Portland - September 16-18, 2011

Babe and I decided to check out the city of Portland to get a taste of life there (figuratively and literally!) and to see if it would be somewhere we'd like to live in the future.  Almost everyone I had mentioned this trip to told me "It's rainy and gloomy!"  And it was so, for part of the weekend.  But Portland also has a reputation for good food; I made sure to take advantage of that, making reservations via OpenTable or through the restaurant's website.

Friday, we arrived into Portland airport around 11:30pm, picked up a rental car and headed to the hotel, about 30 minutes away.  Car rentals are a breeze when you are a Hertz #1 Club Gold member.  In most airports, you just look up your name and stall number on the Hertz marquee board, get in your designated car, and drive off; no need to wait in line or fight persistent offers to buy liability insurance or a tank of gas from the sales agent.  I have a free membership through work, but there are other ways to get it for free if you search online for "hertz gold club free".  Work also provided me a discounted leisure rate code (you can easily find some online, like on flyertalk.com), and once I stacked on a coupon code from the Hertz web site, the car cost ~$53 for the entire weekend, all taxes included.  Not too bad considering they assigned me a Nissan Altima when I reserved a compact Nissan Versa. :)  I could have saved a few dollars by booking through Priceline, but the convenience of driving off the lot was worth it.

I did use Priceline for our hotel at the Marriott Courtyard in Beaverton.  It wasn't downtown Portland, but the price was cheap ($42/night) and no hefty parking fees.  The room was clean and comfortable, with a sliding glass door facing an interior courtyard with a pool. (which we didn't use, since it was overcast/rainy...)

I like triple sheeted beds

gee, are they sparkling clean???

it's funny when they repackage generic toiletries to look "luxurious"

Saturday morning, we went to Tasty n Sons for brunch.  There was a slight wait, so the hostess took down my cell number to call me when the table was ready.  A great idea as this allowed us to stroll over to nearby Pix Patisserie for a warm beverage to pass the time.  I enjoyed a nice cup of Earl Grey tea, with a smooth flavor.  The hostess called 20 minutes later, so we headed back to enjoy some brunch.  With "Tasty" in the name of the restaurant, you bet I had high hopes for the cuisine.  It didn't disappoint!

I think they handpacked the tea bag

Tasty n Sons

sweet biscuits

"Fughettaboutit" omelette

egg and cheddar biscuit with fried chicken inside, mmm

We originally wanted to go to Multnomah Falls today, but as it was overcast and occasionally drizzled, we decided to pass and did some shopping instead as Oregon has no sales tax.  First we stopped at Kohl's to use up a $10 bonus cash that was about to expire, then we went to Washington Square near our hotel.

For dinner, we went back downtown to eat at Simpatica.  This communal dining restaurant is open Friday and Saturday for dinner along with Sunday brunch.  It has fixed seating times and a set menu, changing daily.   We arrived a few minutes earlier than seating time, as we left early to make sure we weren't going to be late.  It was also hard to find the restaurant as it is located in the basement of a building, but thank goodness they had a sign on the sidewalk outside.

We were the first diners to arrive.  There was a long table that could seat twelve, plus a couple of two-tops on the side.  I think you have to be a regular to sit separately, as I noticed the servers greet those guests by name when they walked through the door.  Babe and I were able to snag the seats facing each other at the edge of the table, ensuring some elbow room at least on one side.  Eventually everyone trickled in during the next 15 minutes, and then dinner began.  The lighting was really dim inside, so the pictures aren't as appetizing as they should be...

tonight's menu

some local brew

yummy duck breast

tomato and melon sorbet intermezzo, topped with basil

salad with pear

flat iron steak, quite tender

fig tart

We didn't have any interruptions during our meal, as the couple next to us seemed to be on a first date; they were totally engrossed in each other, not talking to anyone on either side.  The guy was also a bit nervous, as he kept nearly knocking over his water glass and bottle of Mexican Coke.  I thought the dinner was good but not eye-rolling good.  One memorable moment was when Babe took his first bite of dessert and said, "This tastes like a big Fig Newton!"  We got a chuckle of agreement from our neighboring couple as well as the party of three seated on their other side.  I think we all had expected it to have a more fresh fig taste.

