Portland ahoy!

I'm sitting on the train, cruising along the Puget Sound, watching the sunset, and enjoying free wi-fi.  I had a lovely spinach salad for dinner (with a soda to balance out the healthy).  I'm pretty content with this moment.

There's something to be said for train travel.  I actually love driving, especially on sunny days with the windows down, the music blaring, and no agenda but to get there eventually.  However, the relaxing aspect of just sitting here and not worrying, at this moment, feels hard to beat.

And this weekend was, in a word, amazing!

Saturday my mom and I headed south to meet up with my oldest childhood friend and her mother for lunch.  I've known Chelsea since she was three months old and I was three weeks old.  We spent our first two years of life together on a college campus.  That's right, my first home was a college dorm.

Dad, me, Chelsea

My dad was in grad school and a hall director.  He would even take me with him when he had to confront the problem residents.  I was a super baby shield.  I mean, who would want to get angry at this?

After we made the plans to meet for lunch, Chelsea asked if I wanted to come back to Portland with them to check out a Timbers game and enjoy the awesomeness of their family.  Of course, I said yes.

We got back to Portland in time for a quick change before heading downtown.  The Timbers game was a blast and just made me more determined to go to a Sounders game.

Chelsea has season tickets in Timbers Army, the section of fans that stands and chants the entire game.  We got spots in the second row, with far more people than there was actually space.  The chants were varied and obnoxious, just as they should be.  We even sang "you are my sunshine" to the team.

The Timbers won!  Over Real Salt Lake, the last undefeated team in the league.  Probably because of my chanting whatever words I thought I was hearing.  I didn't exactly know what was going on.

The only downside of the game was the smoke bombs that were lit after the goal and the win.  It was a little bit difficult to breath.  Luckily I had a Timbers scarf to save me from certain death.  I wish I had a picture to describe how dense the smoke actually was.

This is kind of how the smoke made us.  By the way, we're on a waterbed.

After the game, we headed to Deschutes Brewery for a little post game snack.  Sweet potato fries (my new favorite) for all!  And hard cider.  Yum.

This morning we went out for a delicious breakfast at the Radio Room.  My plate was yummy and everything was incredibly reasonably priced.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

Chelsea and I even managed to fit in a little shopping, though I walked away empty handed.

Now I'm just counting down the minutes until I can climb into my bed, especially since the train is running a little late.  And enjoying the train ride.