Last day in Portland

Alice worked today, Nick nursed his hand and I headed out to enjoy my last day in Portland. Nick has been keeping ice on his hand pretty constantly since he burned it, but says that it is still bothering him. Alice and I both tried to convince him to go to the emergency room, but he says it is fine and just needs to heal.

I slept in a little and then walked up to the Rose Gardens that are about a mile from where Alice and Nick live. The Rose Garden is actually the International Rose Test Garden and features just about every variety of rose out there. It is incredible! I spent about an hour walking around admiring the roses and taking lots and lots and lots of pictures. I’ll post – I promise! The Rose Garden is a can’t miss in Portland!

I then headed to the Portland Saturday Market for some shopping. Now that I have been there a couple of times I started recognizing the vendors. I purchased Matt some of the honey roasted cashews that he loves and found a great sterling necklace for myself. I promise pictures soon! The Portland Saturday Market is basically a huge marketplace that assembles every Saturday and Sunday from Spring – December. There are food vendors, jewelry makers, clothing, pottery, woodworking, metalworkers – pretty much anything you could possibly want. I enjoy just walking around and people watching. I stayed for a little while and then began walking back – and got caught in a huge, sudden rainstorm. It absolutely poured and I wasn’t anywhere where I could jump under an overhang or anything like that. And, because it was Sunday, most of the office buildings were closed. So, I got soaked. Luckily it didn’t last too long and I was able to dry out while I waited for the streetcar to take me back to their house.

We decided to cook tonight so Alice and I headed to the market when she got home from work. We picked up some pieces of sole that we breaded in potato chips, fried lightly on the stove and then finished in the oven. We had black pepper potato chips, spicy thai potato chips, and buffalo blue cheese potato chips that we used to coat the fish and then we shared. (The spicy thai proved to be the favorite, btw – and I’ll be making this sometime at home because it was super easy and delicious!). Alice also made a sage and mushroom risotto that was very good, and we made some broccoli. Alice also shared her secrets for using the a Kitchenaid mixer to make butter! We made dill butter that we used tonight on our bread and I found it to be really good on the broccoli, and we made honey butter to use later – especially on the English muffins we bought for breakfast tomorrow.

Wine Tasting

Nick, Alice, and I did not get as early of a start as we had hoped this morning. Alice is still recovering from a cold, and Nick is still recovering from his finals this week. I got up and went for a long walk/run this morning. I pretty much wandered the streets around where Nick and Alice live. It is a neat area and easy to get around in because the streets in one directions are numbered ( 20th, 21t, 22nd, etc) and the streets in the other direction are in alphabetical order (Hoyt, Irving, Johnson , etc). So, I can wander all I want and not really get lost. We headed out a little before noon for the Dundee Hills for wine tasting. Alice drove as she was taking cold medicine and didn’t want to drink. We visited Sokol Blosser first, which is not a winery we typically would have stopped at (we all like the smaller, more family-oriented wineries), but I love their Evolution blend wine and really wanted to go. The tasting room was crazy, but we did get to taste a couple of excellent wines and I purchased a bottle of the Evolution #12 to enjoy later.

We then continued down the road to Methven Family Winery – which was smaller, and we were the only ones there during our tasting. This was quite a contrast to SB which was packed. We again tried some wonderful wines and our pourer was a hilarious guy who kept us laughing the whole time. I love wine tasting in Oregon because they tend to have a good mix of white and red wines. I really only like white wines while Alice and Nick (and most other people) are partial to red wine. It makes tasting more fun for everyone. Methven has a winery cat (as opposed to a farm cat) who enjoyed visiting us.

We then visited one final winery whose name I cannot remember. This winery offered some very interesting wines including a Tempranilla Rose' that was very good. All three of us liked it and Alice and Nick ended up purchasing a bottle. We then took the recommendation of one of the guys at that winery and headed to DaVinci’s in Salem. DaVinci’s turned out to be a great recommendation – Italian food, but not traditional Italian. I had a seafood fettuccini that was wonderful (with shrimp and scallops), Nick enjoyed a pasta with sausage dish and Alice enjoyed a stuffed pork. We shared an appetizer of blue cheese scallops with pears that was incredible! The nice part about the restaurant is that they offered two different sizes of meals so Alice and I could get the smaller one that was more suited for us. All three dishes were incredible and I would add DaVinci’s to my list to visit again.

