And me, without my camera

My camera is an important accessory in my life. I take it with me everywhere. If we go somewhere really cool I take the big one. If we go somewhere really really cool I take the really really big one. I don’t joke on the really really big one. That sucker weighs at least 5 pounds. But here I am, the day after a fantastic outing with only one photo of the trusty husband and I taken with my camera phone.

We headed down to Portland Friday afternoon. The trip down was long and boring. It always is. G (Derek’s sister, and we really do call her G) and I took up our usual what restaurant in town makes the best Vodka Collins. We decided a McMennamins for dinner. Excellent Collins BTW. Those drinks were well needed for the night that would quickly follow.

We’ve been home with the boy 8 months and in that time he has not spent a night in another bed besides his own (or ours). This was his first adventure and let’s just say it didn’t go over that great. I finally got him to sleep and in the morning… I found him in the crib rocking wildly. This wasn’t violent, just a where the hell am I wild thrashing about. We got past the initial shock of new bed and he was fine the rest of the morning. I think the combo of his dad being gone the week, a new bed and the tumble down G’s stairs earlier in the night had the kid all messed up. Little did he know that the day was going to get that much weirder.

The weather in the Northwest has been great and yesterday was no exception. Elle had the bright idea to go to the Zoo. Portland has an awesome Zoo. Imagine a brand new Ikea on Employee Sale weekend during back to school time and you live in a college town. Multiply that by 20 and then you might get close to how many people were at the Portland Zoo. We had to park in a shuttle lot and take a bus into the zoo. It was insane. Of course that bus would later prove to be the highlight of the trip to the little boy.

We saw bears, eagles, monkeys, giraffes, elephants and even one zebra taking a whiz. And me, without my camera. We told the boy we could ride the choo-choo, but the line was like 2 hours long. 1 long line + 1 little boy who only had a 1/2 hour nap in the car + one mama who said we couldn’t ride the choo-choo = meltdown. By the end I said, “just get me out of the fucking zoo.” I don’t care that just up the hill is the famous Portland Japanese Garden or the Rose Test Garden. I need Starbucks and air conditioning.

After the zoo debacle we stopped at world’s largest Costco to buy, none other than, hoses. No tax you know. I finally got my Starbucks and by the time we got to the outdoor mall (that was our original destination) I looked down and noticed that I had shared my coffee with my shirt. I had no change of clothes and we were going out to dinner. Great. I spent the last of my cash on 2 new shirts at J. Crew and we were off to my favorite restaurant in the entire world. Jake’s Famous Crawfish. The original McCormick & Schmicks.

There I had the dinner of a lifetime! Sitting at our table was a person I had been waiting forever to meet. I met Margaret. In real life. Really really. She does exist. And let me just say that she is beautiful! We had a fantastic evening. I got to hear, first hand, all the Slugger stories. I even got to see photos. Oh my is he ever cute and she is one proud Mama. We dined on fantastic stuffed salmon, had great conversation and we did party tricks with the boy. He’s nothing, if not entertaining. I was only too sad that we had to say good bye. I could have stayed and chatted with her all night. But… I have a 2 year old and live 2 hours from Portland. Unfortunately, the trusty husband had to be at the church at 7:45 this morning. Gah! We said our good byes and again, me, without my camera.