We took a trip to Portland this past weekend and it was a nice family vacation.  The weekend started with a late flight and a cranky baby that couldn’t’ settle down.  She fussed for most of the flight until I finally took her to the back to walk around.  Once it was time to land, I sat down in the back of the plane in an empty seat and she fell asleep.  When we got to the hotel, it was pretty late but we all settled in quickly and got a pretty good night’s sleep.

On Saturday (all day) and Sunday (morning), I went to class.  It was actually a good class and worth the trip.  On Saturday it rained but we still managed to explore the city.  We stayed at the Westin, which was located right in the middle of everything.  In fact, it was just a few steps from a collection of food stalls.  Unfortunately Nong’s Kao Man Gai was closed for the weekend so we grabbed a bite to eat at Kenny & Zuke’s Deli.

We had shared a tasty chicken noodle soup, pastrami sandwich, potato salad, and mac and cheese.  Even Kumquat got some!

On Sunday afternoon after class, we drove up to Multnomah Falls.  It was a short 30-minute drive and we got to see two waterfalls.  The first was Latourell Falls where we took a short hike up a hill.  We also saw a couple critters along the way.

Multnomah Falls was just down the street and so accessible!

Jes took the 0.2-mile walk up to the bridge and my lens was long enough to get a photo of him from down below.  He’s the guy in red. Pretty cool, huh?!

Later that evening, we met up at Pok Pok for dinner with Heather and her family.  I was so excited to see her and to finally meet little Daphne and her husband Brian.  It’s been about 8 years since I last saw her and it was just like old times.

The food was good and had some really authentic flavors but with a twist.  It was worth the visit.

The next morning, we met up at Oregon Zoo.  Heather has a membership so she got one of us in for free.  Thanks, Totoro!  The best part of the trip for me was seeing the baby elephant, Lily, who was born in November.

Daphne enjoyed the baby monkey that was also recently born.  Heather emailed me todayy and said that she won’t stop talking about the baby monkey and the mama monkey with the long boobies.  So funny.

I love this photo of the four of us.  I wish we lived closer to each other.  We’d have so much fun together.

For lunch, we stopped at Nong’s Kao Man Gai.  I was so excited as I waited for our order and when I brought it back to the hotel room, it was DELICIOUS.  There’s something so awesome about eating something that I grew up eating only at my house.  And seriously…can anyone tell me why there are SO MANY Thai restaurants in Portland?!  They’re just as abundant as coffeeshops!Kumquat needed to take a nap so I took her for a long walk in the stroller.  About 90 minutes later, she woke up in time to try on some shoes.  We ended up getting a pair of matching Nikes.  LOOK AT THAT MINI SHOEBOX!  So cute!

For dinner, we sat outside on the sidewalk.  It was a pretty warm day and comfortable enough to stay out until sunset.  These tables were all full when we sat down but emptied out by the time we left.  Weird.

On Tuesday morning, we walked over to Voodoo Donuts.  I had walked past it the day before but there was a huge line.  Luckily there was no line in the morning so we picked up a maple bacon donut and it was pretty tasty.  I cheated on my low-cholesterol diet that morning and ate half the donut and made myself throw the other half away.  Yes, it’s true and a little bacon fairy out there somewhere cried a little that morning.

Our flight home went smoothly with the exception of an hour-long delay.  Luckily we hadn’t boarded the plane yet when they decided to delay the flight due to a mechanical problem.  We got to hang out at the gate instead, which worked out great for a 13-month-old who doesn’t sit still anymore.  Once on the plane, she did great and even got a middle seat to herself.  She made up for the horrible flight up on Friday night.

It was a fun trip filled with tasty eats, good friends, quality family time, and oh yeah…some professional development.