Trip to Japan...NOT! (Part 4: Portland)

First let me say, I'm so sorry for the blog-neglect!  For what it's worth, we only moved into our house 3 1/2 weeks ago, but we were gone for 1 1/2 of those weeks.  I had to wait until we moved in to finish this series, because all the pictures from the trip were on our regular computer, which was packed up in storage. 

Okay...

Once we arrived in Portland, we made our way to Paul's house.  Paul was one of John's (Grant's older brother) roommates at Florida State, so we've known him for a while.  After we got to his house, we talked a little, then walked down the road to get some food (burritos and cupcakes) then piled in the car to head to Multnomah Falls (I'm sure I've said it somewhere on this blog before, but I have a thing for waterfalls).  I've heard so much about these falls, this was probably the main thing I wanted to do in the Portland area.  It did not disappoint! 

And as an added bonus, it wasn't just the view of the falls that was so great, the whole area around there was just beautiful!  Here's a few pictures of a lookout over the Columbia River Gorge.

The next day for breakfast, we walked to this place that Paul had been telling us about - Pine State Biscuits.  He told us about this item on the menu...the Reggie Deluxe...a biscuit, with fried chicken, cheese, gravy, bacon, and a fried egg.  It sounded so wrong, but so right.  It was awesome, and I kinda want one right now.

I have to be honest, as we were talking to Paul about things to do in Portland, he kept mentioning food and eating out.  We thought he was a little obsessed.  Until we realized that Portland is a food-lovers paradise!  From now on, when I think of Portland, I think of food.  Wonderful, delicious FOOD!

Which brings us to our next stop...

I've seen this place several times on TV shows.  Apparently, if you go to Portland, Voodoo Donuts needs to be on your agenda.  So we went there.  Except it was closed for remodeling.

That wasn't a problem, though, because they had a second location across town.  So we went there and got some really delicious treats.

Lest you think all we did was eat on our visit to Portland, our next stop was to the Japanese Gardens.  Beautiful, quiet, serene.

That night was our last night in Portland and, okay, we did do some more eating.  But I was able to do a very cool thing after dinner!  Let me back up.  As we were driving to Portland, I was thinking about the Portland Modern Quilt Guild.  So I looked up on my phone to see when their next meeting was.  It happened to be my last night in Portland.  So I thought it would be really cool to check it out!  Although, I have to say, being the kind of shy person that I am, I definitely was about to chicken out.  So at dinner, I nervously kept watching the clock, but I was being quiet about it.  I didn't want to tell Grant that I had changed my mind, and I wasn't going to go.  The meeting started at 7 pm, and right around 6:50, Grant looked at his watch, and literally pushed me out of the restaurant so I could go.  So I went, and I'm so glad I did!  As soon as I walked in the room, I felt at home - a quilty home.  I also got to meet one of my favorite quilt bloggers, which was really cool.

Anyways, the next morning we would be heading down to Crater Lake.  But before we left, we had to do some more good eatin'.  Paul had been raving about Tasty 'n Sons, so we chose to go there.  Oh man...this place was so good!  It's family-style, so we were able to order a lot of different things, and eat a little of all of it.  First of all, their biscuits were TO DIE FOR.  The best.  Trust me - this is coming from a true Southerner, who knows a good biscuit when I taste one.  Grant and I said that we would've been happy just eating the biscuits with the equally amazing honey butter.  Of course, we didn't stop with the biscuits.  But everything was very, very good.  I was so caught up with how good everything was, that I only got one of the entire meal - this was kind of a Middle Eastern dish.  Can't remember what it was called, but it was good.

Crater Lake will be it's own post, but before I get to that, I'll mention what we did on the way down there.  We stopped at the cemetery where Grant's grandma and grandpa are buried (his mom's parents).  I didn't think it would have such a deep impact on Kendall, but she actually got really sad about being there.

All in all, we had a great, but fattening time in Portland.  If I ever go back, I'll make a point to hit up the food trucks, which are really popular there, but we couldn't quite fit it in this trip.  Literally.