Our adventures continued on Sunday, starting with 10am brunch at BEAST.  BEAST was also a prix-fixe communal dining restaurant with fixed seating times, with a fetish for pork. :)  The place was decorated with quotes all over the walls.

think we found the restaurant

piggy

today's menu, love that last line

quotes written on the walls

yeah, why?

fresh ingredients

We were seated side-by-side, with a couple on either side of us.  The couple to my left weren't interested in conversing with anyone, not that I didn't mind, but the lady actually had her back mostly turned towards me, so even if I had wanted to start up a conversation, it wasn't welcomed!  The couple to Babe's right seemed to be true foodies, as I overheard the gentleman speaking about food.  When the first course was served, the foodie couple noticed we had shown immense enjoyment with our first bite, so we started talking.  (a test of worthiness?)  We got a lot of good restaurant tips from the gentleman as well as interesting stories about the art world from the lady.

that bacon was nom!

poached duck egg was so good

very good cheese

chocolate cake hits the spot

I think I licked every plate clean.  The meal was very delicious.  There was a wine pairing offered, but I think it was a bit early for that.  (though not for the group of 3 at the end of the table!)  After brunch, as the weather seemed to be merely overcast with no signs of rain, we decided to chance it and head over to Multnomah Falls.  It was about a 40 minute drive east from downtown.  It was slightly drizzling, but that wasn't enough to stop us from doing some sightseeing.

I'm sure this view would be awesome on a sunny day

famous landscape

There wasn't tons of water coming down the falls (as seen on Google images), but it still was picturesque.  We still had some time to kill before our dinner reservation, so we did some more sightseeing, turning off at an interesting exit called "Bridge of the Gods".  Why not?  The toll cost $1 each way, crossing the state line into Washington.  We stopped at the city right after the bridge (Stevenson, WA) and checked out the waterfront.

getting my $1 worth

glassy lake

in case you were lost

again, probably awesome on a sunny day

We crossed over back to Oregon state and stopped at a farmer's market set up across the street from the bridge entrance to pick up some fresh huckleberries.  I've never had them fresh before...only in ice cream on our Yellowstone trip.

It was raining harder when we drove back into Portland, so we were fortunate to have seen the falls without getting super wet.  We made it to our last food venue, Le Pigeon.  Our reservations were at 5pm as we had to catch a return flight around 8:30pm.  Everything there was nom!  I highly recommend eating there.

mmm...butter with salt

local brewski

foie gras pate with fresh figs

sweetbreads

braised pork

cantaloupe sorbet

to-die-for foie gras profiteroles

look at that richness

complimentary dark chocolates

Le Pigeon was also a communal dining restaurant, but the food was a-la-carte.  Since our reservation was so early, we had the table to ourselves for much of the time until a group of two couples sat down.  Even then, we had a lot of elbow room, so it was fine.  We overheard their conversation and found they were worked at our company's Portland site.  We decided not to volunteer that we shared the same employer. :)

After dinner, we headed back to the airport, returned the rental car and had an uneventful flight back home.  In summary, Portland is a great town to grab some tasty food, but I'm not sure if I'd become a fan of overcast skies and/or rain.  I like to wear sweaters and boots, but not all year.

My next trip is to Chicago for a conference...stay tuned and thanks for reading!

Yosemite (Clouds Rest) and Mono Lake - September 3-5, 2011

Seems like Labor Day at Yosemite is becoming an annual event!  Last year at this time, Babe and I hiked Half Dome, so this trip we decided to do Clouds Rest, which is 1000 feet higher in elevation, peaking close to 10,000 feet...a piece of cake after reaching 14,000 feet on the Inca Trail in Peru, right? :)  This would be my third time hiking to Clouds Rest, and Babe's first.

