Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Welcome to Beervana!


The family flew up to Portland on July 23rd to visit some dear friends and take in the local scenery...and ales. What a place! In the next few posts I'll extol some of the many virtues of Oregon, but for now suffice it to say that Mila and I both feel like our return to Texas is like crawling up on some strange and inhospitable shore.

That first evening, Bil and I biked down to Tom McCall Park (passing a monument to the Bill of Rights!) for the Brewers' Guild Dinner. Only 600 tickets were sold, and Bil had managed to get us a pair-- tickets number 4 and 5, actually! The man is no slacker.

Bil shot the picture at the top with his cell phone fairly early in the evening, just after we had finished our dinner which featured smoked Columbia River salmon. Yum!
Each of us got 6 eight-ounce pourings-- mainly from the Pacific Northwest but there were a few from other regions as well. We also did a lot of sampling of each other's choices. Somewhere in our yet-to-be-unpacked luggage (maybe if we don't unpack the trip won't be over?) I have my notes from the evening, which will appear in a forthcoming post.
The weather was chilly even before sunset. In fact, our kiddoes Onni and Davis had put on sweaters back at the airport. With the sun going down and the temperature dipping into the 50s, Bil and I mounted up and returned to the eastside via the Steel Bridge. Gliding along the river in that heavenly cool air and watching the sun set behind the city was an experience I'll not soon forget.

This parade was held the next day, and even though we missed it, the spirit of the 4-day event is quite evident. Plus you can see the nifty festival mugs we each were issued.

2 comments:

stephen said...

great beer and dipping into the '50's! sounds like heaven.

Lee said...

I don't know if I'll ever leave Austin, but if I do, Portland is top of the list for cities to consider.