![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Last weekend ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gmjambear and I went to visit our friends Mike and Pat in Portland. Gary has detailed much of the weekend in his journal but I thought I should at least post some highlights.
We left Saturday morning on the local (Everett Transit) bus, changed buses at Everett Station for Seattle, and caught the Amtrak Coast Starlight train from King Street Station. We traded seats with two young women who were part of a bachelorette party of six, and they were chatting behind us for most of the trip.
When we arrived in Portland, Pat met us at the station. Since Mike was at work, the three of us headed over to the Saturday Market nearby, which spilled over into the Rose Festival going on at the waterfront park. After an hour or so we went on to Mike and Pat's home, where we loaded up the truck with a number of things before heading out for the afternoon's cookout, at some friends' apartment in Vancouver, WA across the river.
We met Jana and Chuck, who are great friends with Pat and Mike and who hosted the barbecue; Crystal and Mel, and Jake and his wife or girlfriend whose name I don't recall, along with their children ranging from two to eighteen. Pat brought along his "Romulan Ale" (a mix of Everclear grain alcohol and blue Curacao, which he doled out from a shotglass). Mike arrived later in the evening after work. After dinner most of those assembled went to Jana and Chuck's apartment to play Dungeons and Dragons while we caught up with Mike outside on the front porch. Mike decided he needed to get some sleep so we said our goodbyes and bundled into Mike's truck, and since he was exhausted I drove.
Sunday we went on a winery tour in southern Washington across from Hood River. We visited three wineries. At the first we were treated to a sample of pork barbecue and live music, where I bought a couple of sweet wines. As we were getting ready to go I noticed what I thought was a Shetland sheepdog puppy, but its owner mentioned it was full-grown and just the runt of the litter. The second winery was rather busy, they made their own red wines but their whites mostly came from the "Naked Winery", with names like "Foreplay" and "Tease". Mike picked up one and it came with a red stocking bag around the bottle. The third and by far the largest winery also had live music, with an amphitheater for large concerts (but this day it wasn't in use). They had a very nice sweet white wine that came in small bottles so I got two. I was tempted to get T-shirts with a couple of bears saying "No, red wine goes with hunter, white wine with fisherman!" But Gary didn't want one and so I decided not to.
After the winery tour we visited the Stonehenge war memorial, a replica of the original in England dedicated to the memory of the local dead of World War I, and had a picnic lunch. Then we returned to the Oregon side of the river and stopped at Multnomah Falls and Vista House before going home.
Monday (Memorial Day) we caught the Cascades train back to Seattle. Originally the plan was for me to stay in Seattle for rehearsal while Gary caught the bus back to Everett, but since the train arrived early we went home and I drove to rehearsal instead.
Photos to be posted later.
gmjambear and I went to visit our friends Mike and Pat in Portland. Gary has detailed much of the weekend in his journal but I thought I should at least post some highlights.We left Saturday morning on the local (Everett Transit) bus, changed buses at Everett Station for Seattle, and caught the Amtrak Coast Starlight train from King Street Station. We traded seats with two young women who were part of a bachelorette party of six, and they were chatting behind us for most of the trip.
When we arrived in Portland, Pat met us at the station. Since Mike was at work, the three of us headed over to the Saturday Market nearby, which spilled over into the Rose Festival going on at the waterfront park. After an hour or so we went on to Mike and Pat's home, where we loaded up the truck with a number of things before heading out for the afternoon's cookout, at some friends' apartment in Vancouver, WA across the river.
We met Jana and Chuck, who are great friends with Pat and Mike and who hosted the barbecue; Crystal and Mel, and Jake and his wife or girlfriend whose name I don't recall, along with their children ranging from two to eighteen. Pat brought along his "Romulan Ale" (a mix of Everclear grain alcohol and blue Curacao, which he doled out from a shotglass). Mike arrived later in the evening after work. After dinner most of those assembled went to Jana and Chuck's apartment to play Dungeons and Dragons while we caught up with Mike outside on the front porch. Mike decided he needed to get some sleep so we said our goodbyes and bundled into Mike's truck, and since he was exhausted I drove.
Sunday we went on a winery tour in southern Washington across from Hood River. We visited three wineries. At the first we were treated to a sample of pork barbecue and live music, where I bought a couple of sweet wines. As we were getting ready to go I noticed what I thought was a Shetland sheepdog puppy, but its owner mentioned it was full-grown and just the runt of the litter. The second winery was rather busy, they made their own red wines but their whites mostly came from the "Naked Winery", with names like "Foreplay" and "Tease". Mike picked up one and it came with a red stocking bag around the bottle. The third and by far the largest winery also had live music, with an amphitheater for large concerts (but this day it wasn't in use). They had a very nice sweet white wine that came in small bottles so I got two. I was tempted to get T-shirts with a couple of bears saying "No, red wine goes with hunter, white wine with fisherman!" But Gary didn't want one and so I decided not to.
After the winery tour we visited the Stonehenge war memorial, a replica of the original in England dedicated to the memory of the local dead of World War I, and had a picnic lunch. Then we returned to the Oregon side of the river and stopped at Multnomah Falls and Vista House before going home.
Monday (Memorial Day) we caught the Cascades train back to Seattle. Originally the plan was for me to stay in Seattle for rehearsal while Gary caught the bus back to Everett, but since the train arrived early we went home and I drove to rehearsal instead.
Photos to be posted later.
