The Return of the Gitta

I've managed to escape the clutches of my parents and the city of Portland. In other words, I was on vacation last week to the city of Portland. My dad was in Portland for a National Academy of Kinesiology conference, so my mom and I tagged along to see a new city and do some sightseeing. (Kinesiology is the basically study of human movement, in case you were wondering.)

So I'm sure you've been wondering what happened to me... I'm usually so good about posting each weekday, and I failed that pretty badly this past week. I guess could have posted using my handy-dandy smart phone app, but texting a post using my thumbs didn't appeal to me. I type much faster. So here's a brief start to my Portland trip...

On my way to the airport, I got stuck behind a truck with the bumper sticker: Please drive naked. I found it amusing. Maybe you don't. Either way, I don't suggest trying that anytime soon.

My airplane snack food/lunch consisted of beef jerky, which is always a handy stand-by when you're Paleo-on-the-go. I fell asleep for take-off. This ended up being a good thing, because I slept through the ear pain that I usually get from airplane take-offs and landings. watched Battleship on the plane and studied for the FE exam. Studying = un-fun. On the happy side, we made it to Portland in one piece!

We stayed at the Hotel Monaco, which wins points for leaving a teddy bear in the room (see below). They also get points because they host a daily happy hour with free wine and beer tasting, which my parents and I hit up before we even went into our hotel room. They set up a Wii for people to play Mario Kart, as well as an easel and paint for attendees to explore they're more creative side. We were there for four nights and I was the only person who made use of the painting or the Wii. So what, I played video games like a kid while drinking wine. I'm cool with it. And do you want to know what's even better than all that? They host a Thursday morning run at 6am! Not many hotels do that. So I woke up at 5:45am on Thursday, stumbled into my workout clothes and running shoes, and made my way to the front desk where I was greeted by my running guide/chief engineer of the hotel. It was about 50F outside for our run, and it was a bit of a shock from the Texas heat that I'm used to, but vastly preferred. We ran down to the river front, along the river, and then across one of the numerous bridges to check out the other side, before looping back to make up a 3.7-mile loop. It felt good (I haven't been doing more than 2.5 miles without taking a break - I blame the 90-degree heat)! My hamstrings didn't quite agree that it felt good, but  it was a great way to start the day off before walking lots and lots while sight-seeing.

Picture taken while standing in our sitting room!

Nick at the front desk recommended that we try out Jake's Grill (park of McCormick and Schmick's) for a good steak, so that's where we went our first night so I could get: The Queen Bee (made with lemon and honey) and steak. Yum.

The Queen Bee