Portland!

Ed has had a lot of travel this fall, mostly to places I have very little interest in visiting but his last trip of the season was a quick one to Portland so I made sure I was included. We do love a good road trip and traveling without kids is always a bit more relaxing--the only time I had to reach into the backseat was to grab a pillow for my nap. My dad was on his way home from the west side and he called us when he happened to be at mile marker 78 and we were at 92 so we met in the middle for some gas station treats:

We hurried on, hit IKEA and Red Robin, and then checked into our hotel. Ed was speaking the next day so went I went shopping. I had a pocketful of Gap/BR dollars so I got a coat, bracelet, earrings, two dresses, shoes, hat, and two things for the girls and only spent $20! I clearly spend too much to be getting those kinds of rewards. Ed finished earlier than we expected so we got into downtown Portland nice and early. We shopped and wandered for awhile, scoping out places to have dinner and then we stopped for happy hour at a cozy place and then we found ourselves hitting happy hours all the way back to the hotel. Our favorite way to eat. Lots of cool eats and drinks and a new atmosphere every hour. The only problem was that we never went back to the room to get cute for going out. So I found myself in fancy schmancy Ruths Chris in my wooly sweater and rain frizzed hair. Ah well, the beauty of knowing nobody in the place.

The next morning we hit VooDoo donuts:
Ed got an apple fritter...lame-o. I got an oreo peanut butter something or other.

You know I love this.

Ran down this path in the marathon...so much more fun with a donut and shopping bags, I tell you.

Super lovely trip...yummy food, good shopping, amazing hotel, and, of course, pretty darn good company.