It rained heavily the entire drive to Portland (and the two days since). Fortunately most of the driving from Walla Walla was on a 4-lane freeway, so it was a bit safer. I don’t have any pictures of the darling B&B we stayed in, in Portland – you’ll just have to go online to check it out – the Rose Cottage B&B. Except for a one-hour delay because of an accident, our GPS drove us right to the door and we settled into our lovely suite. The B&B, although described as “American Farmhouse,” is very up to date – comfortable furnishings, very comfortable bed, even a fireplace in our room, a jacuzzi tub, and fabulous breakfasts. Sally, the proprietor, outdoes herself making sure nobody leaves there hungry! We would definitely stay there again.
I did all the driving that day (getting to Portland), so was more than a bit tired by the time we got there about 6 pm. We had dinner at a local restaurant (not exceptional, but okay), slept well, and then the following day was “my day” to do Portland.
Because I’m a book lover, it’s almost like a pilgrimage to visit Powell’s Book Store in the Pearl District of downtown Portland. We’d been there before about 8 years ago, but that time I only got to spend about 2 hours there. Not nearly enough. This time the whole day was allocated, but after 4 hours my back was killing me from bending over, up, down, up down, scanning shelves and balancing books on my hip. I had a long list of books that I wanted to buy – all used if I could find them. I’d printed them up on a list, in alpha order by author (most were fiction). All the books were recommended by someone in one of my two book groups. After directing my DH to the section he wanted to see, and agreeing to meet in the coffee shop in 2 hours (the first time), I just went everywhere. After finding about 6 of the books from my list, I deposited them with Dave and I merrily went off for another 2 hours to the cookbook section.
My hope was that I’d find Lindsey Shere’s book of Desserts. I’d found it a few places online (used, as it’s no longer in print), but hoped maybe Powell’s would have it. And yes, indeed, they did, but would you believe the original price was $25.00 and the used copy at Powell’s was $35.00. Guess it’s become a collector’s item. Maybe one day I’ll discover a bookstore – an obscure one that doesn’t know better – and I’ll find a copy for $5.00 Maybe. The cookbook section at Powell’s is the largest I’ve ever seen in any bookstore – but then, Powell’s is one of the largest bookstores in the United States, so it stands to reason. Most of the cookbooks were new, and any that were used were not ones I desired to own. I must have found about 20 new cookbooks that I’d like to own. But no, I passed them up and just bought 7 used paperbacks.
That night we dined a 23Hoyt, a relatively new restaurant in the Nob Hill section of Portland. We didn’t eat lunch (if you could have seen what our hostess at the B&B served us for breakfast, you might go without lunch AND dinner), so we had made reservations early, at 5:30. Our food was fabulous, and I’d definitely recommend the restaurant. It’s a bit on the pricey side, but the food was excellent, so I always feel like the money is well spent if it’s really good food. I ordered grilled scallops on a bed of butternut squash puree that night and my DH ordered a steak served on a bed of roasted corn (I snagged a couple of forks full of the corn and pronounced it excellent too). I also ordered an arugula salad with Asian pear that was very tasty. And I had a Peach Fizz – a mixture of prosecco and fresh peach puree. Yummy. We didn’t have dessert.
So, yesterday morning we headed south to the Willamette (weh-lamm-ett) Valley, the home of most of the well-known Oregon wineries. Dave was in his element, going from one winery to another sampling this and that (mostly pinot noir). He started sampling at about 11am, so I was the designated driver. As for pinot, though, we/he need more pinot like we need a hole in the head, but that’s what this part of the West is known for. As of this morning (after more stops) we have 14 bottles in the back seat of the car. Some years ago when we were here we were fortunate to meet Matt Keene, the owner/winemaker at McKinlay. He’s an elusive kind of guy, but somehow we managed to get him to agree to let us see the winery (it’s not open to the public and apparently he rarely sees visitors). We had hoped to stop there again, but I was nursing a bit of a toothache by that afternoon, and some kind of allergy symptoms, so we went to the drug store for me rather than go to McKinlay. However, Dave was able to find a bottle of it at one of the group tasting rooms he visited this morning. There are so many new wineries here than 8 years ago. Our hostess at the Portland B&B recommended several wineries to us (Arcane, Methven, Bergstrom, Sincanne, among others. We made it to some of them, not all.
The rain has let up today some (more like all-day mist), but it’s still very cloudy. I was going to take a photo of our windshield (the rain) but forgot when it was pouring down. Just what you-all want to see is a windshield full of raindrops, right? So the pictures here are from 23Hoyt that we enjoyed so much.
We’re off now to the Oregon coast, so hope to post another something tomorrow if I can. I do have internet access, but it’s not a strong signal, so uploading is difficult. We spent last night at McMinnville, a really adorable town in the middle of Willamette Valley. Had a passable dinner at the Golden Valley Brewery. My tooth was still bothering me, so wanted something easy. I’ve apparently aggravated the nerve on a tooth (per a phone call to my dentist at home), so need to be careful for a few days, chewing on the other side of my mouth and eating sort of soft foods.
Oscar Meier
said on October 6th, 2008:
I hope your coast trip includes a stop in Pacific City. Visit Twist, a new tasting room; The Delicate Palate, for the best food on the coast and stop by The Craftsman B&B, I’ll be here to greet you.
Hi Oscar – I had to go to a google map to find out where Pacific City was! Unfortunately, we drove southwest from McMinnville, and are heading south from here (we stayed last night at Salishan), heading home to California. I’ll have to remember your advice, though, and may stop in the next time we come up here. Thanks for the invitation! . . . Carolyn