Portland OR

We traveled to Portland, OR to celebrate the wedding of TD's cousin. We had a great time in Portland getting to see TD's family - these folks are on TD's Dad's side and all good midwesterners. They all trekked down to Texas last year for our wedding, so we were excited to see them again.

We had a bit of an epic time getting there - due to my plan for us to arrive on Saturday morning - rather than the night before. We arrived at the hotel 15 minutes before the shuttles to the church were leaving - but never fear- TD and I are quick change artists and we emerged in our wedding finery with 5 minutes to spare. TD's mom, who arrived the night before, did not and ended up taking a very expensive cab ride....but that is another story.

Unfortunately we didn't get any photos of the wedding. But on Sunday, there was a lovely brunch at the hotel and we headed with Tom's other cousins to Powell's bookstore. I could have spent all day in there - but we limited it to one hour and 5 books.

After Powells, we grabbed our bags and hopped on the light rail to the Amtrak station. Not sure why TD is giving me the stink eye here...probably for making him take public transit.

TD had never ridden a train before! He was very happy on the Amtrak - lots of leg room and outlets for computers. We did learn though that the Cascades train (between Eugene, OR and Vancouver, BC) was lots nicer (passengers too) than the Coast Starlight (between Seattle and LA).

We took the train to Albany where we met our friends T & J. We got to spend 2 nights with them in Corvallis.

On our way back to Portland and the airport we got to stop and have lunch at Dan & Louis Oyster bar. I had been hearing about it for years from my parents - so it was great to finally be able to eat there. We started with a dozen oysters, TD had chowder and a salad and I had Oyster Stew. Yum - the perfect end to a fun trip.