Weekend in Portland

A couple weekends ago, Joey and I went up to Portland, OR for my holiday party at the company headquarters. My company flew me and my coworkers up there for the weekend and Joey came along for a nice little getaway.

FRIDAY AT WORK

Friday morning Fabian, Moon, and I flew to Portland to work at the headquarters for the day. We had to get up super super early to make it for our first meeting of the day at 10:30 am. We landed around 9am, grabbed a Starbucks, and hopped on the lightrail that goes directly into downtown.

I really love the scenery in Portland. It is unlike any other metro city I have ever been to. I feel like it is a life size version of an erector set city - a little boy's dream. There are bridges and trains and industrial buildings everywhere, yet it is so modern and progressive. Here is a view out the lightrail car. I really love the bridges.

After our nice little ride in, we arrived at the company headquarters. I think I mentioned this in an earlier post, but our headquarters is ridiculously fancy. Here we are in the lobby - high ceilings, stark white walls, floor to ceiling windows, cement floors, and of course, a giant robot made out of styrofoam blocks. I mean, why not? It feels like a museum in there!

For lunch, we headed out with some of the Portland designers to get something delicious from one of the millions of food carts (ok, more like 800 I think.) There were two parking lots side by side in the middle of the downtown full of them! And they were hopping too. I think this is where everyone goes for lunch. And why not? When you can get all sorts of really good gourmet food for like 5 or 6 bucks. Fabian and I got spicy teryiaki chicken from a Japanese one.

Then, back to work for the rest of the day. The afternoon flew by and it was night before we knew it. Here I am leaving the office. You can see the entrance behind me. One of the headquarter's recent projects was a big sports retail experience in China so there is this really cool exhibit in the entry hall.

That night, Joey flew in and met up with me and the crew for a late dinner and a couple drinks.

SATURDAY EXPLORING DOWNTOWN

On Saturday we had the whole day to explore before the Christmas party at night. We spent most of the day just walking around and taking pictures. It really is a beautiful city.

It was so nice to see the leaves changing colors and feel like it was winter. In San Diego, we've barely broken out the long sleeves.

Picture of a picture.

Later that night we headed back to the office for the party. It was held in the same building as the office in an unoccupied section. The theme of the party was "formal but not quite normal" and everyone was encouraged to wear something unusual with their dress attire. So the four of us wore these neon shade glasses to represent California. Everyone had a lot of fun with this idea and made for some really funny outfits. Some people were so creative! But I guess this is a company full of designers and engineers.

My company is full of international people so the music and dancing was so diverse - it made for a really good time. The party went on forever - we stayed there dancing until 2am. I couldn't believe it. It was the latest company party I have ever been to. My company knows how to party! Sorry I don't have more pictures to show - most of them were too blurry or embarrassing - so I would get in trouble from Fabian and Joey if I posted them!

SUNDAY ROAD TRIP

The next day Moon had to fly back but the rest of us decided to rent a car and get out of the city. I'd heard that the surrounding area outside Portland is just gorgeous, so we headed out to the Columbia River Gorge to see some beautiful views, waterfalls, and snow. Here is a view from the road along the Columbia River.

One of our first stops was at the Vista House overlooking the river and gorge. What a view!

When we got out of the car, we realized how incredibly windy it was. It was seriously the absolute windiest place I have ever been to in my life. I felt like I was in a tornado simulator. The wind was so strong, you couldn't walk straight. And you could physically lean against the wind in certain places and it would hold your body weight - as you can see Fabian doing here.

And me bracing myself so I didn't get blown away!

Joey and Fabian also realized that if you faced the wind and jumped it would fly you back a couple feet - so they had a fun 10 min doing that!

Next, we moved on to some of the other scenic view spots. Here is a less windy overlook. Fabian the photographer instructed that we kiss on this photo. It's a little mushy for us but I guess it's cute.

We continued down the scenic highway stopping at several small waterfalls and stopping at the largest and most famous one - Multnomah falls.

After the gorge, we headed south to visit Mt. Hood. It was nice to see snow for the first time this year!

On the way back, we stopped at a local brewery - McMenamins. Portland is the beer capital of the US apparently, so we had to stop for a beer sampler (with a side of spicy tater tots. mmm!)

Then off to the airport for our 8pm flight. The guys were beat!

Another fun weekend on the west coast!