Travels to Portland, OR

In early November I had a work trip out to Portland, Oregon. I was excited. We were working an event with a great client and I was going to have a bit of free time to explore. I have never been to the Pacific Northwest and Portland was always one of those cities I thought would be great to live in.

flying into Portland

Flying into Portland was a beautiful. The sky was sunny allowing full view of the gorgeous terrain. After landing, it was another story - overcast and rainy.

After getting checked into the hotel my tummy was grumbling. Across the street was a Burgerville, an area fast food restaurant which uses only local ingredients. I slammed down a Blazers Burger before meeting up with the crew for the pre-production meeting.

I had a lot of beer bars and breweries to visit while in town and knew it wasn't possible to hit them all. I convinced the crew to come with me to the world renowned Horse Brass Pub for drinks and eats. Upon walking into this British style pub I instantly knew it would be amazing. The beer list was phenomenal loaded down with so many unique selections, mainly from Northwest. I drank plenty here including Alaskan Brewery 2010 Smoked Porter, Limped Brewery Old Tavern Rat Barleywine, Firestone Walker Velvet Merlin, Deschutes Los Meuertos Sour Wheat Ale, Ninkasi Oak Aged Renewal Porter and some delicious fish & chips. It's all about the breading! This place is a must stop for beer lovers.
  

inside the Horse Brass Pub

Since we were only a few blocks away we stopped by Belmont Station so we could pick up some bottles to take back to the hotel. By the time we got back another member of the crew finally arrived. He wanted to find a place to eat. So a couple of us went with him and ended up at McMenamin's on Broadway. I split some tasty Cajun Tots and sipped a Terminator Stout. It was getting late and we were all tired. Plenty of beer in my belly made me fall asleep with ease.

The next day we cranked out the set for the general session. Afterwards we went walking around the Broadway area and ate at a nice little eatery/bar called Aztec Willies. I took down a tamale, enchilada, chips, and washed it down with a Fort George Working Girl. This was election night and polls were running close. By the time I got back to my hotel room it was announced Obama had won.

Day three consisted of tweaking out general session, production run through of day one show, and helping the breakout crews get finished. We were still done at a decent time. A few of us decided to head out for foord and drinks. We ended up at Broadway Pub & Brewery. I ate a calzone about as big as my head and washed it down with a Pacific Porter, Smoked Lager, and a Black Magic. It's a decent place. 

The fourth day was a long one as we had general session in the afternoon, followed by rehearsals for the early morning session, and a set up/tear down for a magician. Plus there was the Colts at Jacksonville game many of us wanted to fit in. No real exploring occurred. 

Friday was my last day in town. We finished up with our morning session and had everything torn down and loaded by 1pm. It was time to head over the bridge and see some new places. A couple of guys made the trek with me. The first stop was food. We ended up at Kells Irish Pub. The beers started flowing early as lamb stew entered my system. The next stop was dessert at Voodoo Doughnut. Where else? It didn't take too long to move through the long line. I ended up buying three and ate one, the bacon maple bar. My stomach was so full of sweetness.

tasty treats from Voodoo Donuts

I still wanted to checkout Baileys Taproom and have a couple more beers. The other guys were tapping out. I dont blame them. It was only 4pm and we were all stuffed. I persevered and made it to Bailey's. I found a seat at the bar and ordered a Flattail Honeymoon Saison, the a sampler consisting of Maui Hawaii 90 Wee Heavy, Columbia River Paddler's Porter, Elysain Omen Stout, Ninkasi 2010 Critical Hit Barleywine, and a Silver Moon Twisted Gord. After a glass of Terry's Migration Porter my stomach felt like it was going to burst open. Plus I was starting to feel pretty good. Bailey's is a nice establishment with friendly bartenders and a mixed crowd.

walking over the bridge at night

The brisk early evening air did me good. I got back to the hotel around 6:30pm. I packed and just chilled out for awhile before heading down to the hotel bar for a couple of last drinks.

The next morning came and so do my ride to the airport. I had heard that PDX can be rather busy and take a long time to get through security so I arrived a couple of hours early. I was ticketed and inside the gate in under thirty minutes. I guess PDX isn't so bad a 7:30am on a Saturday. I walked around the terminal killing time. And ate an incredibly spicy sausage from Good Dog/Bad Dog. Soon after the journey back Fort Wayne began. 

one of my favorite signs

Portland is an incredibly unique city. I really enjoyed it out there. Great food and great beer culture and I met a few fine individuals as well. Plus I hear there are so many activities to do in nature, of which I did not have the time to partake. My previous thoughts were correct... I could make a this city my home. 
Maybe some day.




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