Parent Visit #1

My folks left this morning after a 4 day visit to the Rose City. It was their first time here. A great visit -- my favorite visit of theirs. Totally relaxing and fun. Felt like a switch came this visit -- no longer am I the perennial student. This time I'm settled. With everything. We have a life of our own here and got to share it with them. I got to entertain and cook for them, rather than them taking care of me. A great switch. Although I would have to fight my mom to the dirty dishes. She also cleaned our stove. Mopped our floor. Meanwhile Dad fixed things throughout the house -- including our broken pocket door and the heating element in my espresso machine. I think our house is in better shape now than when they arrived.

As for activities while they were here, we took them to Portland City Grill for lunch the first day. PCG is up on the 30th floor of Big Pink and has a great view of the city. I expected the view to be great but the food to suck -- we got the reverse -- great food (I had a club sandwich -- turkey, ham, cheese, avocado, apple bacon, etc. etc on toast; $8.95) while the rainy day obscured the great view. Thursday was a Portland city tour. Friday we visited with my dad's cousin in the morning & then went to the Holiday Ale Festival in the afternoon. Saturday we went wine tasting about 30 min south of Portland. Went to Rex Hill, Penner-Ash & Aramenta. All very different. Very fun. Wine Down on 28th for dinner -- we had a great meal there with a very personal staff. Steccato Gelato for dessert. Sunday was a lazy day. Ken made Norwegian pancakes and then we ran some errands around town and picked up groceries for dinner that night -- we were having Stan & Louisa over (my dad's cousin). I took them to the airport this morning.

A short visit, but a great time had by all. I'm excited that they'll be coming back in May. They'll be driving cross country next time and will have a little more time to play. That also means that they'll get to see the puppy while he's still a puppy.

Parent Visit #2 (aka Ken's parents) will be coming out in a month for their first visit to Portland. We're excited to see them and also for the little buddle of slobbering joy that they'll be bringing with them.