Quality time with my cousins

My cousins and aunt came to visit Portland last weekend. We had a really good time! They arrived on Thursday while I was at work. We had dinner at my mom's house. Salmon cooked on cedar planks. It was a relaxing evening, sharing stories, enjoying the outdoors when it cooled down a bit.

On Friday, they all came downtown and met me for lunch. Actually, they were staying at The Nines a few blocks from my office. We had burgers and chocolate malts at The Original across the street.

That evening I met them at the Oregon Zoo for the B-52s concert. Although, the band was over an hour late getting started it was a good time relaxing in the shade on the grass eating sandwiches from Elephant's. There were some people (normal by Portland standards) nearby that the somewhat sheltered kids from the suburbs thought were "wacky" - creative wardrobe choices, tattoos, piercings, free form "dancing" - intermingled with the families, groups, and couples.... one big happy "family" listening to the B-52s. LOL! Actually I was giggling inside that they were getting a little exposure to the "culture" that Portland offers. It spurred a conversation afterward about the "Keep Portland Weird" bumper stickers and motto.

On Saturday, we met at the Portland Art Museum and toured the American Art exhibit, portraits, pastoral scenes, post-Civil War, Industrial Revolution. I think the kids were bored but it was nice to be indoors in the air-conditioned building. We hopped on the trolley and headed to Deschutes Brewery in the Pearl for dinner. When we got back to the hotel there was a band setup and playing in front of the entrance to Pioneer Place. The girls weaved their way up-close to the singer for a front-row view. I went up to check out their room, had a beer and chit-chatted.

On Sunday, I got the truck dialed in.. I vacuumed and took it for spin through the car wash. We headed out to the Gorge. We stopped at the Women's Forum lookup point facing Crown Point. We noticed that there were tons of blackberries. The girls couldn't get enough. We were eating them as quickly as we could find them. We hopped back into the truck and made a stop at the View Point Inn. Apparently, some scenes from "Twilight" were filmed there. They both were definitely Edward fans.

We continued on the Historic Highway, passing by Crown Point but not stopping. There was a bit of congestion as we got closer to Multnomah Falls so I dropped everyone off and found a parking spot down the way.

When I found them, the girls were getting sno-cones because it was so warm out. We started up the trail. My mom stayed at the lower bridge while my aunt made a valiant effort to keep up with us. She eventually decided she'd seen enough and turned back to find my mom. The four of us persevered to the top. As soon as we found the stream, the girls wanted to jump in. The water was pretty cold but we went in.

We took a quick spin to the waterfall lookout and went back to play in the water some more. After awhile we made out descent back to the lodge below and found my mom and aunt. It was a good hike and a very nice day to explore the Gorge a little.

That evening we met at the Melting Pot in SW. We almost didn't get in on account of not having prior reservations but they worked us in. The food was great and I was stuffed.

We left the restaurant and as we made it to the street, it hit us that we'd be saying goodbye. Their plan was leaving early the next morning and they were taking MAX to the airport. It was such a quick trip. I wish they could have stayed longer. We hugged and sniffled our goodbyes, vowing to see each other again soon and for safe travels and parted. They headed north toward the hotel, we headed east to my truck.