Vacation and Birthday

I’ve been on vacation this week and, though I haven’t traveled any further away from home than Portland, it’s been a very enjoyable week. Sometimes staying home, sleeping in, catching up on chores, and spending time with someone you love is the best way to spend a vacation.

I had a two-day birthday celebration with Mark on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday afternoon we took a very nice walk, about 5 miles round-trip we figured, along part of the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail. Walking, talking, enjoying the scenery, the mild summer afternoon, and each other’s company…it was very nice. Later we fixed a delicious (and healthy!) dinner of salmon, salad, and fresh fruit, and then traveled to Horse Brass Pub in Portland to play darts. We’ve played steel tip darts 5 times or so over the past few weeks, and we’re really enjoying it. While Mark had played steel tip darts before, I think that my experience was limited to soft tip darts, and that was probably at least 12 years ago. I had forgotten just how fun playing darts is, and it’s becoming even more fun as I’m getting to a point where I can sometimes hit the spot on the board that I’m aiming for! Horse Brass is our favorite place to play to-date, though we sometime have to wait for one of their four boards. The second attraction is the fact that they have 50 beers on tap. Well, they run out of beer all the time, so it’s probably more like 25 or 30 at any one time, but still a good selection. After several games at Horse Brass, we went over to Lucky Lab on Hawthorne to share one last beer, a basket of potato chips (with Tobasco--my new favorite snack!) and a game of Outburst (board game). Lucky Lab is fun because it’s less crowded than Horse Brass, they have two dart boards, and a selection of board games that you can play while enjoying your beer. The down side is a much more limited beer selection, and the fact that they close at midnight, even on Friday and Saturday.

Thursday’s celebration was a little quieter as Mark needed to finish getting things together for his trip to Glacier National Park, plus he had to get up early this morning to start his long drive. But we still had a nice time eating dinner and birthday cheesecake together, shooting a few baskets, watching a little football, and playing a little more Outburst. I received nice cards from Mark (to go with the beautiful ring, great Keens sandals, and Nano I-Pod he’d already given me) and Erin; an e-card from Mom; a fun posting by Chris on the family website, complete with comments from others; and birthday wishes via phone from Kit and Mark (Todd).