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What To Do First?

I've never been to Portland before and o can't go to our second friend's Portland wedding in October because I have another friend's wedding that both Penny and I are in on that very same day. So I did a bit of research and made a list of things to do.  We landed at noon. Hubs didn't want to rent a car instead opting to try using all public transportation. So we found the Lite Max Rail and for $2.50 we were taken into the city. Penny immediately noticed how "green" Portland was compared to the drought ridden Los Angeles.  

Our first stop was Grassa, recommended by Montez, where they handcrafted all their pasta. Penny had fun watching the guy make tagatoni and she had more fun eating the handful he gave her! When we were done eating our pasta was brought to the table and boy was it ever good!! Perfect for the cast over day and it warmed us up!



After a hearty lunch we decided we needed dessert as in donuts! Montez said the best donuts in town were not VooDoo Donuts but Blue Star Donuts and there just so happened to be one near Grassa. With our full belly's we were debating this move and luckily for our waistlines a long, long line to get into the store made our decision to bypass Blue Star an easy choice. We continued walking and it was two blocks later that we ran into Ruby Jewel which was suggested by Matthew Hinojosa as the best ice cream parlor in Portland. Since Penny didn't eat a lot we said the word "ice cream" and she immediately took our hands and pulled us into the ice cream shop. The girl loves chocolate ice-cream but the menu only listed a Mexican Chocolate which I knew from past experience is hot. I got the girl to give Penny a sampler to ensure spicy chocolate was okay and she took one bite and said "mom, I want that." So we got her a scoop of ice-cream in a bowl with a removable cone to boot. I think Dad was thinking he would get more bites than he did but I knew better. When it comes to Chocolate Penny rarely shares until she is full. With ice cream in her belly our next stop was to find a toy store. Finnagin's to be exact. Another two blocks down from the ice cream shop was a really cool toy store. Penny had a great time exploring and discovering new toys. She especially liked this marble maze and I probably would have bought it for her if we weren't lugging around our luggage. The good thing about Penny is that she changes her focus so much she didn't even notice I din't buy her a toy and we walked out the door to our next stop...the largest bookstore in America, Powell's Books. With 3500 different sections the store took up a huge city block! We went in and it was daunting. I stopped at the information booth to ask where the kids section was. It was an amazing section. I spent an hour and a half looking and selecting books. Too darn bad Penny was throwing a fit and the line to check out was super long so no purchase was made. We left the bookstore close to the time when we needed to get to the wedding. After all we still needed to get dressed. However, hubs was in the mood for a beer so we made our way to a bar but the bar was extremely busy so we headed to the wedding site. Secretly, I was happy because I wan't enough time to get ready.

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