Just a Wonderful Day

Two of my kids came home for the weekend. We celebrated by going out this morning and single-handedly attempted to rescue our country from the current recession. First stop was the Apple store where we picked up dutiful daughter's laptop which she had dropped off for repair a couple of days ago. They replaced the main logic board, no charge. I was impressed. This thing is like four years old. It cost like it was made of gold. Still, it was nice that there was no charge for the repair.

Glass Slipper Shoe Display - Taken with a cell phone & mailed

Next stop was The Glass Slipper (music starts playing automatically) where daring daughter needed a pair of shoes for Salsa dancing. Seems she wore out one pair of shoes, so she used her boots, which she has also worn out, plus she was having to dance on her toes. The new shoes have heels, so they will alleviate one problem at least. She had her eye on a pair by Capezio that cost $70, but we could not find them, so we had to settle for a pair made by Supadance that cost like they were made by Apple. We will see how long they last. If they last till her next trip home I will be very surprised.

John had taken the train from Eugene, so now we swung by Union Station to pick him up, and then headed over to the Bread & Ink Cafe on East Hawthorne. It's funny how a town can be chock full of restaurants, but when you are hungry, or in a hurry, you can't find anything. We saw a dozen interesting places on the way to Union Station, but on the way back we saw nothing but low-life dives. So we went back to where we had been several years ago, and they were still there and still in business. Being as it was Saturday and the sun was shining the crowds were out, so we had to wait a bit for a table. Our waitress had some fabulous ink and eyebrows. I would have asked for a picture and embarrassed my family, but the battery had died in my camera on the way into town when I saw a Vespa with a yellow and black jaggy paint job. The food was good, the service was excellent, and the conversation was scintillating. OK, maybe I exaggerate, but we had a good time. And we lucked into a free parking space half a block away.

Our next stop was Powell's City of Books, just because you can't go to Portland without stopping at Powell's. Now I paid for my previous good luck with parking. The area around Powell's is just a madhouse anytime you are there. I saw a parking lot with lots of space right on the corner and I used "it's a family outing" as an excuse to not look any further and just park. Cost me $7, and they don't take American Express.

Here I thought I was being clever by arranging the books so the titles would be right way up for this picture, but I missed one. Bad blogger.

We spent an hour in Powell's and picked up pile of books. Kathryn picked up some Spanish language children's books for the daughter of a friend. John picked up some fiction and some non-fiction, just because he has developed a hunger for knowledge. I got some Science Fiction, because I really like it, and Scott at Post-Hip doesn't carry any, his one serious failing.

We saw several other sights that would have merited a picture, like the string quartet playing on a corner on MLK boulevard, the dinosaur car over by Hawthorne, and the juggler outside of Powell's. But as my daughter says, it was just an oridinary day in Portland.