#PollyWantsaRyu

This past weekend I spent…with girls…without baby girl…in Portland…and I had a blast! I was away for two nights and basically away from Seattle for 48 hours and it was well worth celebrating my girl, Polly. We hit the road running more like a snails pace thanks to traffic on our way to Portland, and gabbed and danced our way through five hours on the road. We made it to the Embassy Suites in Tigard, just south of downtown Portland, where Polly’s two sisters were already waiting for us at the hotel-hosted happy hour for free drinks and snacks. We bellied up for a hot second before quickly getting ready for our dinner reservation downtown.

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Looking like beauts, the four of us piled into our Uber and arrived at the Saucebox on time and were joined by three of Polly’s friends, all of whom I have met before and even Mikayla who used to live with us at the Lee house. We enjoyed our dinner of Asian-inspired small bites, inventive cocktails and a Hurricane bowl served in a huge shell that served 4-5 people. Post dinner, we said goodnight to two of the girls, and the remaining five walked a short distance to our evening drag show at the “Portland institution” Darcelle’s XV. We were the first in line, meaning we were sitting front row for the show. We each ordered one of their very strong drinks served in a fish net-lined tall glass to get the party started. The show was very entertaining, something I have never done before, and we particularly enjoyed the humor from the 88-year old Darcelle and the 80s music to dance to. We closed out the night next door dancing before getting a very expensive cab ride home to the hotel where I fell asleep at the early hour of 3:45 AM!!!!

Waking up was not as fun as the night before. I woke up at 9:30 AM, feeling a bit like a train wreck until I got a delicious and greasy omelet downstairs at the hotel, a huge pile of bacon, and enough water and coffee for…well, not enough water and coffee. We were all struggling on day 2 but managed to get dressed and ready for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, a full 30 minutes after I had finished eating breakfast. Polly and I split a salad and I had about six more cups of coffee and maybe three full bread baskets by myself. Still, not enough water. After lunch, we made our way to Willamette Valley, Oregon wine country, for the start of our four tastings at various wineries. The first stop was at Hansen’s Vineyards, which had a beautiful yard and gardens that we stayed and enjoyed for over two hours, and pretty horrible wines. Needless to say, we didn’t make it to all four wineries after the first lengthy spot. We did hit one more, one I can’t even remember the name of, but one that had better wines and another enjoyable setting to sit and talk to one another.

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By this point it was already 5 in the afternoon so we headed back to the hotel so as not to miss the free happy hour. More free drinks and food before hitting the hot tub to sweat the remaining water out of me. I said goodnight to baby girl before taking a shower, putting on my PJs, and settling into a low key night with her sisters and sister-in-law playing Bachelorette games and ordering in Dominos. We finished the night watching Sex in the City the movie before getting to bed by midnight.

Sunday morning came and we essentially just packed up, got another great breakfast in the hotel, and said our goodbyes to one another. Polly and I headed back to Seattle for more catching up and singing along to tunes. We got back to Seattle around 1 PM and I was ready to be home, still definitely groggy, but very pleased with a successful girls trip. Polly’s crew and family are a lot of fun and I feel lucky to have been included for all of the festivities. I’m guessing her wedding is going to be just as fun!

Chelsea