Good thing gas is so cheap...

I had the most incredible weekend. It was so completely Oregon that I had to write it all down. Two of my friends were in town on Friday night from China, and wanted to do a bunch of fun “Oregon/Portland” type stuff, so we went to Coffee People for shakes, Esparza’s for dinner and then went down to the Brewfest to check out all of the beers. Good thing my friend’s wife is pregnant, so somebody could drive as the Brewfest turned into an evening for sure! I ended up running into so many people that it was awesome. People from high school, college, and beyond. Apparently that’s what happens when you live somewhere long enough to obtain that sort of history. Crazy. After the Brewfest, we headed to the Aussie’s brother’s house in the West Hills to drink more beer and chill out on their fabulous deck. Much fun was had.

Saturday was spent lounging in bed until it was too hot, so yeah, I was out of bed around 9:30am. I dragged the roommates down to St. Honoré Boulangerie to grab some coffee and croissants. I took those and went up to see Chitown, who had offered to cook me breakfast. He made this awesome egg scramble with insane amounts of garlic and rosemary so fresh I could still see where he had picked it off the plant. The potatoes were equally as good, as he put a bunch of Cajun spice on them. Mmmmm! After that, I staggered back to the apartment and all three roomies decided that it truly was hotter than hell, so we threw on our bathing suits and drove out to the beach at Sauvie Island to take in some rays and swim in the river. It was a fabulous idea and we had a wonderful time. Besides, a Saturday afternoon at Sauvie offers unlimited people watching. We came home to a still-hot apartment, so Strong Draught and I immediately passed out on the couches while Steamboat disappeared. Hilarious. She even threatened to take pictures. After I woke up, I showered and packed to head up to El Cabino for the second annual summer party. It was a little mellower than last year, but still fun. We had a lovely little fire and I got to run around in jeans and a sweatshirt, so that didn’t suck.

Sunday, I woke up looking at the sun beaming on Mt. Hood. It was incredible and I stopped making fun of Chitown for insisting that the door of the tent face the mountain so he could see it when he woke up. I hate admitting that he’s right sometimes. Anyway, I got up and bid farewell to everyone, stopped at Holstein’s for coffee and a bagel and then hauled ass back to Portland so that I could meet my family at my old place and get a ride to PIR for the American LeMans races. Those are awesome, for anyone who is interested in any kind of motorsports. The race itself it quite interesting, there are beautiful cars everywhere and the seats are all general admission. Plus, the paddocks offer unequivocal views of such cool things as pit stops and changing drivers as required by LeMans racing rules. Plus, I got to sit in a Cadillac Escalade, since I’ll pretty much never be able to afford one. After the races, I went home, took a nap on the couch and then went to an amazing dinner.

It was the 5th anniversary of Castagna, the fabulous restaurant in SE, on Hawthorne. We started with champagne and hors d’oeuvres outside under the tent before being escorted into the dining room and seated at our assigned tables. Our fellow tablemates were wonderful, the six-course meal with matching wines for each course was astounding, and the evening was perfect.

Quote of the Day: “and i'll sit and wonder/of every love that could've been/if i'd only thought of something charming to say.” The Sound of Settling, Death Cab for Cutie