and promptly passed out. Kendra is off doing teacher duties, and Evan and I are getting ready for tomorrow’s adventures!
