Day 166: Food Truck Foodies and a Note on Beer

Day 166 was the day Mark and I were leaving Portland, but I should clarify that we managed a whole day in between waking up and peacing out. Our flight was at 11:00 PM (arriving in Atlanta at 6:00 AM Tuesday), so, like we are prone to do, we hit the ground running to enjoy the city with all the time we had left.

Another particularly "foodie" experience I wanted to have in Portland was to visit their food truck scene. They've got a whole "food truck district" kind of area that's unique to the city. After seeing TV shows about food trucks and hearing that people are finally bringing 'street food' to the States, I thought it would be a great thing to try--especially in an area that's already hot on the trend.

But it was raining in Portland (again...they warned us about this!) so instead of really enjoying walking around the food truck area, seeing all that was available, trying lots of treats, we bum-rushed a Cuban place on 10th and Alder for fried plantains and a Cuban sandwich.

They were perfectly and wonderfully delicious, but freaking expensive! $7.00 for a sandwich? Out of a truck?

Eh.

Plus, being cold and wet rendered sitting outside impossible, and kind of ruined my whole food truck experience. We ended up eating our food on the trolly to the Bridgeport brewpub, which, as I said, wasn't bad, it just didn't make the experience everything I had dreamed of and more.

What the food truck area would have looked like if it weren't rainy and gray when we went. These rows of trucks go on around a couple of city blocks and surround the perimeter of a parking lot

NOTE: 
I have to add, that I feel like I neglected the whole new beer story around Portland. Outside of really wanting to eat at Voodoo Doughnuts, we also went up to Portland for the beer. Portland isn't much of a "party party" town like Vegas or New Orleans where liquor flows for $10 an ounce and strangers become lovers, but is a chill, cheap party (beer for under $3.00 everywhere!) that you'd have with close friends at your favorite bar.

We had thought before going that many of the breweries were in Portland, but for the most part, they're in outlying communities about an hour out from the city. Instead, we hit up brewpubs (Hair of the Dog, Rogue, Lucky Lab, Bridgeport, Widmer's, Full Sail and all...) gradually over the course of the four days we were there. Something about the summation of the Portland trip is a "New Thing" (Visited breweries in Portland), but not a day-by-day New Thing experience.

Just think that every one of my Portland posts is ceteris paribus brewpub exploration time.

Day 165: City Block of Books

This day in Portland was on the rainy/drizzly/icky-to-be-outside kind of day. Not to be deterred from seeing all the things we wanted to see in the limited time we were in Portland, we headed over to Powell's City of Books.

Powell's is a book lovers dream, and, being who I am, I had to check it out. Powell's bookstore is a three-story building that covers an entire city block. All three stories are an over-stimulating, labyrinthine array of floor-to-ceiling shelves and nooks, with people in literally every aisle. It's stocked with new books, used books, former library books, old books, out-of-print books, rare books, textbooks, kid's books and in every conceivable genre.

I mean, Paradise! I could get lost in there for years. Like, I'd love to hide in a corner and be locked in overnight. Or become the resident hermit who can be spotted on occasion. People will say, "There goes hermit Leah!" as I scuffle from one side of the store to the other. This place is simply splendid.

And after hanging out for a while, we moved on to more good eating and drinking and Portlandia things.

But I may move back just for the bookstore.

Day 164: Hanging out in Beervana

I'm struggling a little with what to write here. See, when traveling, every road you walk, meal you have, person you meet, event you encounter, etc. is a New Thing. Instead of going out of my way to do New Things for the blog, I was letting the travel winds take me to New Things as they happened.

This is well and good, because the whole day was filled with adventures, but I can't quite put my finger on the one New Thing that's worth talking about more than any other. Could you accept it if I said that I spent day 163 exploring Portland?

That I ate breakfast at the Roxy, right next to a signed picture from Tim Curry and got creamer for my coffee out of a baby bottle? And I explored the Lan Su gardens in Chinatown? That I walked across the Morrison Bridge on the coldest day in 3 years? That I tasted beer that you can only find in Portland at the Hair of the Dog brewery? That I went to the number one ranked Portland restaurant on Lonely Planet (Cafe Montage) and decided it wasn't that good? That I accidentally stole a slap bracelet from a costume store? That I hung out with locals that all looked exactly like each other at the Lucky Lab? That I went to the Rogue Distillery and Brewpub where I consoled a couple about marrying each other, even though they'll likely divorce?

I don't know which one is the most blog worthy, but the culmination of all made the day exceptionally awesome and unforgettable, so I hope you accept that ever-so-slight cop out of a New Thing.

Day 163: Voodoo Freaking Doughnuts

So, as you might have been able to tell from the last couple of posts, I was in Portland, OR on Day 163. Now, for those of you asking "why on earth did you crazy kids go to Portland?" we had created a whole bunch of excuses for this, such as "we really like microbrews and Portland is the world center for microbrewing!" and "Oh, we really like the trend of farm-to-fork eating, and we're novice foodies, and Portland has one of the biggest foodie scenes!" and "Yeah, it's a cool place for young people right now."

Or we'd get defensive and be like, "Well, why do people go to Europe? It's because the city is just cool!"

But really, truly, at the core of our souls, our reason for going to Portland was Voodoo Doughnuts.We had seen Anthony Bourdain go to Portland and eat these sweet, devilish (?) concoctions and then we started making up excuses to go.

