As we ventured off for the first out of state competition of the season, we had a list of amazing things to do in Portland and the outlying areas. From our usual hangouts of Peet’s Coffee and Powell’s Books, to our new found cool places like the Portland Saturday Market and Pine State Biscuits, our trip itinerary was filling out very quickly.
Our trip down was very uneventful. We arrived at the hotel well before we intended to, checked in and were ready to go check out the dance venue. After spending a bit of time there, we decided to hit Pine State Biscuits for our first night’s dinner. After a careful perusing of the menu and a few questions to guy behind the counter, the Reggie Deluxe was on my plate and a side of sausage gravy fries was along side it. I finished off the meal by adding a gorgeous IPA to it. It was perfect. We ventured back to the hotel for the evening and settled in.
On Saturday, we had the entire day to check out things around town. We started downtown in the Pearl District with Peet’s and Powell’s. Peet’s always delivers a decent cup of coffee, and Powell’s Books is one of the best places to go to find something to read. We grabbed a cup of coffee and a few books.
Powell’s also had an amazing story time setup for Saturday morning. There’s a Giraffe in my Soup was the title of the first book. We didn’t have time to stay for the second, but the reader did a wonderful job of presenting the story to everyone, even in a noisy bookstore.
From there, we moved on to the farmers market and a beautiful day at the Riverfront Park. The trees were blooming, the sun was out and the temperatures were in the 70’s. It was a perfect day to be outside. It was so nice out, we even took a bit of a detour to the Splash Zone of the park.
Evie decided to get seriously drenched at the park, so before we had lunch, Ara snuck off to grab her a new outfit. Once we got dried off, we grabbed some lunch from one of the on-site trucks and ate. After that, we headed back to the hotel to change before going to catch some of the performances and awards for the girls that evening.
Evie ran into a teammate and took some time to get a few selfies before we went in to watch some of the performances. After seeing how far ahead of schedule they were, we decided we better get dinner and get back before all the acts we wanted to see went on.
Bistro 23 was where we ended up for dinner. Their burgers, pizzas and sandwiches all looked incredible. For the second night in a row, We had nailed our dinner choice. Even their Brussel Sprouts were great. If you’re even in the Parkrose area of Portland, you need to hit Bistro 23 for one of your meals. You won’t be sorry on that one. After we finished up dinner, we went back to see a bit more dancing.
With Sunday morning now upon us, we were up early and in makeup and hair for the big day. Show time was 11:00 ish and awards were scheduled for about an hour after it. The girls did great earning a High Gold and nailing their performance. They were quite amazing! We then had the afternoon to watch a bit more dancing and finally shuffle off to Target so Evie could find her toy for the trip.
The evening ended with a trip to a sushi belt place, which isn’t even worthy of mentioning. It was back to the hotel for another night before we headed back on Monday. The trip was a huge success and we had a blast. We’ll be back on the road in a few weeks taking our Spring Break trip to Cama Beach again this year. Can’t wait to settle in and disconnect from things for a few days, but that won’t stop my blogging!
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