MY BIRTHDAY

Well, Portland has won itself a couple fans. Great birthday.

We started the day early with a trip to Pine State Biscuits for breakfast. Kate and I had heard about this place by watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network and knowing that Guy Fieri would never steer us wrong or act more enthusiasic about something than was warranted, we decided before leaving that this was a must-do. Guy and Pine State did not disappoint. Kate got the "Reggie" and I got the "Reggie Deluxe" which had been featured on DDD (we don't like thinking for ourselves). The Reggie consists of a biscuit with a piece of boneless chicken breast, gravy, bacon and cheese. The Reggie Deluxe, which I got because I thought I deserved an extra special treat since it was my birthday, adds a fried egg to the top of this artery clogging masterpiece. In short, it was delicious. It was messy and greasy and everything you would expect from a sandwich featuring the aforementioned toppings. Definitely worth the trip.

After consuming our allotted calories for the day, we drove back to the hostel to drop off the car and then walked downtown to explore a little bit. We stopped at an awesome record store called Everyday Music where Kate and I bought about 15 bargain CDs for about $34. The selection was unbelievable and if I were currently employed, I would have dropped some serious coin. But, given the current employment status of both of us, I felt I should control myself. Initially, I was going to deny myself completely but then when I saw that Kate had picked 5 or so bargain CDs out, I started to let myself dream. When I saw Waking Up The Neighbors by Bryan Adams (featuring Everything I do (I do it for you)), the floodgates opened. I somehow resisted buying C+C Music Factory for $3 so I didn't go completely over the falls. I'm not even sure what I purchased but it's all ok because it was cheap.

Riding high on my bargain hunter's delight, we headed over to Powell's Book Store which is apparently a Portland institution and is the largest independent book store in the country. We spent about an hour browsing the endless shelves and I walked away with five books in french for $20. Not a bad day of shopping.

We then came back to the hostel to rest our feet for a little bit before heading out to explore Washington Park and the International Rose Test Garden. The park was lovely and it was a beautiful day. We were really fortunate to have such great weather.

Dinner time. We went to a place called Henry's 12th Street Tavern which claimed to have over 100 beers on tap. So, I drank fifty and Kate had fifty. Our stupid waiter was from Michigan and asked us if we saw scUM cheat to beat IU yesterday as though it were some great accomplishment. I had a delicious beer from the area called Sinistor (sic)Black Ale from 10 Barrell Brew Company to accompany my ribeye steak and macaroni and cheese. I wasn't overly impressed with the steak. It was good but wasn't exactly what I was looking for in a steak.

After dinner, we hit up a bar in our hostel's neighborhood on NW 21 St called Pope House. Pope House is a bourbon bar and was Kentucky themed. They served Mint Juleps, Hot Browns and Derby pie amongst other things. We had to come all the way to Portland to hang out in a Kentucky bar. I got a flight of four bourbons and pretended like I'm good at distinguishing them from one another. The flight featured two bourbons that I had never had and Woodford Reserve which has always been one of my f avorites. After awhile they all just started tasting like bourbon but before I lost any ability to differentiate them I think I decided that Russell Reserve was the best of the new and that I was not impressed with 4 Roses. There were very few people in the place and those who were there seemed to know the bartender. The bartender turned on So, I Married An Axe Murderer starring Mike Myers which I hadn't seen in years. So, we watched the first half of that until we were done with our drinks and derby pie (duh, we got derby pie) and realized we were too full to be sitting upright and came back to the hostel.

Tomorrow, we head to San Francisco where we will have to tolerate the company of Liz Ralph. Blech.

Big thanks to Amy for letting a couple of squares know what the cool kids do in Portland.