Voodoo Doughnuts has some of the craziest names and flavors for doughnuts that makes them memorable and unique. There's the Maple Bacon Bar (doughnut covered with maple frosting and two strips of bacon), the Captain my Captain doughnut (with Captain Crunch on top), the Diablo Rex (chocolate cake doughnut with chocolate chips and a pentagram icing on top), the Dirt Doughnut (a la the dirt cup you ate as a kid, with oreo "dirt"), the Marshall Mathers (doughnut covered in M&Ms), the Old Dirty Bastard (covered in peanut butter and oreos) and a whole host of other "dirty" doughnuts that you should check out on their website.

So, no surprise, I went to Voodoo Doughnuts.

I got the Voodoo Doughnut (shaped like a voodoo doll, covered in chocolate frosting, filled with raspberry jelly) and a Dirt doughnut. Mark got the Maple Bacon Bar and a Portland Cream doughnut (like Boston Cream, only better). And we gorged like disgusting slobs, and loved every minute because we probably won't be back for a loooooong time.

And since I caught this picture when my darling Voodoo doughnut's face was covered, I feel the need to show you that he looked something like this:

And it was everything we had ever wanted and more :) :)

Day 162: Fly Girl and Fly Boy Fly Together

On Day 162, I flew with boyfriend!

This doesn't sound so crazy, but it is when you realize that Mark and I have been to New York, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida (twice), New Orleans, Alabama, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico and more...without ever setting foot on a plane together, you'd realize that it's almost a feat of travel! While we could have gotten to Portland, OR in the car, we were trying to maximize that ever-coveted PTO...and flights were like, $175 round trip, which, with the price of gas, is cheaper than driving!

Both looking scary but hey, we're on a plane!

Days 93-97: Vacationing in Murphy, NC, where Eric Robert Rudolph was Found

The reason for my blogging hiatus?? I’ve been on vacation completely off-the-grid. My current work studio is a cabin in Murphy, North Carolina, completely secluded from civilization, a babbling brook running beside us, a TV from the ‘80s and no internet.

In some ways this makes me extremely excited, and in others it makes me antsy. For one, I love being off the grid because it helps me think for myself. I often get caught up in the minutiae, attending to other people’s problems, work, etc. and being away makes me realize what I find important and what really needs to be tended to, which mostly boils down to eating. At the same time, being off the grid also means that my cell phone hasn’t gotten reception in days, there is no one I know in a 100-mile radius and Eric Rudolph, the Olympic park bomber, was captured in these woods. It’s enough to put a city slicker on high alert.

Mark and I were joined by our friends Tasha and Brian on Day 94. Brian was a Marine, so his presence answered the question, “what happens if some crazy person or bear tries to enter our apartment at night?”

And, for the record, all of these people can vouch for the fact that I was continually doing New Things, because while I may take a break from blogging and work, I can’t take a break from my resolution.

So on day 93, I made fire. Well, I should say that Mark and I started a fire without a starter log, matches, lighter fluid, lighters, etc….and we did, in fact, do this on purpose. I had picked up a magnesium fire-starting tool at REI before we left Atlanta. To start a blaze, you shave bits of magnesium from one side and set a spark to it with the other side of the tool. From there, hopefully, you can set some kindling on fire and encourage your dried logs to burn.

It sounds simple enough, but after thirty minutes of shaving and sparking, we finally got a flame big enough to catch kindling. After another thirty minutes of trying to keep our miniscule flame going by ripping out an entire notepad’s worth of paper piece by piece, we were finally charring bits of wood to the point where they were burning just a little. After two hours of blowing, fanning, feeding, adjusting and inhaling smoke, we had a cozy little fire with which to roast a couple marshmallows.

So, I can say that Mark successfully lit that particular flame, but the collective effort of multiple hours of coercing our baby bonfire dictates that we have to share this New Thing.

On Day 94, I carved our initials into a tree. Is it a little corny? Yes, but Mark is the first man I’ve ever loved, and thought it would be sweet to carve it in something that will likely be around longer than the two of us.
I don’t feel like justifying it, and I know I’ll get a lot of rolled eyes for this New Thing, but I’m glad to have done it. They tell you to leave your mark on the world, so there it is, as literal as can be.

On Day 95, the four of us ventured out into the woods, where I used a hatchet. I didn’t know anything about hatchets until this weekend, except that you should bury them. They’re actually just small axes and serve all the same purpose as their larger cousin. I said I wanted to hatchet down a small tree, but realized I was joking when I took the first whack at it (those trees are just as alive as me or you!(God I'm such a hippie))…so I stuck to dead branches. They’re easier to whack anyway. It was fun, and I had surprisingly good aim considering my history of lacking any semblance of hand-eye coordination. I didn’t chop all the way through it, because I tuckered out and was feeling lazy, but it was still fun.

On Day 96, Tasha and Brian left, and Mark and I needed company, so I carved a banana friend. I then turned him into parts for microwave banana smores…which were undeniably delicious.

On Day 97, we had to leave the cabin by noon, and, not wanting to go home yet, we took the opportunity to wander around downtown Murphy, which is apparently known for antiques. So, I went antiquing in Murphy as my new thing, but I have to admit that the “antiques” were really just “cool-looking, semi-ornate tchochkies that your grandmother would think are pretty okay.” I didn't take a picture of the things I bought because they will end up as Christmas gifts for people who read this blog, but I did find this amazing hat in one of the Murphy stores.

Says, "We the people; The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed"

AND, while running around Murphy, I ran into a woman whose maiden name was Fulford and whose family comes from Geneva, Alabama, which could be dangerously close to family. Small world.

Overall, it was a relaxing and recharging kind of weekend, and I’m all pumped for Christmas and other vacations to come :)