Oregon Brewer's Fest

We returned from our trip to Omaha Wednesday evening, just in time to wake up early Thursday morning for the next trip to the Oregon Brewer's Fest in Portland, Oregon.

The flight was good for us, bad for the couple with 3 boys next to us. Their littlest one had an earache and cried most of the trip. Luckily, it didn't bother us too much, just grateful it wasn't my kid -- is that bad?

We took the train to downtown Portland from the airport which the kids really liked. But we couldn't check into the hotel yet so we grabbed some lunch and headed to the brew fest. At the brew fest I noticed that Bob didn't have his laptop backpack, which I also talked him out of checking in with the doorman at the hotel with the rest of our luggage. For some reason I didn't think it would be safe. Instead he forgot it at Quizno's. Should've let him check it in with the doorman. Luckily, it was still at Quizno's when Bob went back.

At the brew fest, the kids played in the sand/dirt for a while. They said they were making sand castles. Next the root beer tent where there was crafts like coloring frisbees. Then we threw the frisbees where Colin really got into it.



Dinner was at Rock Bottom, a chain brew pub. It's pretty good in the west, not so good in the east.

Friday, I ran a course that was suppose to be 10 miles. It took me 2 hours, so I'm thinking maybe a little more than 10 miles, more like 12 miles. I did get lost once but not too bad. I could see where I wanted to go, just didn't know the best way to get there.

At the brew fest, there were a couple of rough spots with the kids. They were getting bored. Bob and I would take turns hanging with the kids in this shady, grassy area by the porta-potties. At one point, a guy started talking to us -- wanted to take a picture of my Ale Smith t-shirt and started playing with the kids. Really lightened the mood a bit for us. Friday, we also saw friends of ours from Roswell Farms, Mike and Alanna. We haven't seen them in years and they live in Seattle now. And get this, the first time we went to the Oregon Brewers Fest was with them! How ironic is that!

Saturday we went to the Saturday market which is a really neat arts and crafts market, and bought some Christmas presents. I really wasn't interested in taking the kids back to the brew fest ... it was going to be so much more crowded on Saturday and they were getting bored with it. So I begrudgingly offered to take the kids to the museum across the river while he went back to the brew fest.

The route we took to the museum must have been over 2 miles, but I really wanted to walk over the "Steel Bridge" which is an amazing structure. Nothing like it really, with two decks that can move indepedently.


We finally make it to the museum, and in the free part of the museum is a steel ball run (like a marble run) called the "Gravitram". The kids were absolutely entralled with it. After watching for a while, I drugged them away to get tickets to go to the rest of the museum. Well, I forgot my wallet, so no money, so no tickets, and back to the "Gravitram". Good thing it was there! Good thing my kids are good sports too.


That night Bob and I went out to dinner with Colin (not our Colin but a beer friend from Atlanta) and Colin's girlfriend, Abby at Deschutes Brewery. Good times.