Portland, Part Two

Of course, I also spent a good bit of time the Josh and Stacey Noem, and their children Oscar, Simon and Lucy. We enjoyed a lovely little hike together in the Columbia River Gorge . . .

. . . making the most of the lovely Fall weather we had all week. The temperatures were pleasantly cool, the sun was out, Mt. Hood made an appearance, and the Fall colors were starting to pop out:

I made return trips to several of my favorite restaurants, but I also made time to try a few new places that I had missed before I left this summer, or that I read about in Portland Monthly magazine (to which I still subscribe to keep abreast of goings-on in the Rose City).

One of those new places was the Grilled Cheese Grill, one of the up and coming food carts that dot the Portland landscape. Food carts and street vendors are a real favorite in Portland because they so perfectly fit the city's frugality, slightly off-beat persona.

Located on a vacant lot on Alberta Street, the Grilled Cheese Grill is operated out of an old camper, with the 'indoor' seating section in an old school bus parked right along side. The menu has all sorts of fun twists on the grilled-sandwich theme, but on my first visit I stuck with the classic: American cheese on white bread.

My sandwich was the Platonic ideal of the grilled cheese sandwich: a golden, buttery, crisp exterior to interiorly soft bread, with hot cheese oozing out the sides. Perfection! And dirt cheap to boot!!

At the end of the week, for a slightly more up-scale experience, the old gang gathered at Mint 820 for cocktails and late night snacks:

Over the closing weekend of my trip, I presided at the wedding of Shaun and Julianna Hewitt. I've had the pleasure of knowing Shaun and Julianna through a good portion of their courtship, and also helped Shaun through the RCIA process this past year. It was a lovely wedding.

On Sunday morning, I presided and preached the 10 am Mass at Holy Redeemer and also baptized Emma Pearl Wazny, the first child of Scott and Dana Wazny, who I also got to know this past year in the HR RCIA program. It was a real honor that Dana and Scott asked for me to do the Baptism while I was visiting.

After a lovely brunch with three friends from the Holy Redeemer faculty and their husbands, I presided at a special afternoon Mass for Martha and Mary Ministries. Founded by my parishioner and friend Pat Cary, Martha and Mary Ministries is a Catholic hospice program. We observed Right to Life Sunday a week late, but its always a good time to pray for an end to abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, and all attacks on human dignity!

From start to finish, East to West, the whole trip was an absolute blast. Portland fit like a glove, and I was reminded why I miss it so much. But I was also glad to come home to Old College at the end of the week, and to begin the next phase of my application process. Indeed, my next posts should be about a few grad program visits I'll be making out East.