Nick and I were both in desperate need of haircuts so we decided to head to Alice’s salon to get that taken care of. I really wanted my hair shorter and darker and I totally trust Alice to take that explanation and do a good job. And she did a great job. My hair is now just below my shoulders and not as dark as I pictured it, but I think it was good that I did not do a drastic change – a gradual change will be better. And it is super easy to style and will dry much more quickly than my long hair! Before we got our hair cut, Nick and I walked down the street to grab some hot tea from a cute pastry place that just opened. As Nick tried to hand me my tea it tipped and he ended up burning his hand. It didn’t look that bad in the beginning, but got redder and more irritated as the night wore on.

Corvallis

I visited Oregon State University today. Unlike Salem, I have spent time in Corvallis before. Matt and I stayed there for a night when we were here last year, and I visited Oregon State last spring for Creighton. I met with two advisors in their exercise science department about Creighton. Both appointments went well. I met Stasi for lunch after my appointments and she took me to a fantastic Vietnamese Baguette restaurant. We enjoyed a great lunch and some fantastic conversation. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay long, but it was great to catch up with her during my short time in town.

I drove back to Portland and returned my rental car. After I left the rental car facility I had to walk about 6 blocks to pick up the streetcar back to Alice and Nick's. As I was crossing a street, a car made a right turn around a corner and suddenly I was looking straight into the the front of a minivan, with a woman at the wheel who was looking at me like I was in the wrong. Regardless of the fact that the walk signal was lit and pedistrians ALWAYS have the right-of-way. After gathering my heart from the ground, I continued to walk across the street and a guy standing at the corner made several comments about how I had the right-of-way and how he didn't understand why she was so upset with me. Crazy...

On the way back to Alice and Nicks I passed by Cupcake Jones - a wonderful cupcake shop I visited the last time I was in Portland. I picked up their Friday "Happy Hour" special - a set of 6 cupcakes, three of which have a "happy hour" theme. This time I got The Pearl, which is a vanilla cupcake, Chocolate, Chocolate Covered Pretzel, Grasshopper, Lime in a Coconut, and Mocha Mudslide. Nick, Alice and I shared two of the cupcakes tonight and they were heavenly. I'll post pictures once I have the ability to do so. The cupcakes are as pretty as they are delicious.

Nick and I met Alice at Laurelwood for happy hour. We shared nachos (cheap), and a beer, and then we all ended up order dinner as well. I had some chili and some parmesan garlic french fries. I ordered more than I could eat and ended up taking most of the fries home. It was a beautifull night in Portland and we were able to sit outside for happy hour and enjoy people watching and the wonderful Oregon climate.

We enjoyed a quiet night at home watching Michael Clayton - which I had seen but Nick and Alice had not. It is the type of movie that I could watch multiple times, though, because you catch something different everytime you watch.

We have planned a day of wine tasting tomorrow. Unfortunately all of us are tired, so we will have to see what time we get going in the morning.

Portland/Salem

I visited Willamette University today in Salem, OR. I’ve driven by Salem several times during my travels in Oregon, but I’ve never stopped in the state’s capitol city. I enjoyed some NPR on my way down – good liberal commentary J My visit was good. I had a table in their university center and saw a couple of students who passed by. Willamette is a beautiful campus – lots of green space and tons of trees! Gotta love Oregon!

On the way home I stopped at a Banana Republic Outlet and found some great items for work and a sweater for my husband. I’ve been avoiding buying clothes because my size has been changing, but these were items that will continue to fit even if I lose a little more. I’ve been working out while I have been traveling, but my eating has definitely not been as good as it was while I was at home. As long as I can maintain for the next 6 weeks, I’ll be happy and then once I return home I can resume the good work.