We packed up the car on Saturday morning and started the 4.5 hour drive to Yosemite.  This trip was planned past the 5 month Yosemite campsite reservation release date so everything was full, but we could always depend on finding a spot at Lower Lee Vining Campground, where we had stumbled upon several years ago when we found that the walk-in Yosemite campsites were full.  Probably the reason why this campground had spots available on holiday weekends was the fact that there was no running water, just porta-potties.  Lack of running water may be problematic for families (though an RV helps).  Since we were only staying a couple of nights, this would not be a problem, and we had brought several 1-gallon jugs of water.  Plus, the creek was very close by, making it easy to retrieve water to douse campfires.  When we arrived at the campground, the campsite we used last time was taken (#18, right next to the creek), so we ended up choosing a large one (I think it was #42).  It was probably an RV site as my Lexus GS430 looked pretty dinky in the parking spot, but there didn't seem to be an "RV's only" restriction.

I can't rave enough about my portable Weber Q100 barbecue grill.  This little guy heats up fast, uses blue welder's propane bottles that you can buy at any home improvement store, and cooks a lot of food for its size, only taking up half of my back seat.  The fire ring in our campsite didn't include a grill, so the Q100 came in handy.  I had purchased a package of short ribs from Koreana Market and marinated them in bulgogi sauce, making for a nice BBQ dinner that night, including S'mores cooked by the fire.

I had added to my inventory of camping gear by purchasing a $9.99 butane stove from 99 Ranch.  This one-burner stove could use normal sized frying pans and I was able to easily cook up sausage and eggs on Sunday morning.  After breakfast, we packed sandwiches for lunch and drove 50 minutes into Yosemite, parking near Sunrise trailhead for our 12.8 mile round-trip journey to Clouds Rest.  The trail was rather uncrowded compared to Half Dome last year.  The elevation gain is at least 2000 feet, and for some of the portions, I could definitely feel it, especially in high altitude.  We passed several lakes and had wonderful views all the way up.  Wildflowers were still in bloom, making you feel like it was springtime rather than early September.

one lake

this lake looked filled with wet concrete

wildflowers abloom

ate lunch at this lake

Along the way, we spotted a chipmunk perched on a boulder that did not seem alarmed at our presence.  We decided to take advantage of that:

whatcha looking at?

chipmunk imitation

what are you looking at?

There were three forks in the trail, and unfortunately at the last fork (the final stretch!), I took the wrong way, causing us to hike for an extra 1.5 miles.  There wasn't a sign saying "Clouds Rest", just two signs both saying "Nevada Falls", with one indicating a longer mileage than the other.  I chose the shorter miled route...oops.  Thankfully I had the Yosemite Park map in my backpack to double check our bearings, though I don't know why I didn't think of taking it out before making the decision!  Babe decided we needed to backtrack, then go the right way, getting us to the precarious razorback stairs before the summit.  It wasn't as bad as when I first encountered them over a decade ago, but perhaps experience had jaded me.

at the base of the stairs

top of the summit, view of Half Dome

om

move it more to the left

expansive views

granite galore

Despite the extra detour on the hike, we managed to get back to the campsite before sundown.  We had more short ribs for dinner, along with a baked potato straight from the campfire and of course, S'mores.

Monday morning, we packed up the campsite after breakfast and headed back home via US-395 for a change in scenery.  (I initially planned to do breakfast at the Ahwahnee Hotel, but eventually decided I didn't want to drive into Yosemite Valley on a holiday)  The Mono Lake basin was on the way, so we made a stop at the visitor's center to take in the views.

