Spent a fun weekend up in Portland. Great weather, OK-ish company, and a fun city; Great combo! The main focus of the trip was the Young The Giant show at McMenamins Amphitheater. We’ve already seen them a few times, but like them enough to make a short trip, plus Milky Chance was opening and we like them also. We got to Portland Thursday evening and the show wasn’t until Saturday, so we had ample time for extracurriculars. Some friends drove down from Washington Friday morning, and we kicked things off with a great breakfast at Pine State Biscuits. I won’t lie, I almost ruined the whole plan when I saw the option to order your biscuits with mushroom gravy. Sometimes you just have to make a stand for what is right and wrong. The group was able to talk me off the ledge though, under the somewhat flimsy premise that just because they offered it, I didn’t have to order it. Well… OK. I have to admit my breakfast was fantastic, but I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that somewhere in the restaurant, someone had ordered biscuits and mushroom gravy. Shudder. After breakfast our locally-based hostess took us on a nice little tour of the downtown area, and general vacation-ish fun ensued.

The place we stayed was actually a really nice short-term apartment building that our friend was able to hook us up with, so our rooms were great. They had a really nice roof-top deck with great views, so we enjoyed our coffee and donuts up there to kick off Saturday. You could see the river directly below, Mt Hood was right in front of us, and Mt St Helens was visible in the distance also. After that we kicked around a few nearby entertainment areas, then it was off to the show. Both bands put on great sets, but I do find my generally anti-amphitheater sentiment growing. This place didn’t have any seats at all, and we ended up sitting on the ground. Yeah, I’m about 20 years past those days. Every time I stood up, it got progressively more difficult. I was reasonably sure there was going to be medical personnel or heavy equipment involved in extricating me by the end of the concert, possibly a mix of both. Somewhere during the Young The Giant show though, Donette decided that if we were going to be uncomfortable, we might as well just stand down front. Key decision; It wasn’t really that crowded, and the show was way better. Our blanket-spot was so far back that the stage was barely visible, and the music marginal, but down front both were great. Made that call a little late in the show, but it paid off at the end.

Sunday, by the time we got up and around, it was time to head to the airport. We got home at a reasonable 1:00 or so, grabbed a pizza for lunch, and headed home to see the dogs. Quinny faired the absence reasonably well, but Nacho treated us to her typical over-the-top dramatics for quite a while. The volume level at the concert paled in comparison to her rather ridiculous shrieking. Nice to be missed, I suppose.