I arrived back at Alice and Nick’s to some wonderful smells. Alice was in the kitchen making a potato casserole with sliced potatoes and a wonderful homemade cheese sauce topped with breadcrumbs. She also made a fantastic fennel dip – based off of a recipe that my mom made a couple of years ago for Christmas. Except that she ended up changing just about everything in the recipe except for fennel and bacon. I think it is pretty difficult to screw up dip :) and this was no exception. Nick and Alice’s neighbors Shyler and Devin came to dinner along with their friends Joe and Becca. Devin is a chef at one of the wineries outside of Portland and contributed the chicken for the meal – DELICIOUS! It was incredible chicken to begin with, but was also topped with a fantastic homemade barbeque sauce. We enjoyed some great conversation, a wonderful meal, and lots of laughter.

Day 1 in Portland

Recruitment season has begun for me! I started with an appointment with an advisor at Portland State University this morning. PSU is located right in the heart of Portland - very accessible because the Portland Streetcar actually runs right through campus. This was very convenient for me as I did not pick up my rental car until this afternoon so I had a way to get around after my appointment was over. The meeting went really well - a great way to start of recruitment this year. Better to start off on a high note.

I've been trying to work on decorating my office at work, so I decided that I would pick up a postcard from each university I visit this fall and purchase a shadow box or something like that so I can display them in my office. I also pick up pins whenever I visit universities and I plan to display them in a glass container on my desk. That project is a little more pricey than the first :) I picked up my postcard at PSU this morning, but accidentally bent it so I'll have to pick up another.

After my appointment I took the streetcar, then the MAX lightrail, then the bus to where Alice works at Tiger Tiger on Alberta Street. I was proud that I took a look at a map of the public transportation available in Portland and figured out how to get to Tiger Tiger on my own. I ran down the street to pick up some lunch for Alice, myself, and one of her co-workers from a local bakery. I had a fantastic salad with fresh greens, apples, candied walnuts, blue cheese, and a creamy viniagrette. Fantastic! Alice was not working when I was there, but was having one of her co-workers color her hair. When she was done, she took me to pick up my rental car and I headed to the University of Portland, a Holy Cross school with a gorgeous campus. I took a couple of pictures but I don't have a way to get them off my camera right now so I will have to share later.

My visit at the University of Portland went really well. I saw a couple of very interested students and was able to share some information with some advisors. I love visiting college campuses. I think that is one of the way I know that I have choosen the correct career. I love to see the layout of campuses and see the environement where students are learning - I think it tells you so much about the school and the students who choose to attend school there. The University of Portland is situated just off of a cute little neighborhood in Portland fairly close to downtown, but campus does not feel like you are in a city. The soccer teams were practicing as I was walking through campus - there women's soccer team has won several D-1 National Championships, and the campus has tons of green space. I wasn't able to pick up a postcard here because the did not sell any, but I did take some photos. My cousin, Sam, is currently work at UP as an athletic trainer for the basketball team.

The University of Portland is definitely one of my favorite campuses so far. The most beautiful campus I have seen is Santa Clara University in California, but the University of Portland came in pretty close. I'll share photos of Santa Clara when I visit there next month.

After my visit at UP, I headed back to Nick and Alice's and met up with Alice for some shopping. She is in need of new shoes for her cousin Katie's wedding and has not been able to find any so we headed downtown to visit Macy's and a couple of other places. We did not have much luck, but did run into a completely crazy homeless guy on our way home who was standing in the middle of the street yelling at pretty much everyone. Alice and I had actually seen him earlier today when she dropped me off at PSU. He either walked or jumped on the streetcar at some point during the day because he was several miles from where we had first seen him. There are many homeless people in Portland - mostly because of the mild climate, and most of them mind their own business, sometimes taking money or food from people who walk or drive by. But there are some who are very loud and obviously disturbed. Alice and I have talked about this everytime that I am here because it is hard to see all of the homeless and not want to help each and every one of them. It is however, difficult to know how to react to the ones who are screaming at anyone and everyone in the middle of the street - especially when they are dropping the F-bomb and any number of other vile phrases incessently. I struggle internally with knowing what to do or how to react. I feel I fail miserably at being a compassionate human because it is just "easier" to walk on by.