Mono Lake

the "tufas" used to be a lot taller

We then drove down to the water itself.  Mono Lake is a migratory stop for birds, due to the abundance of food, namely brine shrimp and alkalai flies.  Flies were everywhere on the shoreline. When we'd make a sudden move towards the water, the numerous flies would disperse like a black mist, making a low buzzing sound.

looking at this moving mass of flies gives you goosebumps

dispersal of flies

saline lake has an oily look to it

flowers bloom later in high altitude

more wildflowers

The US-395 route took us to Hwy 88/89, which eventually dumped us on US-50 near Lake Tahoe, which was a bad idea.  So many people (Bay Area folks) were leaving Lake Tahoe at noon; the drive from there that normally took 90 minutes became 2.5 hours...ugh.  One interesting note was that we drove near the location of where Dodge hid the first Journey SUV!  (there were TV commercials and YouTube clues on where to find it)  Too bad we were a couple of days early.

Next trip in a couple of weeks...to Portland, Oregon!  Stay tuned...there will be lots of pictures of food!

Independence Day weekend in Lake Tahoe - July 1-5, 2011

The company gave us July 4th and 5th off, so Babe and I spent the 4-day long weekend up at my timeshare up in Lake Tahoe, the Ridge Tahoe Resort.  I had been reserving the 4th of July week for the past few years (23 months in advance!) as it is a popular week, and usually end up trading it for places like Hawaii, or letting people use it, like my parents and Sheri's family last July.  I was looking forward to staying there after a long hiatus and viewing for the first time, the famous Lights on the Lake fireworks show.

We arrived at the resort Friday evening.  The two covered garages in the Plaza building (where we were staying) were full, so I pulled into the garage for Babe to grab a rolling cart to unload the groceries and luggage, then parked across the street in an open-air parking lot.  The timeshare was a 2-bedroom lockout (meaning you can split the unit into a separate 1-bedroom and a studio) and it was recently updated a few years ago with granite kitchen countertops, Sleep Number bed in the 1-bedroom portion, and new living room and dining room furniture with a rustic theme.  We had invited some friends to join us since we had an extra bedroom and sofabed, but as there were no takers, the studio portion of the unit was uninhabited (though the 2nd bathroom came in handy at times ;) ).

kitchen and dining room

living room

Sleep Number bed

studio bedroom (not Sleep Number though)

I was interested to find out how the Sleep Number bed would be as I had heard accolades on TV and radio advertisements.  What was my Sleep Number?  The default was 40, which I felt was too hard.  I experimented with a lower setting of 15; Babe tried 25.  The next morning, I found myself in a huge dip in the bed and an aching body.  Babe also didn't get a good night's sleep; we would have to try a higher number the next night.

On Saturday, we woke up, had breakfast in the unit and went outside to hike.  The trail began at the back of the property; we passed by a "covered" tennis court, which is useful during the winter, as the other two courts on property were open-air.  (I forgot to bring tennis rackets :( )  Being inside the indoor court was not good during the summer...the air was stifling warm inside.

The trail took us towards the Heavenly ski resort area and connected with the Tahoe Rim Trail.  There were a lot of beautiful views.  It was nice that we didn't have to drive anywhere to start a hike.

beautiful wilderness

an alien flower in the middle of nowhere...reminds me of a Tahoe hike 16 years ago encountering a similar flower.  maybe some of you who were there remember it.

the lake!

timeshare in the center, with the Carson Valley in the backdrop

We spent the rest of the day relaxing, watching TV and reading our Kindles. (Babe got me a Kindle for my birthday!)  Working in stressful, fast-paced environments has made me appreciate days where I do absolutely NOTHING. :)

On Sunday, we decided to hike up to Mt. Tallac, which we read about online, strenuous 10-mile round trip.  A wilderness permit was required, but you can fill one out at the trailhead for free.  The trailhead was only fifteen minutes away from the Ridge Tahoe, so we didn't leave until after breakfast, around 10:30am.  That was a bad idea.  The only way to get to the trailhead was to take Highway 89 north, and the road goes right by Camp Richardson Resort.  On a holiday weekend, this popular getaway gets filled up to the brim with people, bikes, pets, you name it, crossing the street, so what was supposed to take fifteen minutes ended up taking an hour and a half.  It was almost like the movie Office Space, where walking would've been a lot faster than driving.  We weren't the happiest people when we finally arrived at the trailhead, but one saving grace was that I found a shady parking space up front.

