Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Notes from Portland, pt3


Swedish breakfast. Sounds like something you do with flatulence and tricking your spouse under the covers. Think again. Bridget and I rode to Broder for a charming frukost. Trout on rye toast, YES PLEASE! Bridget had the cute little round pancakes with Lemon Curd and Lingonberry sauces. Had a little coffee across the street too.

Tried to go out for a ride. It began to drizzle as we ascended the West Side Hills. First was Cornell road, a lovely climb that's not too bad of a gradient. We turned onto 53rd and there are some more difficult sections. And we finished the four mile climb onto Skyline Boulevard. We were supposed to see views of Mount Hood, Mount Adams and Mount St. Helen but it began to rain harder. Once on top of the ridge climbing was limited to the rolling little hills. We began to get cold and wet. I've ridden in twelve degree weather but I began to suffer.

We turned around. I was shivering all the way down the descent. We turned onto 23rd and grabbed some lunch at The Ram's Head. Really great bar food. The sun came out and we were eating in the sun but I was still covered in goose flesh.

After a warm up /clean up we rode up to REI where Bridget looked around.

After that we ate an incredible dinner at Clyde Common, a wonderful meaty menu that was very savory. I ate a fried rabbit leg. Yum. Then a wonderful roasted half chicken with asparagus salad and mushrooms. It was one of those dishes where everything really balances out all the flavor. Nice touches of red wine vingar to the asparagus.

We walked up to Cacao for an incredible dessert of spicy dark drinking chocolate. Followed by another Americano from Stumptown. I ended up riding another 10 miles to burn off some of the calories...

That was pretty much the night save for a late attempt to return to the Ram's Head for a late pint. But we were more tired than expected and the streets were bizarre. Time for bed...

1 comment:

  1. Jimmy! Your trip sounds amazing. I wish you and Bridgie took me along. I'm getting kind of nervous that you two might not come back.

    ReplyDelete