Cannon Beach

For our last weekend in Portland, we drove to Cannon Beach and spent some time on the beach. Despite the chilly weather, we played in the water, buried Melody in the sand and walked along the beautiful coastline. The views at this beach are absolutely gorgeous. After coming back to Denver in the 90+ weather, I would take a cool day on the beach any day.

Testing out the sand

She got more daring as the day progressed.

David's B-Day!

While we were in Portland David turned the big 27! We celebrated with our nieces and nephews at home, and had all of David's favorites - homemade hamburgers and curly fries for dinner, root beer floats, strawberry lemonade cupcakes, and lemon cheesecake!

Brayden, Landon, Charlotte and Melody. She looks super tiny in this picture.

Seattle

We couldn't go all the way to Portland without visiting Seattle, especially because David had never been there and because my oldest brother and his family live there. The first night we were there, my brother, Ric, treated us to a night out at Jazz Alley. We had dinner and were entertained by a great electric jazz band. It was so nice to get away on our own, hire a babysitter, and have a grown-up date that didn't involve renting a Redbox. The next day we ventured to the city and walked through Pike Place Market, hung out at the pier, and went to the Space Needle. We really liked the feel in Seattle, and if it weren't for the almost constant rainy weather, would love to settle there.

Pike Place Market

Melody loved chasing the pigeons. 

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Portland - Food Network Style

When we found out we were going to Portland, rather than look up the "must-see" sites, I immediately looked up the "must-eats" on Food Network. David and I are big fans of 'Man vs Food,' and 'Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives,' so we were excited to explore some of the places we saw when these shows covered Portland. We ended up getting to go to most of the places on our list. The food did not disappoint, but we were surprised at how much of a dive some of these places were. The Food Network definitely doesn't show the less glamorous parts of the restaurants.

While there we had man-cakes at Stepping Stone Cafe, ate a 'Reggie' at Pine State Biscuits, savored salted carmel flavored ice-cream at Ruby Jewel Scoops, and tasted a variety of eccentric donuts at Voodoo Doughnut.

Mancakes

Caution: Do not do the Voodoo on Memorial Day - 2 hour wait

The Voodoo Doughnut truck

Therapeutic Associates

We have been in Portland the last eight weeks for David's second clinical rotation. While we were there, we stayed at my sister's house. I enjoyed lots of sister bonding, and Melody loved running around with her cousins. She has been running around the house aimlessly since we have been home, looking for someone to play with.

David's clinical was at an outpatient orthopedic clinic called Therapeutic Associates. David knew that he would love to specialize in outpatient ortho and the last few weeks just confirmed it. He had a really great experience, and was lamenting having to go back to classes this morning. We can't wait for him to get his real job, just two more semesters...

David with his Clinical Instructors, Laura and Kevin