Cameron's birthday weekend

We had another wonderful getaway this past weekend in Portland. This was the longest amount of time either of us had spent in Portland, usually we just go for one night, but we wanted to make a long weekend out of it this time.

There is an endless amount of things to do in Portland, we always seem to run out of time to do everything we want and every

time I go I wonder why we do not come here more. If not for the lack of sales tax alone there are tons of things that make Portland great. We stayed at a brand new hotel called The Nines and we simply adored it. Cameron deemed it “the nicest hotel we have stayed at in the U.S.” which makes me happy since it was my little discovery. It can always be a bit scary trying out a new hotel, but we were not disappointed. The hotel describes itself as “modern sophistication” which describes it quite succinctly. The glass beaded light fixtures, the turquoise, cream and brown color scheme all worked together to make us feel right at home. When we walked into our room there was a plate of chocolates and a birthday card for Cameron, it is those little touches that will keep me coming back. We spent the hours exploring all our favorite places from the Pearl district, to Burnside street, the waterfront and the downtown area. Our hotel was central to everything and we were able to walk anywhere we needed or wanted to go.

It was foggy and chilly while we were there, but that only made us walk a little faster. We tried a new restaurant for Cameron’s birthday, Urban Fondue and spent a long dinner in our own little alcove. We tried our first scallops and despite the peanut butter scare, we ordered chocolate peanut butter fondue for dessert.

Saturday my family joined us for dinner at our favorite pizza place and then shopping in the city. Sunday we went to the OMSI or Oregon Museum of Science and Industry where we took in the new Leonardo da Vinci show and I was reminded how he was fascinated with not only the beauty, but the purpose of nature. Leonardo da Vinci was quite the renaissance man and it saddened me how we live in a society that does not encourage exploratory behavior. You are suppose to decide at a young age what you want to do and continue working on that for a lifetime. I like the idea of exploring all that you are interested in, but I just need to find an employer who would pay me to paint, write, design, cook, shop etc. Sunday night we had a delicious dinner prepared by my mother and then Cameron was lucky or should I say spoiled enough to have two desserts. Chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and peanut butter pie. Let’s just say my man likes both, equally and frequently as possible. We also had a small 29 year old impromptu photo shoot, so before you think he is flashing a gang sign it is just his “29” with his fingers.