Portland again!

After looking at my schedule for the next month, considering housesits, and the full time work that'll commence in January, I decided last weekend to set off for a weekend trip. If you remember, I went to Portland in the beginning and end of my road trip in September. I've got Mary and the fam down there, and now Julia who is staying with her family while job hunting. My friend Sarah is also there but I've yet to connect with her. Maybe next time.

I made it a longer weekend with having Friday off. The drive is 4hours, but really beautiful the first 1.5 hr. It actually went pretty quick, after that cause then I hit the freeway.

Julia with out cache of donuts! Sadly, the only picture I took on the trip. I'll be better next time!

I stayed with Julia and had a great time. We went to visit Mary and the kids, had a nice lunch and then settled in for the night with a movie. The next day we visited my friend from PT's friends donut shop - Acme Donuts. There were all kinds of holiday sales throughout Portland so Julia and I joined the crowds and window shopped in some really cute places. The Goodwill we went to was like a boutique, and seemed more TJ MAXX than second hand items.

I learned how to put together my first Christmas tree at Julia's and we did the lights and ornaments! Julia's dad is really into microbrews, Portland is home to probably the most in any U.S. city, so they took us for a dinner and off we went to the Kennedy School. In the late 80s, a family began buying over older buildings and turning them into breweries, hotels, movie theatres, restaurants, and community centers in the Portland area. Kennedy School was an elementary school - the company's entire concept is to keep the integrity of the old building and just do some updates --- the bar Julia and I played shuffle board in was the old boiler room. There were old plumbing parts formed into railings and pipes everywhere. The detention room is now a bar, very small and the only location in the building you can smoke in, ironic!

It was a good visit and I was glad to get away. Now it's just time to buckle down for the holidays and then a handful of some hard months ahead of me with work. I'm already dreaming of a sunny spring.