A Portland vacation: Day 3

(A continuation of our adventures in Portland. Read about Day 1 here and Day 2 here)

Our last day in Portland. The boys ate their eggs benedict brunch while I sipped on another mimosa as we watched the garbage truck painstakingly line up garbage cans down the street in a neat and tidy queue so the worker could attack them all on the same front.

Seems like quite the process

We discussed what we wanted to do with our day. We'd seen quite a bit in the last few days, but there's just so much to explore in Portland. We finally decided on a tour of the brewery scene in Portland. Unfortunately, none of the formal guided tours were running that afternoon, but we didn't let that stop us. We decided to do our own self-guided walking tour of the various microbreweries downtown. Yes, I know that some people would call that a pub crawl, but we call it tourism. 

And so, after grabbing a bite from the food trucks down the street, we headed out for some day drinking an epic pub crawl an educational brewery tour.

Our first stop was Rock Bottom Brewery, which had a restaurant connected to it. This place, like many other breweries, gave you the option of ordering flights, smaller glasses of the different kinds of beers that the brewery makes, so you can sample them all.

Our next stop accidentally turned out to not be a brewery at all, but a famous stop nonetheless. We were at Huber's Cafe, Portland's oldest restaurant, operating since 1879.  

You could real feel the sense of history about the place. The owner, a friendly older Asian-American man whose family has operated Huber's for generations, took us through the story of the place, pointing out which parts of the restaurant were still original, and showing explaining the portraits on the wall. He told us how in the old days, if you ordered a drink, you would get a free turkey sandwich. The original bar had discreet entrances so politicians could come and have a relaxing drink without people recognizing them.

We didn't have their famous turkey meal or Spanish coffee (made with Bacardi 151!) but we did grab more beer and coffee and enjoyed the quaint ambience of the place. 

Next, we moved to another brewery, Deschutes.

I was really fascinated by the woodwork for some reason

We ordered another flight of tasty beers, and also some food, as Deschutes had a pretty impressive food menu as well.  Portland just knows how to do food and drink right.

We had planned to move on to Rogue after this stop, but we were feeling mighty sleepy by this point, so we decided to head back to our hotel for a little siesta.

After a refreshing nap, we grabbed more food from the food drinks and headed out to check out the live music scene in Portland.

Besides brunches, beers, bikes, and hipsters, Portland is also famous for its thriving artsy music scene.  During the 1990s, house shows were popular - concerts held not in large formal music venues like theatres but rather in the living rooms of people's homes.  This is where musicians like Elliott Smith lived and thrived.  Portland continues to be home to many amazing musicians, including Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney. So we definitely wanted to check out a live show.

We caught a show at the Star Theater, where a full lineup of indie bands were performing. It was a good mix of local bands and touring bands from other parts of the States (Cherry Glaczrr, Summer Cannibals, Sunflower Bean, The Buttertones, Underpass).

Portland seems to do live concerts right. A lot of the shows are all ages, which means teenagers can come and be exposed to all sorts of live music. But it doesn't mean they don't serve drinks; they have a separate section for those who are over 21 and want to enjoy a can of Pabst beer while listening to the music.  The alcohol section sort of has an "old people" feel to it - it's off in the back, with seats, while the all ages section is much more lively at the front of the stage where all the dancing is.  But I think that's how it should be. It's also a great way to avoid spilling beer all over other people.

It was a great way to end our trip to Portland, the magical city with so many things that I'm going to miss. We're definitely going to have to come back someday!

Portland: Where you can buy wine and small plates at the Starbucks

Parking tickets for smart cars

An airplane view of Mt. Saint Helens, perched above the clouds like a god

Quebec, la belle provence and the city

Tales from my family's cross-country road trip

The night before my family was supposed to leave on our epic road trip, I had food poisoning.

It was already bad enough that I was dealing with the unholy trifecta of allergies, asthma, and a cold (possibly pneumonia), but now I was spending the night in the bathroom in the throes of an upset stomach, miserably trying to decide whether I wanted to wake up my mother or my husband. The truth is, nobody wants to be alone while they were sick, but deep down you know, as an adult, there isn’t really much that can be accomplished by complaining to your husband or your mother. Still, I irrationally wanted someone to be miserable with me.  I figured it should be my husband – I suppose that’s what the whole wedding ceremony is about, my parents handing me over to my husband and warning him, “She’s your problem now," – but even when you approach the age of thirty, you never really lose the urge to whine to your mother when you were sick.  But I suppressed that urge. So I spent night alone, unhappy, and altogether way too awake.

By morning I was cranky and still little nauseous, but my whole family piled into the car anyway and hit the road.

We soon arrived in Quebec, where despite all the vast empty spaces the cars still cut us off closely in the most casual way, where the store clerks patiently wait for us to awkwardly mangle their beautiful language while they take pity and respond in English.

My parents, who had never been east of Quebec City in their entire lives, soon discovered that they loved the Quebec countryside.

Quebec City:

My dad has a knack for finding the most random spots in the middle of nowhere. I don’t know what method he uses to find the motels and restaurants we end up at. Despite these out-of-the-way locations, the quality tends to be pretty good.

We checked into a Comfort Inn at Ste-Foie, a place I only know the significance of through the Jean Leloup song:

“pour un fille d’Ottawa, grandit a Ste-Foie

avec un pere militair

et un belle-fille que fut sa mere.”

            

For dinner, my dad found a little restaurant called La Cuisine du Marche in a converted house next to a plaza with a law office in a strip mall across the street. Sometimes these little unremarkable places surprise you. This place's menu offered wagyu beef cheeks, beef tartare, and a pleasant selection of Quebec microbrewery beers. I ordered a duck confit and foie gras poutine – the ultimate Quebec themed meal. I was pleasantly surprised by my dinner, which we ate at 5:30PM, which is what happens sometimes when you travel with your parents.

