Post-Vacation Blogging - Day 1 - Portland

So, as my two readers gathered probably, Phil and I recently took a week of vacation! This was technically the first official vacation we've taken since our honeymoon 8.5 years ago. So, it was really fun to get away and see some new places and just take it easy for a week or so (if you can call driving 2,700 miles across parts of six states relaxing). We had an incredible time and saw some spectacular sights.

We basically started in Portland, went down to San Francisco and Yosemite, then headed home to Colorado on I-80. I'd be remiss to skip over the details and pictures as well as links to some of the great places we visited, so let's get started with the recap!

Phil is a Ruby on Rails developer full-time through our own business and he had a conference in Portland called RailsConf. It sounded like a neat time for him to network and be encouraged, so I'm glad he got to go again this year.

I flew out to Portland at the end of Phil's conference so we could rent a car and begin from there. When I got there, I just took the TriMet from the airport to the convention center, which was near where Phil was staying. It was awesome -- it only cost $2 for that trip, but the train is free all over downtown. We used it a lot while we were there.

For lunch the day I arrived, Phil and I took the train in to downtown with some friends and walked around to try to find a place to eat. After a little trouble finding an open restaurant on a Sunday afternoon (not many Portlanders go to church on Sundays, but I guess they don't object to a day of rest anyway), we stumbled across E-San Thai Restaurant. Being from the rural Midwest and now living in Colorado, Phil and I had never had Thai food before ... and now we're addicted! It was delicious for sure.

Then, on the way back for the last afternoon session, we stopped at what Phil calls "the best coffee he's had outside of Europe" at Stumptown. I didn't get anything because I desperately needed a nap and didn't want to be kept up by caffeine, but it smelled heavenly in there. When Phil got his latte he offered me a sip and I declined. Our friend Toby said, "Yeah, you'd better not have any because if you do, you'll get right back into that line and order one for yourself!" So, I'm sorry I missed out, but was really happy with the nice afternoon nap while the guys were in meetings.

That night, Phil and I just explored a bit and went to Powell's. Phil is an incredible photographer and he captured a few really cool shots in Portland with the sunset and everything. The picture at the top of this post was from our hotel at about sunset as the clouds were clearing. It was a gorgeous night! Knowing we had a long drive ahead, we just took it easy after sunset and watched the latest episodes of The Sopranos and Entourage -- a vacation doesn't have to be a vacation from our TV addictions, right? It was a relaxing and fun start to a busy week ahead.

More tomorrow!