Road Trip, Day 17 & 18 - Thanksgiving in Portlandia! (Wed & Thu, 26-27 Nov)

Our next stop in this stunningly beautiful country was promising to be yet another highlight.

My oldest sis, Estea, spend a year as a Rotary exchange student way back in 1997 in Monticello, a small town in Minnesota, not far from Minneapolis. I was also able to visit her in Monticello during that year and met some of the wonderful people that she became friends with. One of them was the Rotary club member in charge of the student exchange program, Don Smith. Don and I became instant friends, even before we actually met in person for the first time, as we planned my arrival to be a surprise for my sister.

Since then Don and I remained good friends, to the extent that Brenda and I were very kindly invited to spend Thanksgiving with Don & Nancy and their family, the moment he got a whiff of our trip to the USA

So from Seattle we had a relatively short drive to Portland - we stuck it out on the I5 for about 170 miles or so:

Portland is an interesting place  - some people that I have met say it is a weird place. Or rather, a place full of weird people. It is apparently very 'green', and people appear to focus on all things organic, sustainable, and generally just to be non-conformist bicyclists.  As a result of this view, a TV show called Portlandia saw the light - see a trailer of it here.

We however didn't experience Portland or any of its people to be weird. In fact the hospitality received was so warming, it felt more like home than anything else.

Portland is a beautiful city, and Don and Nancy's condo has a wonderful view of the city and Mt Hood behind it:

The view from Don & Nancy's home

Mt Hood in the background

Brenda and I were very excited to experience our first Thanksgiving dinner. It had the recipe for a perfect occasion, as we were going to experience this the way American people do - together with a family in their home, turkey and pumpkin pie and all!

The plan on Thanksgiving Thursday was to have the feast at Andrea (one of Don & Nancy's daughters) & Randy's home.  Don was however so kind to take us on a quick sightseeing excursion to the Columbia River Gorge, which I have heard a lot about. Despite some light rain, it was a beautiful drive.

Proper Portland graffiti

Bren, Piet, Nancy & Don, with the Columbia River behind us 

Columbia River coming through the gorge

One of the many stunning waterfalls alongside the Colombia river 

Multnomah Falls

We were welcomed into Andrea and Randy's home like we were family and suffice to say that we had the most amazing Thanksgiving dinner anyone could ask for.

Andrea with the dead bird. 

Randy busy attacking said bird. 

Brenda providing some entertainment

Nancy, Colin & Brenda 

The wonderful Smith family (well, almost all of them)

Thank you so much for your generosity, hospitality (and wonderful entertainment, Mira & Xavier!!)
Brenda and I were really privileged to have been able to share such a great few days and especially Thanksgiving, with you!

Until next time.