        

    After dinner, we wandered into Quebec City proper, wandering around the Plains of Abraham and the Citadel to try to find a bathroom.

The Citadel

the Plains of Abraham

            We walked around the cobblestone lanes and the little shops – the Quebecois think nothing of placing a kids’ toy shop next to an adult sex shop – aware that it’s all so touristy around these parts but it’s still all so lovely.

         

   I’ve been to Quebec City a couple of times before and each time, I am reminded of the previous visits’ pleasant memories. This time, I was struck by the way the moonlight sparkled in the water of the Saint Lawrence at night. We rarely see it in the Arctic. The sun is always up or the ocean is always frozen.

We ended the evening with some beer from the gas station, one of my favourite things about Quebec, good old gas beer.

       

 Quebec City's breathtaking evening skyline

layover in Edmonton: Canadian Hudson's Tap House and the Sugar Bowl

Every now and then, when we're travelling we end up with a long layover in Edmonton, which is a major hub for a lot of Northern travel. While we were in town, I was hoping to check out downtown for the first time, but Edmonton, like many of the Alberta's communties, was busy being flooded that day, so we decided to head over to the Mall instead, where it was dry inside.

By the Mall, of course, I mean the great West Edmonton Mall, one of the largest malls in North America. I had been to the Mall before, but it was my husband's first time and he wanted to check it out.

How large is the West Edmonton Mall? It is larger than the eye can see. As you approach the Mall, you cannot at any point really see its entirely in one shot. Once you go inside, you think, "Eh, it's pretty big, I guess."  But then you come to the realization that you cannot see the entirety of the Mall from the inside, either.  It just goes on and on and on.

morbid art display or lazy display case decorator?

fast food Korean barbecue! What an amazing idea!

Having just come back from a two week long shopping trip, we weren't much in the mood to go into yet another Bluenotes.  However, we were hungry, and were therefore eager to check out the strip of restaurants in the area of the mall known as Bourbon Street.

There were many, many options of chain restaurants, but the one that caught our eye was Canadian Hudson's Tap House, mainly because they were displaying this special menu:

That's right, an entire menu dedicated to bacon. We were originally looking for a place to try some delicious Alberta beef, since we were in Alberta. To be fair, we've probably been eating Alberta beef all this time in Nunavut, but we wanted to eat Alberta beef in Alberta. With that said, it was pretty hard to turn down a bacon menu.

my grilled bacon macaroni and cheese sandwich, combining three of my favourite things: grilled cheese sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, and bacon

 

washing down all that bacon with some local Alberta beer

Rob ordered a brisket sandwich made with beef served with mustard and gruyere cheese, so we did get to try some Alberta beef after all. It was so juicy and tender it almost rivalled my grandmother's jangjorim. Almost.

feeling full after all that bacon

After our lunch, my buddy D came to pick us up.  D has been living in Edmonton ever since he came back to Canada from Afghanistan where he served in the military.  He will be marrying his fiance in Mexico next spring four days after she does an Iron Man. As you can see, my friend D is not a boring guy.

It was still raining outside, and parts of the city were flooding.  Not exactly patio weather.  D took us the Sugar Bowl Bar, which gave us a glimpse of downtown.  Edmonton's an odd city, unlike other Canadian cites I've seen. There aren't very many tall skyscraper buildings, and it's very spread out - even the downtown core doesn't seem very dense.   

"Here we are!" D announced as we pulled up a to plain brick building.
"This is a back alley."
"This is how we get in."
We entered through the back alley, passing two young gentlemen having some sort of ambiguous interaction.
"What are they doing?" I asked.
"They are having a silent stand-off."
At that moment, I unexpectedly remembered that sometimes this city is called Stabminton. 

Despite the unconventional entrance, the Sugar Bowl turned out to be a lovely place, full of young professionals and artsy types. The menu had one page of food and like ten pages of beer, which is why D likes this place: "It's the perfect place to go after a Saturday morning run, to grab a beer and a cinnamon bun."

The beer selection was impressive too; for instance, there was a number of Belgian beers I hadn't seen since the last time I visited Belgium. I ordered myself a bison chili, which was bison-licious.

And then it was time to go back to the airport to fly to Yellowknife.  As usual, my stay was too short. One of these days we'll have a chance to explore Edmonton deeper, beyond the Mall and the airport. Hopefully at a steakhouse.

beach day on the island

yesterday morning, rob's dad drove us around the island to where his side of the family is from, in Emerald. we got to see the old family farms, which have now got giant (scary) wind turbines erected over the potato fields. We continued on past the shipping coves of Malpeque Bay, home of the delicious oysters and also where Rob's grandmother is from, on to Cabot Beach. It was a sunny day so the perfect time to take advantage of the sun and the salty Atlantic Ocean.





On our way back, we passed by St. Mary's Church in Indian River. This is an incredible church placed in the middle of nowhere, seeming to rise right out of the potato fields.



The inside is even more beautiful. CBC records a lot of shows performed there. maybe one day Scary Bear Soundtrack will play a special acoustic show there.

on the way back, we also BOUGHT EGGS FROM NOBODY.



invisible sellers of eggs

this is what i love about the Island. basically you drive up to a mini barn where there are eggs for sale (but nobody selling them). you drop a toonie into a basket and pick out your favourite eggs. it's based on the honour system, the eggs are fresh, and nobody is stuck being bored manning the egg stand all day.



in the evening, we headed back out to Charlottetown, which seems like the place to be on the island on a Saturday night.



in the evenings, they project a big light show on to the historical Province House, which is pretty neat to watch.

we also checked out Gahan House, which brews their own beer locally.



obviously i got a beer sample tray.



man, i love trying local beers. at Island prices too. yum yum.