Portland - Day 4

Day four began with a coffee shop and a homemade poptart filled with rhubarb jam. The coffee was good and strong, the poptart, outrageous. After putzing for a bit we went back and woke Phil up and headed for lunch at Cheese and Crack, a restaurant that specialized in charcuterie with style. First, they make their own crackers and bread, which is phenomenal. Second, there presentation is topnotch. Third, it started as a food cart and evolved into a restaurant owned by a entrepreneur younger than me, inspiring. From there we went out to Sauvie Island for a little berry picking. It was pretty hot, but we ended up with quite a bucket full of berries at an incredible discount. After our little picking adventure we went back to the rental car to discover that both my mom and Erin had left their doors completely wide open. Thankfully, nothing was taken out while were picking.

This, little tidbit was only interesting because they day we had gone to Multnomah Falls my three companions freaked out when they discovered that the trunk to our rental car was open. But, it was only open because we had a rental car and I, being the primary driver, had approached another red car that I assumed was ours from a distance and popped the trunk. When I saw that a red car a few spaces down had its trunk opened by my command I realized my error and changed course. All three of my companions by this point had become aware of the open trunk and ran to check that nothing had been stolen and each scolded me for leaving the trunk open. I laughed at their reaction and told them what had happened and they responded in turn. When then, I discovered they had left not one, but two car doors completely ajar at the berry picking farm their responses were much more muted. "No big deal". "Stop freaking out". Oh, the irony! The light-hearted hypocrisy!

After berry picking we stayed on the Columbia River and had intentions of going in for a quick swim. But, it wasn't as hot after the drive so Phil and I barely waded in and we instead sipped on ales and read on the shore. We returned to Phil's home in Portland and showered and readied ourselves for Pizza at Ken's Artisan Pizza where my brother works. Delicious pizza. It is truly some of the best pizza I've had outside of Rome. After pizza we stepped into a pool hall for a game and Phil explained that he had shown some of his artwork here before.