Portland Part II - The Great Fire of 2011

We drifted off to sleep on Sunday night with bellies full of doughnuts, only to be rudely awakened on Monday morning by the fire alarm.  It wasn't THAT loud (until you opened the hotel door) and I wasn't too worried about it until a voice came on over a loudspeaker and announced that we really needed to evacuate.  And then someone came through the halls pounding on the doors and told us to evacuate.  It's a good thing that The Benson was not up in flames, because I decided that it was imperative to brush my teeth, pack up my purse, grab my extra doughnut (did you really think I only bought one?!) and find all my jewelry.  Once we hit the hallway, we could smell the smoke.  We walked down the nine flights and stairs and joined all the other hotel guests on the sidewalk out front.

Watching smoke billow out of the top floor was only so entertaining, so we decided to head over to Stumptown Coffee Roasters, which boasts that it's the store that started the coffee revolution in Portland.

J.'s Latte

My Chai Tea Latte

Stumptown was attached to the Ace Hotel so we hung out in their lobby while we waited to go back to The Benson.  I loved this vintage hotel sign.  

After coffee, we headed back to The Benson.  Apparently, a dryer was on fire and the firemen got it under control pretty quickly.  The elevators weren't working yet, so we walked up nine flights of stairs (geez that was hard!) and got ready for the day.  For lunch, we headed to Pine State Biscuits, which was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

J.'s brunch ... The Reggie

The hashbrowns we shared ... I dug into my food without getting a picture.  Whoops!

The boys eating their post-brunch corndogs.  What, you don't eat corndogs after brunch? 

From there, we headed east to Multnomah Falls.  The drive was definitely worth it!  I hope to come back here on a summer day and do all the hikes!  It was way too cold for any hiking this past weekend!