Our trip was unsuccessful (ie, no shoes for the wedding) and after a quick trip to Whole Foods for some miso for Alice (she has a cold and wanted some miso soup), some grilled veggies for Nick, and some brown rice for me to add with the leftover Thai. Alice did find a pair of shoes at Whole Foods so the trip was not completely unsuccessful. The leftover Thai might have been better than it was the first night :)

I love Southwest!

My travel season has begun and I will start out this entry with a little “shoutout” to my personal favorite airline – Southwest! I flew Southwest to Denver today and am now sitting in the Denver Airport waiting for my next flight (on Southwest) to Portland, OR. The Denver to Omaha service is a new service that just started earlier this month and while my flight here was not quite full, I hope the fullness of the flight is a good indication that the service will remain. I find it incredible that while most airlines are cutting flights, routes, and cities, Southwest is actually expanding. I heard that they are in a really good position right now because they elected to lock in a fuel price awhile back so they are not paying the astronomical prices for gas that the other airlines are paying. I also have to believe that they are just really smart about the way they do things. The Southwest crew and staff are always incredibly friendly. It isn’t that the staff and crew on other airlines are unfriendly, I have just encountered some people who really don’t seem as though they like their jobs very much. It seems to me that the Southwest staff always appear to like their jobs. About 10 minutes into our flight to Denver (which is about an hour and 15 minute flight) one of the crew (our crew had 2 women and a man – which I also notice on Southwest fairly often – lots of men on the crew) asked if there were any medical professionals on board and if so, could they come back to the back of the plane. There was some sort of medical emergency with a passenger that lasted pretty much throughout the flight. I felt the staff handled everything in a very calm manner, and most people on board the plan probably didn’t even know what was going on. I was near the back so I had a little bit better idea, but except for the fact that the crew did not serve a full beverage service, I doubt most people even had any idea what was going on. When they first made the announcement I began thinking that we may have to turn around because, let’s face it, there aren’t very many places to stop between Omaha and Denver. I would imagine that one of the airports (McCook, North Platte, Grand Island, Kearney or something like that) might have a runway that would be long enough, but we would still be in the middle of nowhere. While a Denver EMS crew did board the plan and remove the passenger before the rest of us got off, she did walk off the plan so hopefully it was just some several motions sickness, altitude sickness or something like that. The woman in the seat across from me was traveling with two kids (ages 3 and 2) and appeared to be expecting another. I helped entertain the little girl and watched her while she and her son made a trip to the bathroom. All three of them definitely would not have fit. I guess that is a challenge of traveling with kids.

As I mentioned, my travel season has begun. My travel this year is brutal. Between today and November 1st, I will only be spending 3 full days in the office (I think I have 3 half days thrown in there too). That is about 7 straight weeks of travel. Granted, I do get to spend most weekends at home, but it really makes me realize how quickly the time will go by. Think about this…by the time I am done traveling we will be three days away from electing a new president. And yes, I have taken into consideration that I will be spending a great deal of time in California in October and am preparing myself for the barrage of political ads that will be on the airwaves. That completely blows my mind considering that we have been going at this for about a year and a half now. It will be a tough seven weeks. I love this part of my job because I get the opportunity to really step out and show off Creighton to students and convince them to give us a chance, but it is tough to live out of a suitcase for 7 weeks. I usually have enough time at home to empty out my suitcase and repack again. Neither Matt nor I are telephone talkers so we struggle with communication when I am on the road. It is also hard because most of my travel is to the west coast so I often have events when Matt is home at night available to talk and then by the time I am available he is in bed. I try to not disrupt his schedule too much, so sometimes we just know we can't talk to each other. We do our best. Sometime just short message via email or text message are the best way to stay in contact. We make it through and I think it makes us appreciate when we do get to be together.

Gorgeous flowers for sale at Pike's Market!
Pike's Market Sign

Fresh Fish! Yes, we bought some!

Matt and I at lunch in Pike's Market - we had fish and chips and shrimp and chips - YUM!

