There’s no way to deny it: Today, it’s Monday. I’m back at work. Here I am, sitting at my desk, sipping my warm ginger tea and getting ready to write this blog post. The perk about Monday blog posts: I get to tell you all about my weekend! So, sit back and enjoy reading about what I did for the last few days.
It all started Thursday evening. At 7pm, our bus departed from the Pacific Central station. The destination: Portland! We left Vancouver, crossed the border, had a 1.5 hour stop in Seattle from where another bus brought us to the desired city. I’m not much of an in-the-bus-sleeper, so that was quite a sleepless night.
We arrived 30 minutes earlier than expected. At 5:30am, to be exact. We headed to the hotel straight away, where we enjoyed a good breakfast with scrambled eggs, bacon, waffles, cereal, yogurt, coffee, tea, orange juice… I could go on and on. It was soooo good! I was already looking forward to the upcoming 2 breakfasts. When we were done eating and our food coma overcame us, it was time to explore the city. First, we walked along the water at the Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Then, we headed to the Pioneer Courthouse Square. Let’s join a walking tour! It was called ‘Secrets of Portlandia’. Our tour guide Erik led us through the city for 2,5 hours. He told us about the history of Portland and how it got its name (by a coin toss, by the way). But he also showed us famous places and buildings, as well as the food truck ‘Stretch the Noodle’, which makes Chinese noodles freshly in front of you (absolutely tasty).
After checking in at the hotel and refreshing ourselves, we went for dinner at an Italian restaurant. Since the day was very long already, we went back to the hotel afterwards. But not to sleep already. We spent an easy evening together with lots of different card games.
At 10am on Saturday, it was time for Miri, Elisabeth, Angy and I to go to the Lan Su Chinese Garden. The rest of the Portland gang went to have a tour on the USS Blueback submarine. It rained quite a lot in the beginning of the day, but suddenly the sun decided to show her face. The whole garden was brought into a different spotlight. The pavilions, the bridges, the water, the plants… It was just wonderful to look at.
Have you ever heard of the Voodoo doughnuts? It’s what Portland is very famous for. Funny named and shaped doughnuts that are delicious and worth standing in line for 20 minutes (or more) for. It’s exactly what I did. And yes, they were so good! After munching doughnuts, we wanted to try the other thing Portland is famous for: Beer! A few of the 21+ aged candidates joined me to the Pints Brewhouse. We ordered the 10 beers they had on their menu. Some were awesome, but others will not make it on my ‘I want to drink that again’ list.
In the evening, some of us played mini-golf. It was not just normal mini-golf, but mini-golf in blacklight with a pirate and underwater theme. Exciting! I did not win, unfortunately, but it was fun, anyway! When we got back to the hotel, we did the same as the evening before: playing card games and talking and laughing with each other. Around 3am, it was bed time. The next day was not that special. Breakfast, check-out, driving back to Vancouver by bus. And still: an entire day passed by with that.
This trip was fun and great! I enjoyed having you all there! Let’s share some memories and stories this Wednesday during PuB NiGHT at Mahony & Sons!
– Nadine
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Khatsahlano Street Party
Food Cart Fest
Beaches
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