Portland Part II

 

As predicted making my connecting flight was a bit nerve racking in Houston but I made it. Arrived in Portland around 11:45 and was on the train to downtown by 12:15. Personally I am a huge fan of any airport/city that doesn’t force you to either rent a car or take a cab downtown. Minneapolis and Portland are both OK in my book thus far. Anyways I met S at the hotel and we headed to an Indian place for lunch. It was quick and tasty which worked because she had to get back to work, and I literally had just dropped my bags in the room. So after we parted ways I headed up and got settled in before heading down to do some exploring. Managed to find Portland’s oldest brewery without too much walking. It was a super interesting place, books on every wall, 3 beers on tap, and jazz music in the background. It was a nice intro for sure.

 

For dinner S and I went to Little Bird which was right next to our hotel. It was an awesome French Bistro. We sat at the bar and received excellent service. She has the flank steak, I had the “medium-rare” halibut. Both were superb. More to follow…..hopefully tomorrow.

Portland Part I

Headed to Portland via Houston this morning for a little vaca. Morning started off a little rough with the realization that the “great deal” I found online on airport parking actually was a hotel parking lot next to a strip club/adult-mart. I parked the car in the most well lit portion of the lot and then had to wait while a couple booked a room for a few hours. This was followed by a1-mile “Free Shuttle” (96 Dodge Durango) ride to the gate. That aside I made it there in time and all only to find out that our plane was having some issues. At first they told me they would re-route me through Newark, but then they changed planes and we left the gate a few minutes late. I am writing this from the air so it is TBD if I make my connection to Portland. We will keep out fingers crossed. 

While the weather is looking like a slightly warmer yet rainier version of Cleveland I am hoping to get a ride or two in either Thursday or Friday. Not to sure how that will pan out but I brought riding clothes, shoes, and pedals but if all else fails there are (from what I hear) 37 breweries in Portland proper. Other plans include some hiking and good food. Portland (in case you didn’t know) is a bit of a bike Mecca. There are co-ops downtown where commuters can park their bike, grab a shower and then walk to work. It also is home to some of the craziest cyclocross fans the country has to offer. Sadly I will not be racing, but judging from my local CX results that probably is a good thing. More to come…….

 

Portland update

For those that care a complete Portland update with some cool photos will be up late tonight or early tomorrow.

Back at IT

After weeks of on again off again training I got sick. It was the same old cold that I have had 3 times prior this year. One might think that I really never have been able to get rid of it. Anyways I went for two fairly short rides this weekend…….weather was not exactly cooperative, but it was nice to breath some fresh air. Hopefully next week I can gain some consistency……real training for next season starts soon ;) or maybe just some late season CX.

ACL Part II

ACL lived up to the hype. S and I got there early enough to see some of the 11am shows. These of course are some of the lesser-known bands, but it was amazing how close we could get to them. I have never been front row for live music (save maybe at the bar) and getting to see some new artist up close and personal was really cool.

Being Texas it was hot as hell. 93 if the weatherman was correct. Even the bands were praying for rain. Luckily we came prepared with a Camelbak and the ACL organizers had thought about it, and brought in a “Camelbak” tent where you could go and fill whatever type of container you had with water. There was of course shitty concert beer at $7. I had a few but it quickly occurred to me that it would take a small fortune to ever get drunk in place like this. On the flip side of this the food was exceptional and reasonably priced. We crazed on organic tamales, shrimp poor boys, homemade ice cream cookies, and some tasty chicken curry.

The last show was Arcade Fire, which despite our early middle back seats seemed like it might be 4 miles away. Since we had been out there for about 10 hours we stayed for a few songs and then headed to the shuttle before 40,000 other people got the same idea. Overall it was a great day. For me it was first festival where you could literally go from stage to stage and get a sampling of some of the best up and coming artists in the country. Needless to say I will be back, but next time it will be for a 3-day VIP pass.

Austin Day 2

Saturday in Austin…..S woke up early and headed to Bikram Yoga at I, since it is the offseason, slept in. There is just something about the curtains in hotel rooms that manage to block out all the light. It was restful but to be honest I could have slept more. After S got back we headed down to the Bouldin Creek Coffee House. It was busy but very much worth the wait. We had some delicious breakfast grub. Coffee was spot on, and the vibe was muy bueno. 

 

After breakfast/lunch settled we headed down to the Wild Basin Reserve for a nice hike in the hills surrounding Austin.  It was nice to get out of the city for a bit and get a feel for outdoors of Texas. It rained about half way through the hike, and from the looks of it they needed it. It as about 93 degrees as the time, so the precip was a nice respite. We hung out under the trees for a bit but then continued on.

Dinner was taken care of byStubb BBQ. 2 meats 2 sides and some New Belgium Beer does a body good. The rest of the evening was spend walking around downtown, eating dolce de leche frozen yogurt and really just enjoying Austin. Tomorrow is Festivus time. Can’t wait.

Austin Bound

Another early morning=another blog post. Headed down to Austin for a long weekend. On the docet is Austin City Limits, hiking, yoga, tasty BBQ and maybe even a stop at Mellow Johnnys time permitting. Should be a good weekend, I will try to fill you as I go, but there really isn’t a lot happening in the airport at 5:01am. Make sure to check out my Twitter (@atc134)for meaningless mind dribbling from the weekend.