Portland

Last weekend Kevin and I went up to Portland to visit our dear friends Molly and Carl. We arrived around 11am on Thursday morning and left on Monday afternoon. On Thursday afternoon we picked blackberries, plums and pears in the neighborhood and then made a delicious blackberry cobbler and plum syrup! It was incredible to see all the gardens and fruit trees/bushes that were so accessible. We had a great dinner with an old friend of Kevin's and called it a night fairly early so Carl could get up in time for work.

Picking blackberries

All of the blackberries, plums and pears that we gathered!

Making delicious blackberry cobbler!

On Friday we did some shopping! We went downtown to an incredible bookstore called Powell's. This book store was HUGE! It was a full city block and 3 stories high. I was in heaven! I spent almost 2 hours and had to force myself out! We drove over to Hawthorne street and did a little more shopping there. Later that evening we went to a night club called Tony Starlight's. We had a wonderful dinner and then some great live music. The night was dedicated to Billie Holiday and we had a blast!

Outside the country's largest independent bookstore! So amazing!

The gang all dressed up before our double date at Tony Starlight's

Saturday was a much slower day. The weather was pretty crummy, so we just relaxed for most of the day. We finally left the house around 4:30 and did some shopping on Antique Row and then met some of Molly and Carl's friends for dinner. It was another early night. The weather really made us all pretty tired.

On Sunday we went to 3 different wineries, all within about 2 miles of each other. We started at a very fancy winery called Archery Summit, then went to Du Ponte, and then finished up at Winter's Hill. All of these wineries were in an area called Dundee Hills. We sampled 14 wines and made a few great purchases. Unfortunately, because it was Labor Day Weekend, none of the wineries were providing tours along with their tastings. I guess we will just have to go back and actually take a tour!

Such a beautiful view of the vinyards! The grapes had not been harvested yet from most of the vinyards we passed.


Close up of the grapes on the vine! So cool!

Inside the cave at Archery Summit.


And the whole gang this time!

Overlooking the vinyards at Archery Summit.

The last winery we visited - Winter's Hill.

We had an incredible trip and will definitely be returning sooner rather than later! I hope everyone else had a great holiday weekend!