Mom and I went to Portland May 23 – 26 to see Kirsten. The following are a sample of the more than 300 photos I took during our stay. We had the best time!

We got in to Portland in the evening of the 23rd, after a connecting flight in Atlanta. Kirsten and Troy picked us up from the airport. We stayed at the Governor Hotel in downtown Portland. This is Mom, after doing the bed-bug check.

After getting settled in, we went to Laughing Planet for a quick bite.

Thursday, we got up fairly early and set out. This is the lobby at the hotel.

Kirsten drove us to breakfast at the Waffle Window. I had the banana Nutella waffle and it was awesome.

As it was raining, we ate inside the cafe next door.

After breakfast, we walked back to Kirsten’s apartment. The rhododendrons and azaleas were in full bloom, and the blossoms are enormous.

Kirsten’s apartment building.

After checking out the apartment, we struck out again and after walking awhile, headed to lunch.

We ate at Noodles & Company.

And we headed back out to check out more of the sights.

Kirsten bought us donuts at the famed Voodoo Donuts.

Then Kirsten drove us out to visit the Oregon Humane Society.

We met up with Troy after he got out of work and went to Habibi for dinner.

Got up early on Friday for another full day! Mom got us coffee to start, then Kirsten met us and we walked up to Washington Park to see the International Rose Test Garden.

Then we walked back into town to go to the Portland Art Museum, where Troy works (one of his two jobs). The John Frame exhibit was fantastic.

After the museum, we walked to the food carts to pick up lunch.

We got vegan steak and cheese sandwiches from DC Vegetarian. They were HUGE and really tasty. We walked back to the waterfront to eat.

After lunch, we were all pretty tired, so we walked back to the hotel to take a little break.

After a short while, Mom and I decided that we needed some dessert. We walked to the carts right across from our hotel to Cool Harry’s Yogurt and got way small original tarts with raspberries in the bottom. Delicious!

Kirsten met back up with us and we did some shopping in vintage stores and checked out a fantastic sewing store called The Button Emporium and Ribbonry.

Next, we checked out some more of the sights including the Ira Keller Fountain and Portlandia.

We were all rather tired at this point, so we hopped on public transport and went to see Troy at his second job, the Urban Grind coffee shop.

Troy made us each cappuccino (mine with almond milk)…tasty!

While we were there, it started to rain…and thunder…and lightning! But at the end, the sun briefly came out and we even had a rainbow.

We stayed until Troy had closed up the shop, then we walked to Old Town Pizza, our next location, for dinner. None of us saw any ghosts, but the pizza was really good.

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel. Once there, we decided to go into Jake’s Grill for a final drink and chat.

Saturday morning started really early, as we had to be to the airport at 6am. We had a wonderful time, every minute. The flight home was uneventful. Fortunately I waited until I hit the Minneapolis airport to come down with an illness of some sort; glad I had two days at home left on the weekend to battle it.

Can’t wait until Kirsten comes back to Michigan to visit in the fall!