Portland Beers and My Brother

We just had a wonderful weekend in Portland with my brother, Charles and my sister-in-law, Carol. The "excuse" for the visit was the Oregon Brewers' Festival. Portland is home to somewhere approaching 100 brewers and our goal was to sample all, or at least the majority, of all the beers. We had a great visit with Charles and Carol, and the beers were mostly really good!! It's one of those calls where it's hard to say whether the quality of the brews or the company made the experience a great one. Probably a little of both, but it's really good to be with my brother since we don't have a frequent opportunity to spend time together.

We drove from Big Sky to Portland in one day - 780 miles. The last 100 miles of the trip through the Columbia River Gorge was spectacular. Previously, we had flown into Portland, missing the drive across I-84 and the gorge, so this was new territory for us. The Columbia River marks the boundary between Oregon and Washington. Some of the really fine Oregon pinot noir wines are produced in the Columbia River valley, and we could see vineyards on the banks of the Columbia River.

This was, however, to be a beer weekend. We started out with pizza and beer on Thursday evening at one of the many Portland pizza pubs, Apizza Scholls. A pitcher of beer and a pizza was all we needed to settle into the weekend.

We started Friday with a hike to Multnomah Falls, The hike to the top of the falls is about 1 mile and climbs 620 feet. The views are breathtaking, particularly from the top. The stream at the top of Larch Mountain meanders through a beautiful forest. A tree had fallen over the stream, and my brother dared me to go to the end of the trunk over the stream . . . "No, I can't!" "Come on" "No, I can't" I'm still a wimp - what can I say!!

The hike definitely whetted our appetite for the beers at the festival. We grabbed a quick lunch at the Lodge and headed down to the Brewers' Festival at Tom McCall Waterfront Park on the shores of the Wilamette River. 72 brewers were showcasing their beers in two huge tents. The feeling inside the tents is definitely an Octoberfest event! For one token each, you get a 3 oz taste - I tried most of the 72 beers - you do the math!!

We then took the rapid transit over to Widmer Brothers Brewery (excellent Hefeweizen) for dinner. By the way, the Portland light rail system (TriMet) is state of the art. There's absolutely no need for a car. The system takes you all over downtown Portland and to points beyond. We just parked the car, hopped on the train, and enjoyed the ride and the beer!!

I'll post more tomorrow - there's way more to the weekend. But, I'm sleepy. We're in Missoula tonight at the Blue Mountain Bed & Breakfast Inn. The bed is calling my name, and the sunrise from our deck is rumored to be spectacular. Good night!!