Monkey Obsessions: Mommy Visits Portland: Part I

I like to write "Part I" with very good intentions of there being subsequent parts, but we will have to see if I ever get around to it. My mom is about halfway through her visit and since she's very occupied with a sudoku right now, I thought I'd take the opportunity to update the ole blog.

Saturday

Her arrival was kind of a fiasco, through no fault of my own. What should have been a very straightforward pickup ended up being stressful and prolonged. First, that Saturday turned out to be the day they were fixing some segment of tracks on the Max Light Rail. So I had to take the rail, transfer to a shuttle bus, transfer back to the rail before I got to the airport. What is normally a 30 minute trip took over an hour. My plan to get there before her plane landed was a complete fail. Second, my mom's phone was possessed. Therefore, my calls didn't get through to her and her calls didn't get through to me. It was a disaster. However, we managed to find each other in the end and took ourselves home (and took some pictures on the way).

After some snacking and resting and a quick grocery trip, we met her friend Henry and his family for dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant, the Golden Horse. They were all extremely sweet people and after dinner we headed to their home for a little dessert and tea.

Sunday

Sunday was a bit of a close call. Henry wanted to take us to church for easter services, followed by some kind of tour (??) and then back to church for a religious musical. My heart and head felt faint at the thought but we managed to get out of it (ok, it was all me, I'm a brat). So instead, on Sunday I fixed a hearty Easter brunch of steelcut oatmeal, baked eggs with herbs and cream, apples, and homemade toasts.

The poor mother was then dragged off to lab with me so I could end an experiment. We stopped at Kenny and Zukes on the way home for some pastrami sandwiches and cream of asparagus soup. Unfortunately, we didn't bring cameras so there are no pictures to show. The rest of the day was spent in a flurry of domesticity - kimchi making and muffin making and general cookery. All very pleasant. (A new phone was also ordered for the mother).

Monday

We were to meet Henry for lunch, so after a morning at work, he picked me up at lab and then we grabbed my mom from my apartment. Of course, her phone didn't work so I had to race up and fetch her. We traveled out of state (to Washington) to a Japanese buffet place for lunch. It was cheap and tasty and I ate a bunch.

After that, Henry took us to see the Columbia River Gorge and Multnomah Falls. I could have done without the rain and the hail (!!!), but it was incredibly lovely all the same and worth being damp for. We also went to look at the fish hatchery and sturgeons.