In the life of Sarah: Trip to Portland

I got to rent a car and work in Portland this week Wednesday, Thursday!! I

t was a blast! I rented a convertable... of which meant that I got to go to the airport!

Marissa was great to give Cartman a home for a few days and drive me there...

So I picked up the fastest, newest, coolest car they had... and was on my way...

Once on the road... I had to stop at... where else??

After my banana shake and cheeseburger were purchased, I was on my way to Portland... to try and find the Mark Spencer Hotel. Once there, I checked in and found my room.

Here is the room tour:

This place must've been a really old apartment building, because I had the LARGEST PANTRY that you'd ever need over night (?). I also had lots of closet space for all of my clothes... (good thing..)

So in addition to the sweet kitchen, living room and bedroom... I also had a kick ass view! I had one window facing west, and the other facing north.

At that point (funny story) I went to move my car into the parking garage. The man at the front desk told me where it was and I was off! With the confidence of the all-knowing Sarah.. I again drive around for 15 minutes looking for the parking garage. It's under the building. It can't be far. I found a "garage" sign, but my key card wouldn't open it up. I go back to the front of the hotel, walk back in, and the front desk man says, yep - your at the right garage... just use your room key. Oh.

Absolutely Beautiful.

Alright - first day of work... I get lost downtown... but Josh calls me while I'm lost and makes it fun :) AND I see some unique Portland parks and odd pieces of art.

Just as I get directions from Starbucks... I get lost again, stop at another coffee shop (who oh so nicely print out mapquest for me) and what happens? Train... Well, it wasn't moving. Just sitting there... and I (obviously) don't know where I'm going... so I just pull out my laptop and start typing. After 30 minutes and no movement... Marissa was kind enough to "OnStar" me to the office...

I worked with Darlene the Recruiter for 2 days and she was wonderful.

After Wednesday's day of fun at the office... I decided to go out to dinner. I had spotted a cool spot on my drive around the building 50 times when trying to find the garage. I could also see it from my room. It reminded me of the places we used to go eat with my dad when he was on the baseball trip.

So Jake's - here I come. Turns out that Jake's is 114 years old... and AMAZING. The coolest music, not too loud, but you don't have to strain to listen to it. The best "older" bartenders ever... with an incredible sense of humor to add on top.

At the end of the greatest two and a half hours I've had in a long time, I was convinced that this would become a place that I would visit every time I came to Portland. Hopefully you'll get to come too.

Next day (Thursday) I got started early with my banana and muffins... and I was pretty sad it was such a short visit.

I worked until 5pm... and yes... I did get lost again on the way to work. I think I continued to type the wrong directional point on the address (i.e. NW instead of NE). Anyway... I got to drive in the sunshine with my top down from Portland all the way to Vader. I love Mrs. Beasley's!