August Travel #1: Portland Wedding

Thursday, August 15-Sunday, August 18: BBQ, J&M, Books, Wedding, Art

Mr. E headed to the Rose City early in the morning on Thursday and connected up with friends during the day in anticipation of the wedding weekend, when he would be officiating for C and M. C is the son of one of Mr. E's closest friends, M, and he was so excited to be asked to officiate at his second wedding. Oddly enough, he apparently is building a niche market for weddings involving someone named C, since his first officiant gig was for our close friends C and E. Encore career potential???

I joined him later in the evening, and we stayed at the Courtyard Portland Downtown/Convention Center, a very convenient location for the wedding ceremony and reception locale. Mr. E had secured some basic provisions earlier in the day, so we could just relax that evening.

Both of us worked on Friday. We began the morning with a Safeway run for lunch stuff and got breakfast sandwiches at Subway. Once we were done, I found a spot to set up in the lobby so that I could stand at a long high-top table near the bar, and Mr. E stayed at the desk in the suite. Eventually, we swapped places because I had a late afternoon call that needed to be someplace without any distractions. Mr. E took time for a workout and then headed to the rehearsal. A bit later, M's brother D and spouse M were kind enough to pick me up at the hotel so that we could all go to the rehearsal dinner, which was at a local BBQ spot. Not many options for me with that buffet, but I did enjoy some chips and [very] smoky mushrooms. We left at a reasonable time and were able to pick up some other food for me to round out my dinner.

On Saturday, we walked to J&M Cafe, one of my favorite spots that opened when I lived in PDX in 1994-1995 and a place I'd taken Mr. E during previous visits. So great to see that it's still open! And still has the awesome self-serve coffee with eclectic mugs to choose from. We were lucky enough to grab a table outside in the shade and enjoyed our brunch offerings. Then we headed across the Burnside Bridge to Powell's City of Books, where we ended up running into the rest of the Z family clan. Mr. E and I both found some good reads, and I also picked up a cat Zodiac puzzle that I somehow managed to fit in my carry-on for the trip home.

We drove to the wedding venue in the late afternoon, and the simple ceremony was truly lovely and moving. Wonderful comments and stories from friends and family as part of the ceremony, and integration of some meaningful Jewish traditions as well. Then time for photos during cocktail hour and mingling. And then... the rain started. Just a bit at first. Then the wind picked up. Then the vases of dried flowers on the tables set up for the outdoor reception under the pergola started tipping over. Then the napkins started flying off. Then the downpour started!

Luckily, there was enough room inside to relocate everything, so the banquet staff and a handful of us guests teamed up to make the transfer of the 10 tables, the 60+ chairs, and all of the place settings. Surprisingly, this unexpected challenge didn't interfere at all with the overall timing, so the dinner buffet could still go on as planned at the appropriate moment.

We stayed a little of the dancing but were still back at the hotel at a reasonable time. A really lovely event, and a memorable story with the weather disruption!

Sunday morning we grabbed breakfast at Starbucks but were disappointed not to find any seating there. Instead, we headed back across the river towards downtown and perched along the riverfront. Then we made a visit to the Portland Art Museum for the exhibition of Monet to Matisse: French Moderns. Much of the museum is currently closed for renovations and expansion, but we very much enjoyed our visit and our free entry thanks to our Crocker reciprocal membership.

On our way to the airport, we met up with another of Mr. E's good friend, M, and had lunch at the Japanese restaurant where we had attempted to get me some take-out after the rehearsal dinner (their POS had gone down so they couldn't operate) -- quite a coincidence! Mr. E and M were able to catch up about work and life, including some challenging news about M's health. Then we were off to the airport for our flight home to smooch the kitties and get ready for the week.