Portland Part I - Happy Birthday Greg!

J. and his friends had Monday off for President's Day, so we decided to go to Portland and do some exploring.  I hopped on hotels.com (on Saturday night) and we got a great deal on a beautiful, historic hotel in downtown Portland.  We headed out early Sunday morning and after a quick pit stop at the hotel set out to see Portland.  First up, lunch at Deschutes Brewery:

J. and the boys

After lunch, we wandered into Powell's City of Books:

After Powell's, we went back to the hotel to check in.  We stayed at The Benson, which I highly recommend.  It was in a great location and we got a great price on hotels.com.

The National Bank was across the street.  I loved the building:

 The boys drinking out of the "Benson Bubbler" which was right outside our hotel.  Simon Benson gave the City of Portland $10,000 in 1912 to install 20 Benson Bubblers around the city.

After we rested up we took a walk to the river front and saw the Portland sign:

The beautiful buildings in Old Town:

Home of the "Ducks" Store!

It was Greg's birthday and he wanted to stop in an Irish Pub that we passed - The Thirsty Lion.  It also happened to be home of the U of M Club of Portland (we didn't hold that against them):

 Toasting Greg's birthday:

Playing with the Mardi Gras props lying all over the bar:

And did the "Scarn" (did you see The Office from last week?):

And the Carlton/Apollo Anton Ohno:

And we ended the night with a stop at VooDoo doughnuts on our way back to the hotel:

It was a very fun day and Greg's birthday gave us something fun to celebrate!