I got behind on my updating near the end of the trip - we couldn't access the internet from the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at on Wednesday night and I just never got around to it while we were with Pell and Bren so I'll spend some time updating over the next few days. I may have to take a hiatus Thursday -Sunday as I am headed to Milwaukee to meet up with my college roommates for a girls weekend! I leave tomorrow evening and I am not planning on touching a computer while I am gone.

Last Wednesday (I can't believe it was a week ago) Matt and I were able to enjoy half a day in Seattle before we needed to take off to drive down to Corvallis. We decided to get up early and head to Pike's Market to avoid some of the crowds we experienced on Tuesday. We found a cute little French bakery called Le Panier where we enjoyed some fantastic pastries and a sat and watched the market come to life. We definitely made a good choice by arriving early because there was hardly anyone there and we were able to wander around without fighting the crowds. We shopped a little bit, purchased some Halibut to take the Pell and Bren's for Fish Tacos, and ended up eating lunch at a park near the Market before we headed out of town. I've included some of my favorite pictures from Seattle above. Pike's Market is a complete unique experience and one everyone should have once in their life.

As Matt and I were driving out of Seattle we got a great view of Mount Rainier in the distance, however none of the pictures turned out very well because the mountain faded into the sky. It only took us about 4.5 hours to get to Corvallis. We stayed at an adorable Bed and Breakfast called Harrison House. We arrived in town and called Sam. He came and met us, showed us around campus (Oregon State University), and then we had dinner at a "townie" bar that had great cheeseburgers. We ended up returning to the B&B early as we had more driving ahead of us the next day.

Seattle

I got to cross another state off of my list today! Matt and I rented a car early this morning and drove up I-5 to Seattle. We are staying at the beautiful Westin in downtown Seattle - about 3 blocks from Pike's Place Market. We managed to find the hotel (side note: this was actually quite an adventure - apparently Seattle is putting in some sort of light rail or street car system in their downtown area and the streets around the Westin were complete torn up) and checked in. Our hotel room is beautiful and we have a great view of the down town area. We dropped off our stuff and headed down to Pike's Market for some lunch. We found a little oyster bar where we enjoyed fish and chips and shrimp and chips. I swear I will never be able to eat the seafood served in the midwest again now that I have eaten such fresh, wonderful seafood on the coast.

We walked around the market for awhile, got trapped by the pepper jelly lady (who was serving beer jelly, merlot jelly and all other crazy kinds of jelly) and saw some really interesting people. We decided to plan to return to the market early tomorrow morning to do the rest of our shopping and headed to the Space Needle. The Space Needle provided some really incredible views of Seattle and the surrounding area. None of the peaks were really visible today even though the weather was clear and wonderful - which makes me think they never really are visible because today was so gorgeous and we couldn't see them. The view looking out into Puget Sound was really incredible though!

We headed back to the hotel to relax for a little while and then left for our dinner. We spoke with the concierge earlier today who recommended we eat at Ponti's Seafood Grill. We decided that since this is technically our honeymoon that we would splurge on one meal while we were traveling. We were not disappointed - Ponti's provided fantastic atmosphere, excellent service, and the food was to die for. I had Arctic Snow Crab with Risotto and an Heirloom Tomato Salad and Matt had Salmon with Spanich and Whipped Potatoes and a bowl of Tomato Bisque. We then shared a decadent chocolate molten cake with strawberry and mango puree. Ponti's sits right next to the water and we were able to score a great seat outdoors so the view was perfect. The restaurant kindly provided outdoor heaters so I didn't freeze on this cool evening.

We plan to get up early tomorrow morning and head to Pike's Market for some breakfast and some shopping before heading to Corvallis.

I've decided that it takes about three days to become comfortable with a city. I think that Matt and I finally feel today like we have a little bit of a clue about where we are going in this city...and we leave early tomorrow morning. Ironic, huh?



