nodeconf & portland

Ah, Portland. I love you. The weather is always perfect when we visit, but it's really a sham to try and talk us into moving there. But I know better- you have lots of rain, complete with cloudy skies, and cloudy skies make me depressed. So no, we will not move there, so stop trying to woo us.

Here he is, The Grouchiest Man Alive!

No really, he was only grouchy that one day, when he was trying to figure out his talk. After he decided what he wanted to say, he was totally back to normal. And P.S. when he's grouchy, he's silent, not angry or mean. Which is probably confusing to all of you that know him as being a really quiet sort of man. Quiet and Silent are two very different moods. 

Look at this super cute and super grainy photo of this awesome squirrel! He just sat there munching away for like 5 whole minutes, letting me take 352 photos of him that all look the same! 

This was in a park right across the street form our hotel. The conference sold out in the hotel they hosted the event at, so we got bumped to the Doubletree. Which was awesome, because we really don't like the other hotel and were thrilled to sleep in a real bed in a real hotel that was quiet.

Which meant that we had to walk a quarter of a mile to get to the other hotel for all the parties and such, but we really didn't mind...

Because the walk was pretty much flat and totally gorgeous. And clean! We marveled at the fact that we were the only people walking around, I guess we've gotten used to living in a busy city. Plus we walked right by a bread factory, and that smelled fantastic, and it was fun watching all the machinery.

The first day of the conference Danny spent well, at the conference. For the Significant Others track, we went up to Multnomah Falls in a cushy bus. I thought we were going to the falls and that was it, but it was pretty much a tour of the whole Colombia River Gorge. I met some great ladies and we had fun getting to know each other on and off the bus.

First we stopped at Vista House. 

It was a bit foggy, but still pretty.

I wanted to have a picnic back there.

The falls are 2 waterfalls in one. The first one is really tall, and the second one not so much. There is a bridge that you can walk to so you can see it more up close.

We went to the lodge first and had some lunch, then we wandered around.

The top falls from the bridge.

The bottom falls from the bridge.

Nature!

Then we went to the dam, which also had some fish ladders. The tour guy kept talking about fish ladders like we already knew what the hell they were, so we were a little confused until we asked someone else in our group what they were. Well, they are things that the salmon swim up to go back home to lay their eggs and then die. So the fish ladders were here, at the dam.

I found a soda machine on the bottom floor- it even had Dr Pepper in it. I was very excited.

You could view the dam closer if you wanted, if this thing wasn't totally broken.

I don't know what this means, but I liked it.

Then we got back on the bus and went to the fish hatchery. See, the salmon fight all the way up those manmade fish ladders, and end up in the manmade fish hatchery pond, where the workers milk steal their eggs and then let them go off to die. Wild caught salmon my ass. 

The guide told us a very interesting story. Since the manmade fish ladders and hatchery have been put into place, and the salmon naturally go the same route generation after generation, there are a lot of salmon in this particular area. The california sea lions have figured this out, followed them up, and they have migrated to come and eat at this buffet of salmon. So the Oregon fish and game people are mad, of course, these wild fish belong to them, not to these filthy sea creatures. So they hauled them back to California only to have them come right back up. So then they decided to euthanize them. Oregon and California fish and game are currently in a battle over this. Unbelievable.

At every stop, the tour guide would tell us to go and look at the "Interpretive Area" What the hell is an interpretive area? I imagined dancing, you know, really, really bad dancing to crazy music with unitard costumes. Then while we were at the fish hatchery- there was an actual sign (I can't believe I didn't take a photo) that said "Interpretive Area, this way." I guess it means "Area with information about history with pictures and illustrations."

The fog had burned off and it was a gorgeous day. This is the outside of the gift shop, normally I can't help but buy things at gift shops but all they had there were fish related stuff, like salmon jerky. 

When we got back to the hotel we all decided it was time to walk to Voodoo Doughnut and have us a treat.

I got a few. Like 5. This one was Tang flavored, it was pretty much just like an orangesicle. It was fantastic. A lot of their doughnuts are piled high with frosting and different kinds of cereal, which for some reason doesn't tempt me at all. I also got a maple bar, which sucked. I got Danny a maple bar with bacon, he liked it. 

The second day of the conference was the day that Danny was speaking. He was so excited. And it was our day for the food tour. I loved it so much last year, and I had super high expectations for this year.

This waffle from Gaufre Gourmet was amazing. I wish I had gotten a full one and been done with the rest of the tour. 

Courier Coffee again, we went there last time. We were told it would be a totally different tour, we ended up going to 4 of the same places.

I do enjoy going to Pearl Bakery, even though it was a repeat as well. To see a fully stocked bakery behind the scenes is a little like Disneyland for me. And I love that they exclusively use Lehi Roller Mills flour.

I was less than thrilled to eat somewhere called the dump truck, but it was good. They had all different kinds of dumplings. I just despise anything food or cute related with the word dump in it. As in- dump cake, phone dump, etc.

