our trip to portland was so much fun - i don't know if i can quite describe what a great time we had. we left saturday morning for the 3 hour drive, and arrived at the hotel too early to check in. instead of waiting around the hotel on hayden island, we decided to see if we could venture into town. after quite a bit of wandering, and then getting lost, and then finding ourselves again, we did discover beautiful downtown portland, and both agreed that if we were ever to relocate, portland would be the place. so much like seattle in culture, diversity and "coolness" factor, and yet, so much cleaner and friendlier.
anyway, we had a great dinner at a local restaurant called "shananigan's" (how often do you hear that word? now imagine the irony when you hear the lead character in the show use it on the very same night, describing the central event comprising the entire plot of the show... that was funny.) and headed down to the show - back downtown. i'm pleased to announce that we didn't get lost this time.
the show, Mamma Mia!, the whole reason we ventured to portland, was simply fantastic. they managed to squeeze 25 ABBA songs into the plot, and the cast was so great. matt and i both felt that this was better than Princesses, our most recent favorite, and we agreed that we wanted to put the entire cast in our pockets and take them home so they could perform for us nightly. so, so good. so good. i've been singing ABBA ever since.
we drove around the north end of portland a bit after the show, searching desperately for a house that was covered in christmas lights, which we'd seen aglow from the freeway. found it, then promptly lost all sense of direction (christmas lights will do that to a person) and spent 20 very frustrating, and very amusing minutes getting back to the freeway.
stayed up late for the countdown, of course. probably the first countdown i've seen in a couple of years (i'm not really a midnight person, unless scrapbooking is involved) but there was definitely something magical about counting down the final seconds of the "old" year, and celebrating the birth of the new.
sunday morning, we were up just in time for a leisurely breakfast. we packed up and headed out, determined to explore the area a little more before heading home. we didn't expect to stay until well after 3pm. but, after a trip to the local scrapbook store (how could we not), exploring a few local districts, and a stop at Lloyd Center, we were amazed to find we'd whittled the day away. headed home, and made a few stops along the way, so much that it felt like we weren't making any progress, but we did get in the door around 7pm.
i'm glad to be home. wish i could see that show again soon. untitl then, i'll just have to sing it myself.
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