Birthday Weekend in Portland

Jeannie and I took the kids up to Portland for the weekend, and made a fun trip of it for ourselves while they attended an anime convention, Kumoricon 2009.
The convention was interesting to say the least, with thousands of teens and adults dressed in "cosplay" characters. Cary and Sarah's group went as characters from "Organization 13", whatever that is! They had a wonderful time, meeting with voice actors, posing for pictures, and hanging out with friends and other anime geeks, dweebs and nerds!!

Jean and I took off for a day of exploring, first stopping at the Portland Japanese Gardens (image) in Washington Park, and absolutely beautiful place to spend a rainy day... anywhere.
After an afternoon nap, we picked up the kids and sought out APizza Sholls restaurant in the Hawthorne/Mt. Tabor district. Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" touted this place on one of his shows, and you can see why. Everything fresh and local. When they run out of dough, the close up shop for the night, and you can't order more than one or two toppings!.... they won't let you! Kinda like the "Soup Nazi" of pizza!
Sunday morning, we dropped the kids off again, and stopped in for donuts and coffee at the legendary Voodoo Doughnuts, home of the 'cock& balls' and the bacon maple bar donuts! Our timing was great, as we walked around the area, the line outside had grown to stretch down the block!
We then scooted off for a drive around the neighborhoods, up in the hills above downtown, and through the charming homes and cool cafes and shops in the Hawthorne District. Back in downtown, we jumped on the street car to the touristy cable car that takes you from the riverfront up to the OSHU center on the top of Marquam Hill. Then it was back to the Pearl District, for lunch and a romp through Powells Books, easily the busiest business in Portland. An entire city block of new and used books on three floors!
We called the kids and headed back to the hotel to pick them up. As we pulled up,the valet looked at us through the throngs of kids decked out in their pink wigs, costumes and swords. The exasperated look on his face,his shrug and forced smile spoke volumes. I couldn't have said it better!