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We made our fist return trip to Buffalo. It has been 1.5 years since leaving Buffalo. We returned for a wedding on a Friday night, and spent Saturday hanging out with friends. What was on our list of things to do? All food! Mighty Taco, Pano's Dunkin Donuts, Duff's, and Jim's Steakout! We hit it all, except for Kuni's On the Go. Now I know what is has been like for my friends who have also moved away; when they retun a visit to Mighty Taco is mandatory. I got a new Mighty placemat for my collection. Check out my collection on Flickr.
The wedding was quite fun. A group of us, and the groom visited some bars afterwards. It took moving away to make my first visit to Roxy's. We hit a few other places also. During our time hanging out Saturday we had a number of hours to waste between Pano's and Duff's. We ended up at Niagara Falls, and headed across to Canada to see the temple of 10,000 Buddhas. It was closed, but you can still walk around. Very cool. Go there.
The layover in Chicago for 2.5 hours (both ways) was bad. The absolute worst was not being able to resuce our dogs from their first boarding experience when we returned Sunday afternoon. Next time they will be able to be boarded at our day car/trainer, Klub K9 where they will have the run of the place, and we can pick them up on Sundays. Chu-Chu once again charmed his was into special treatment. Instead of staying in the kennel the staff of the attached vet let him stay in the vet office, spending some time behind the reception desk.
We took our sweet ass time leaving this morning. Oh, I forgot to mention that we dismissed the usual AAA TripTik and strictly navigated using our iPhones.
The movers arrived yesterday. They were in and out in fours hours. We did nothing. When we moved to Portland I said I would hire movers next time, and it was well worth it, even though I did not pay for these movers. They packed everything aside from a pile of items we set aside for the car. I highly recommend. Make sure you tip them.
Inori and I occasionally crave a good salad. When in Buffalo, before it closed, we went to Bennigan's for the Kilkenny Country Chicken Salad. Ever since they we have been out of luck. In Portland, just like Chinese food, there are no good salad places other than The Cheesecake Factory, but that is not a place we want to go to all the time. Earlier this week we went to Home Depot and when leaving the lot I saw a place called "Sweet Tomatoes". We wondered what it was, figuring an Italian place, but as we swung out the of the Depot parking lot we saw the front side; "Salad Buffet"! We went yesterday. It is great, an extensive salad bar, soup bar, bakery (cookies, various breads), and a pasta bar. It is already top 10 restaurants. We did not go today so we are not losers, but Friday we will be there again :)
Tonight we took the Portland Haunted Tour (http://www.portlandhauntedtour.com). It is 2.5 hours of good time. You learn/see a lot of Portland. The tour is a year old and have 12 distinct locations, 3 are outdoor locations. You even hear of sightings made by people on the tour previous to your trip. A good time to be had by tourists and Portlanders like myself alike. I even liked the tour guide's hat :)
Yesterday we made if over to the Old Spaghetti Factory on the shore of the Williamette River. A huge purple-roofed building with massive chandeliers. The bread and salad, expectably the dress, were excellent and fast. In fact we bought some of the dressing to take home. There is a lot on the menu I want to try. The main courses have a good portion, but most consider it small, but with the great brad and salad it is just enough to be full but not too full. All the lamps above the tables are different, as well as the chair sets at each table. I recommend getting a table with the high-backed purple chairs we had. Extremely comfortable. There is a trolly car in the middle of the main dining room, with tables inside. We sat at the head of the outside of the car. Soon this place is going to be surrounded by new constructs. Get down there before it is.
Last night, on the tip of a co-workers, we went the Jenkin's Estates. This is a series of old, log-cabin style houses on a hill. There is a stable house (no horses, but a harp). Last night was the 10th annual "Chocolate Fantasy". Each room of the two main houses has chocolate makers with free samples. It is ony $3/person and is Friday only 3PM - 9PM. Oh but there is more. Not just chocolate and toffee makers. There are wineries (we picked up some real good wine from Oak Knoll for only $5) and tea and kernel-less caramel popcorn balls, and lotions. It is really "Valentine's Day Fantasy". One warning, bring cash. We had a prime parking sppt and had to leave to find an ATM.
Today we got some thin crust pizza at Papa John's and while there we decided to try the Buffalo wings. Big disappointment on both counts. Thin crust on the West Coast is hard, like cardboard. Not good. The wings are thinly coated in sauce, so you can see plenty of white. The wings are smaller than Buffalo wings and not particulary juicy, and not even a little crispy. Never again.
While it is a lot warmer in Portland than Buffalo it is not warm. We had several weeks in the teens. Apparently Portland kids do not own coats. Daily, on the way to work , I look out the bus window and I see middle school to high school kids outside in tee-shirts. If they were in Buffalo their mom would tell them to put a coat on before they left the house, but then again, if they were in Buffalo they would not be crazy enough to walk around when it is 14 degrees outside.
on The First Week in Portland, OR