The McCall Clan: Portland Visit November 2011

Me, Connor, and Ronan flew home to Portland for our annual family Thanksgiving holiday. It was a whirlwind of a trip, and remembering it one year later makes me a little nervous. I'll be making the same trip again in a few weeks.

I opted to buy a ticket from Dublin-Amsterdam-Portland. I wanted to get there as fast as possible, and this was the quickest way. So we had to endure a super-long, 11 hour leg from Amsterdam to Portland. And I thought that was the only challenge. But when I was double checking my ticket, I realized that I was to spend the night in Amsterdam! No wonder the ticket was so cheap. That was a nightmare. We arrived in Amsterdam around 9:30, got to our hotel by 11pm. Ronan basically cried the whole night, so no sleep for us. And then we were up and out by 6:30am the next morning.

We were exhausted and it didn't get much better. Ronan wasn't comfortable with my Nana and Papa, so he was "making strange" for most the first week. Then, when we got to Klamath Falls for our Thanksgiving celebration, Ronan got pretty sick. Combine that with the time zone change, and you have a baby that was waking up almost every 5 hours or so. We drove straight from Klamath Falls to the doctor's office to get an antibiotic. Once he was feeling better, though, my mom was sick! With all my family's best intentions to get some good time in with the kids, it didn't work out that way at all.

I did have a bit of culture shock when I went back out to our neighborhood in the suburbs, though. Big box stores, huge, wide lanes of traffic, tons of parking lots, more big box stores, more cars...Convenience, convenience, convenience. Almost too much convenience. It was hard for me. I find it all ugly, to be honest. But I know why we're there: Alan has a 15 minute commute to work, and we're in a good public school district. (At least it was good before that HUGE budget shortfall.) But my heart is in the city, so it was super nice staying with my parents near Overlook Park in N. Portland.

I sure did love being back in Portland!!! I REALLY loved being back in Portland! I was able to walk around on Saturday. I took MAX to Saturday Market, walked around Pioneer Place, got some Oregonian themed T-shirts at Made in Oregon, grabbed some coffee at a hipster cafe in Old Town, and soaked it all in. I LOVED it!

I was able to see lots of friends at a brunch potluck that my mom, dad, and sister hosted for me. That was fabulous, and very kind of them to do that work right before we had to leave for Klamath Falls. I love my friends. They are so low-maintenance! I don't hear of many friends who bring their own food to a party and then help clean up afterwards. But beyond that, a couple of them sorted through the garbage to make sure all the compostables were set aside! Love them. :) I brought over Cadbury Flake candy bars to give as treats, since they are typical in Ireland, are super delicious, and I've never seen them in the States.

Connor was able to connect with his friends, too. We organized another LEGO night, which was great. Lego toys, potluck dinner, and fun with friends. It was great to see him with his buddies again.

I'm looking forward to my next visit, it's in just in three weeks now! Woo Hoo!

Making LEGO creations.

LEGO night buddies.

Amy, Kim, and Denise composting. :))

OK--these two pics are a couple of things that struck me as particularly American.

Bulk foods' section in the grocery store. This is where you can buy chocolate, candy, flour, oatmeal, rice, pasta, nuts, loose tea, and even laundry detergent. You simply grab a plastic bag, scoop out as much as you want, and write the item code on the tie tag. (Now that I think of it, I remember being surprised by this when we moved from Boston, too. Maybe this is a more west coast thing?)