After having a delicious breakfast at Bandon Dunes and picking up some gifts at the pro shop we began our trip to Portland. The ride was great through the Oregon country side, especially along the lowland section of the North Umpqua River.
The tranquil drive was only briefly disturbed by a few conference calls involving the old (but still very cool) dude. We grabbed a bite to eat in Eugene, a town both of us had spent significant time in during the Track Olympic Trials three years ago. It was great to be back in that nice little city and relieving to be once again in a college town.
At around three o'clock we got to the Portland Airport and picked up Mike Shiplet, mandolin in to. We quickly stopped by our hotel, The Heathman, made some plans and hit the town. Our first impromptu stop was a haberdasher around the corner where we all got fabulous hats which we wore together with pride the rest of the night indicating to everyone else that we were clearly tourists.
Next, my camera died. After that we made our way to Frank's Tavern, a bar and grille with 109 beers on tap. We made it just in time for the happy special on appetizers and got some spinach dip, humus with pita chips and some seafood cakes. All of which went well with the three beers each of us had, Eugene City Brewery Honey-Orange Wheat, Hop Works Urban Brewery Organic Hub Lager, and last but not least (what was once the best beer on tap in Lexington until the palms discontinued it) Rouge Hazelnut Brown Ale. All three brews were from local Oregon producers.
For dinner we walked around town and eventually stopped at a Lebanese Restaurant (because Kahlil Gibran a favorite writer of Davis Franklin was himself Lebanese). The restaurant was a big hit. We had lamb Kabab's washed down with a Gin Martini's.
We ended the night by checking out a hole in the wall Jazz bar featuring a mediocre band with a great female lead vocalist. We made our way back to the hotel feeling like we had made the best of our brief time in Portland.
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