Road Trip – Omaha to Seattle – Day 16 – Portland, OR – September 26, 2010

I woke up with a fairly decent hangover and just laid around watching football for awhile. Got some McD breakfast, drank a bunch of water, and used the toilet about three times, and requested a later checkout before I left to find my friend Kalie's apartment, where she lives with her boyfriend, Matt, and we were gonna hang out for the day. Her place was only about a mile away. I said hellos, caught up, shot the shit for awhile, and started a load of laundry. We looked through my pictures and watched some NFL for awhile, until our laundry was done.
They suggested a wing place up the street for lunch, called Fire on the Mountain. It was good, I got some blue cheese stuffed fried mushrooms and 12 wings with 2 sauces. I believe they were Spicy Lime Cilantro, and Bourbon BBQ, or something. I got a horchata to wash it down and ate myself to a bloated belly. It was good though. After that we drove around, did a few errands and went to the internationally known rose garden. Portland is called the Rose City, and this place showed why. We didn't even go through half of it, and I have way too many rose pictures on my camera, but it was impressive. After that we went on a short nature hike near this mansion and strolled around the grounds and saw some of the more breathtaking views of the city.
Then we wanted to come back home and relax a bit. We watched the late football game, had some more good conversation, and chilled. Kalie and Matt went to Target and I bonded with Oscar, their Labradoodle mutt for awhile and watched the Jets hold on to a victory over the Dolphins. Pretty good game though. They got back from the store, and we headed out to get some Thai food. I was told a few times that Portland had great Thai food and I was not disappointed. Kalie's friends had recommended a place called Pok Pok, and we waited about 10 minutes to get sat.
Our server seemed like a stoner, but knew his stuff, and was helpful. I had a glass of red wine with dinner and this place was a family style dining place, so Matt and I picked out three dishes to split. Kalie wasn't really hungry, so she just picked a little. We got pork skewers with pork fat, a peanut sauce, and grilled bread, we got boar collar in a spicy red pepper sauce with iced mustard greens to clear the palette, and we got ribs. All were great, my favorite was the boar. It was a nice end to a nice relaxing day, and I'm glad I got to see Kalie again, and get to know Matt. Thinking about going down to Eugene and Crater Lake tomorrow, but maybe Bend, OR or just head east to Boise. Not sure yet. Night.