Chris' Birthday

Sorry I am continually blogging things out of order. But, at least it's finally getting done so my girls will have some documentation of their lives. And, Chris and I will have some way of triggering our memories when we are old and suffering from Alzheimer's.

The second weekend in November found us in Portland to celebrate Chris' thirty-something-eth birthday. There are some things we'd like to remember about that trip, and a lot we'd like to forget. I'm also sure there's a lot that we've already forgotten about that we would've liked to still remember. . .

We left our camera in the hotel on our first day of the adventure, but I know we took the MAX rail (public transit) through Portland and out to the zoo. Cora would Ohh and Ahhh with her mouth (and eyes) wide open every time we saw a new animal. Ally enjoyed the monkeys, and had an especially fun time watching the orangutans. After a few minutes, the largest male walked right up to Ally and sat himself down in front of her with his back against the glass. He totally blocked her view of the enclosure, but also made her giggle very loudly. We checked in on the baby elephant, saw some hippos walking around on land, and got Ally another pressed penny for her collection. That evening, while riding the metro back to the hotel, Ally pitched an awful fit about that penny-- which proved to be the first of many breakdowns/tantrums/screaming episodes for the trip. Then she fell asleep until it was time to get off the train. We may or may not have gone to IKEA that night to shop and eat Swedish food.

Day 2 found us parking at the mall and catching free transportation to the downtown area. "Free" always seems to come with a price. We found an ice rink in the middle of the mall, and Ally was in heaven (Chris was not). We watched a group performance of Alice in Wonderland, followed by some solo skating by a blond Michael Jackson, a mini-jedi knight, a chimney sweep, and a bunch of princesses. (Definitely not on Chris' list of how to celebrate a birthday.) After an hour of watching, followed by an hour of fighting with our firstborn about leaving, we made it to the MAX and headed out to city center.

First stop was the Saturday Market. I'd first like to point out that it's actually open on Saturdays and Sundays. Within the past year, the market moved to a larger location in a park next to the river. I found it strange that the food booths are now set up directly in front of the Municipal Sewage Pumping Plant. We wandered around the booths to see all the eclectic things for sale-- clothing, carved wood, bracelets, incense burners, crafts, jellies, photographs, chestnuts roasted on an open fire . . . And with close to 20 different ethnic food options for lunch, it was Chris' turn to be in heaven. We settled on Polish sausage and a pierogi plate.
Then we walked a few blocks up the road to experience the next item on Chris' birthday list: Voodoo Doughnuts. This is a famous Portland business we'd seen featured on the Food Network a few times, so Chris wanted to give it a try. We recognized the line to get into the place well before we actually found the shop itself. We stood outside in the rain for 45 minutes before it was our turn to enter and order, but I'd say that sacrifice was worth the melt-in-your-mouth taste that is voodoo. Ally and Cora must have sensed they were in for a special treat, 'cause they were quite well behaved as we stood there on the street. After entering and procuring our pink box full of sweet goodness, we still had to walk back to the MAX and through the mall in order to retrieve our car. We were a walking, smiling advertisement for Voodoo-- and at that point we'd only seen and smelled the donuts. We couldn't wait to get back to the hotel and indulge our tastebuds.
At the center of the picture is the Memphis Mafia, the largest donut I've ever seen. It was bigger than Cora's head, and she's got a decent sized noggin. Then, left to right: a toasted coconut cake donut, a Bacon Maple bar, a Raspberry Romeo, a Miami Vice Berry, a Butterfingering. All of them exceeded our expectations. Ally loved them so much that she didn't even realize there's a skeleton on the box, and she's deathly afraid of skeletons or anything that vaguely resembles them. Needless to say, we didn't make Chris a birthday cake this year. After celebrating with Voodoo, you really don't need anything else.

Day 3 found us driving back home. We stopped off at Multnomah Falls to stretch our legs and take a few pictures. Ally and I climbed up to the bridge while Daddy and Cora stayed behind in the mist below. Last time we'd gone I was pregnant and barely made it to the bottom of the falls, so walking the 7 minutes to the bridge halfway up was a novelty (and extremely easy). Maybe next time we will all walk the full mile to the top.