Our group got split into two for the food tour, which in the end I believe was a bad descision. My group's guide was a total bore. There were many instances that were bad, but there is only one that I will share with you. We were told not to eat breakfast, as were would get stuffed on the tour. By the time ours ended, we were starving, and we had lame pinkberry knockoff as the final stop. Our tour guide left us alone for 30 minutes while we waited for the other group to finish. As were were catching up, we mentioned that we were starving, and the other group wasn't. We compared places we had been, and they got to have a whole slice of pizza. Our guide skipped the main course. I was pissed, I was hungry and so I was a little snarky. The other tour guide was still around, so I yelled to him- "Hey! why didn't we get pizza? Our guy sucked!" in a sort of sarcastic tone. He face fell and said "you didn't get pizza?" and then promptly followed it with "He's my boss." 

Yeah, so. The president of the company totally sucks at his job. Lovely. 

One of the ladies that was in the other group informed me that her husband had just messaged her that Danny was giving his talk, and that it was great. Aw, I'm so proud of him. It was so cool that people knew who he was, and was excited to hear what he had to say.

After the food tour, most people went to a guided tour of the Japanese Gardens, but since I had already been there last year and I was hungry, tired and grouchy, I opted out and walked back to the hotel and zoned out in front of the TV until Danny was finished. 

Then we went to dinner with Jane, Visnu and dshaw at a Japanese place called Mirakutei.  It was delicious.

This fried tofu- amazing.

Then we went to the end party at Holocene.

Here is substack, aka James, the singer of the band Stream or Die. Seriously, it was an amazing show- for a group of nerds that put together a show in a matter of hours. After they played, we all (most of us) walked over to a little food truck court for deep fried pies.

Dude, I can't even look at this photo without wanting to barf. (remember I had gotten food poisoning from the food tour) It was a good pie, but man. 

Some of the attendees wanted to talk to Danny since there were no questions allowed during the conference, so while he was busy with a swarm of people talking to him I ended up eating most of both our pies, which I think made the food poisoning worse. I would have been sick regardless, but I was so stuffed to the brim with deep fried pie that it was all I could think about all night long in that hotel bathroom. When you are sick like that and you have a certain taste of something, your muscle memory is like steel. It'll take years for me to forget that. Over the years it's happened to me with Mexican food, which after 5 years I can finally eat again, but not quite yet with boxed mac n cheese.

The next day is a blur, I slept and Danny watched TV. We ate at the hotel that night, but I was still pretty sick and it didn't stay down for long.

But the next day I felt fine. I wanted to take it easy on my digestion since I hadn't the night before and still be able to eat biscuits at our fav, Pine State.

We LOVE this place. So much.

I had a plain biscuit with butter and strawberry jam. Mmmmmm. And chocolate milk. Their chocolate milk is to die for.

There was a fabric shop nearby, so I talked Danny into going there with me.

We saw this along the way.

And I made a new kitty friend! Whenever we travel, I always miss my kitty so much. So when I spied a friendly kitty, I was in heaven. He was sitting on the steps, and all I did was say hi, I might of meowed, and he came right over so I could pet him.

Then Danny went back to the hotel and I went around town for some fabric shopping.

I got a bunch of crewel yarn here at The Playful Needle, they had every imaginable color. 

Of course I had to stop at Powell's, bookstore heaven.

I found this cute lil vintage elephant at the Knittn Kitten. That place was awesome- like a thrift store of crafting. I didn't buy him, I just took a photo. 

I did find these though- vintage crewel yarn for a dollar each. Deal. I also got like 2 yards of purple herringbone wool, some vintage quilt squares, and an old book. I talked to the owner for like 45 minutes- she was so nice and wanted to know all about my etsy shop and what I make. She was excited for me that I got into Renegade.

We took public transportation the whole time we were there- we were going to rent a car, but they wanted to charge us $500+ for 4 days. Pshawww. So instead we took the bus, or the train, and it only cost us $25. And their train- Max- is so much nicer (cleaner) than our Muni. Maybe it's just the lack of so many people.

We had pizza for dinner, it was delicious.

Sizzle Pie, I highly recommend. We haven't found a great pizza place here yet, so I am constantly craving cheesy greasy pizza.

The next morning we went to Pine State again.

Danny had a plain with honey butter and a moneyball- which is a biscuit topped with a fried egg, smothered in gravy.

And I had a sandwich- with sausage, a fried egg and cheese.

We walked around downtown for a bit before heading off to the airport.

Found some felt PBR cans, haha.

And this strange sign.

We got to board into the back of the plane, it was so much nicer than having to wait and wait to get to the back of the small ass plane to get to our seats.

And then we were driving home, with the Bay Bridge welcoming us back.

And this little kitten was very happy that we were home, note the "I'm totally content" curly feet.