The trail was very picturesque, with views of Fallen Leaf Lake and of the Tahoe basin.  Despite it being the beginning of July, Mt. Tallac was still covered with snow, and so was much of the trail at the higher elevations.  We ended up not reaching the peak as it was hard to find the trail under the snow and decided for safety reasons not to bushwhack our way up as we had seen some ice tunnels melting under the snow; one false step and you could fall through.  Going down was a cinch, just slide down the slope!  There were many opportunities to slip and slide.  My butt was wet and freezing, but so worth it.

not sure why this is called Floating Isle

peaks still snowy in July

Cathedral Lake, with snow in the background

getting up in elevation, meaning more snow

sweeping view of Fallen Leaf Lake and Lake Tahoe

Mt. Tallac...where is the trail?

wheeeeeee!!!

Babe sliding down the mountain

While we were stuck in traffic, we had passed by a 7-Eleven (I think it took us 5 minutes to "pass by") and we talked about Slurpees, so to reward ourselves after the hike, we stopped by.  I got a small Slurpee and went adventurous by mixing cherry and cola flavors.  Babe mixed a lot of flavors up in a huge Alien vs. Cowboys plastic cup.  When we got back to the timeshare, the parking garage had freed up, so I was able to get a spot indoors, yay!  There was a lot of pollen flying around the air yesterday, coating my black car with a layer of yellow-green powder.

Monday was Independence Day and we kicked back and relaxed in the timeshare.  I had made reservations on OpenTable for dinner at the nearby Chart House restaurant, as I had read online that it was the best place to catch the fireworks without having to stake out a place on the beach for 6-10 hours.  I ended up getting 8:30pm reservations as everything else was booked up, but that would still keep us there in time for the fireworks at 9:30pm, albeit in the middle of our meal.  We left the Ridge around 8:15pm and ended up following a super slow car driving in front of us.  I guessed that this couple was also heading to the Chart House and I was right.  The competitive nature in me wanted to get inside the restaurant before they did, however, the parking lot was quite full and the car squeezed into a space between two handicapped spots (strange lot layout, or that was supposed to be an unloading area...) and the couple entered the restaurant first, argh!  We eventually found a spot and entered the restaurant in time to see the couple get seated.  Babe and I got seated not too long afterwards, and turned out we were fortunate to get seated second...we had an unobstructed view of the lake from our booth compared to the other couple.

Chart House was a chain, but the food was surprisingly good.  (the lighting was quite dim in the restaurant so I could not take any good pictures without annoying the rest of the guests)  Babe started with a glass of wine and I had a peach ice tea cocktail.  We had oysters on the half-shell and crab-stuffed mushrooms daily special recommended by our waiter for appetizers.  Both were delicious!  For entrees, Babe and I shared the miso-glazed salmon and surf-n-turf consisting of braised short ribs and seared scallops.  It was 9:30pm by this time...the fireworks commenced and the restaurant turned down the lights and piped in the radio station that was playing music synchronized with the show.  The show went for quite some time, and included classic patriotic songs as well as clips from hit songs like Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus and Firework by Katy Perry.  The fireworks were well done (ie. the explosions were timed just right to Katy's "Boom Boom Boom") and watching it from the comfort of the Chart House restaurant with climate controlled environment and tasty food worked well for me! :)  Even though we were pretty stuffed from our meal, we shared a raspberry sorbet for dessert to cleanse our palette, and it was such a huge serving...it was like a whole pint of sorbet was in the glass.  I definitely recommend having dinner at the Chart House for the 4th of July to catch the fireworks show!

We had another lazy day on Tuesday and drove back home that evening.  It was a nice end to our 4-day long weekend.  I was also looking forward to sleeping in my own bed...I did not like the Sleep Number bed, and I tried all the different settings.  Basically, it's a glorified air mattress. 

Our next planned outing would be to Yosemite for Labor Day weekend, stay tuned...