We got going pretty early this morning and headed downtown. There isn't much available for breakfast around our hotel besides Starbucks and fast food so food was on our minds the minute we got off the MAX. Luckily we quickly found a Rock Bottom Brewery. I first ate at a Rock Bottom Brewery in Indianapolis last fall when I went to NACADA and really liked it so I was excited to see one here and I knew that Matt would like it. The atmosphere is really nice and we enjoyed just being able to sit for a little while - I think we both felt like we have been go-go-go since we got here. Rock Bottom Brewery has the most fantastic pint glass sundaes made with Starbucks Mud Pie ice cream, homeade Stout Hot Fudge, chocolate wafers and candied walnuts = heaven in a pint glass. We shared.

After lunch we walked around downtown for awhile and the headed up to the Nob Hill area of Portland which has everything from local boutiques to large nationwide stores like Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma to restaurants, coffee shops and other businesses. It was a really neat area and actually just up the street from where Alice lives. I shopped at a store called SameUnderneath and found a couple of fantastic shirts that I cannot wait to wear. Amazingly we got to meet the owner and the clothing designer while we were there! They are completely down-to-earth genuine people. Take some time to read about their products - it is made out of bamboo and is incredibly soft and comfortable.

It started sprinkling while we were shopping so we caught the streetcar back to downtown and stopped at a pub called Henry's Tavern - where they have over 100 beers on tap! It was incredible to see. Matt enjoyed a Honey Orange Beer while I opted for a Mojito that was made with pineapple juice - delicious!

We headed back to our hotel after finishing our drinks and relaxed for awhile. We both spent a little bit of time doing some research for out trip to Seattle tomorrow. I've heard so many good things about it - I cannot wait to see Pike's Market and the Space Needle. I've also heard the drive up there is beautiful and I am excited to experience it!

It is strange that everyone here complains about this weather - it is either too hot for this time of year, too cold, they are tired of rain or it is too humid. Matt and I offer them so sympathy as we have loved the weather here. Saturday was cool and rainy, but we thought it was such a nice break as we have not seen rain and cool weather in Nebraska for quite some time. And I can't hardly feel the humidity here as it is nothing like the 100% humidity we have in the midwest sometimes.

I'm currently enjoying one of the movies I rented last weekend, The Holiday, with Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet and Jack Black (although Jack Black has only been in on scene of the movie so far). It is interesting...it isn't one that I would be likely to watch again at this point (I'm about an hour into the movie), but it is keeping me entertained tonight. I still haven't watched The Pursuit of Happyness, but I plan to get around to that one tomorrow. There was a preview for The Pursuit of Happyness on before The Holiday and now I am really excited to watch the movie tomorrow. I would have watched it tonight, but I think Matt wants to join me and he was watching the baskeball game in the other room. I could not care less about the game so I'm in the bedroom blogging, enjoying my chick-flick, and surfing random things on the internet :) Matt and I decided to join Blockbuster Total Access, so I should be doing more movie watching in the future. Currently, Borat and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest are on their way to our house. Hopefully, having the movies delivered directly to our house will motivate me to keep up with watching them... I have a bad habit of renting movies and then not getting around to watching them.

Matt decided to "fix" my computer while I was gone for awhile today. I wasn't aware there was anything wrong with it, but I leave the "techie" stuff to him. However, I arrived home to a laptop that would no longer connect to our wireless internet...even though it would without a problem when I left...hmmm...curious..huh? Luckily, he did work on it for awhile and now it will connect again, but apparently he had to re-install the wireless internet driver. I've asked him to be careful when "fixing" my non-broken computer in the future.

We leave for Oregon in less than 7 weeks now..provided we actually purchase plane tickets. I'm hoping to get that accomplished tomorrow. Pell and Bren are ready for our visit and I am certainly ready for a vacation - in fact, I would leave tomorrow if given the opportunity. We are looking forward to seeing a new part of the country and really traveling together (not just to Shelbina and back) for the first time. This will be Matt's second trip on a plane (the first being a guys trip to Las Vegas a few years ago) so that should be interesting. About 3 days after we return from Oregon I will be heading to Milwaukee for Girl's Weekend with my college roommates. I'm so excited to spend time with all of them...they were all at the wedding, but unfortunately we did not get to spend much time together. I'm looking forward to getting to see more of Milwaukee...my last trip was less than 24 hours!