Fun packed weekend in Portland

We begun our saturday by walking to the Portland farmers market and oh my gosh, it was awesome. I think that my passion for food borders on obsessive from time to time.

Nettles for dinner?

These are fern tops.

So we kept ourselves in check and just bought some spinach and asparagus to have with our left over Thai, some Spring lamb, fingerling potatoes and kale to cook one night.

Then we went across the river to an awesome yarn store in Sellwood.  I have to say, I was rather intimidated by the fact that there were two men working behind the counter, and yes they were particularly effeminate and the most efficient knitters I have ever seen!  They helped me chose the right yarn for the job and I was able to chose an Oregon raised Lopi (although Im not really sure what a Lopi is!).  When I eventually finish the things Im making for other people, Im going to make myself a bolster cushion for the couch.

Then we drove south towards Bagby Hot Springs. Or at least, that was our intended destination. We stopped in a random town for lunch and drove on, and on, and on alongside the (particularly noisy) Clakamas River. 

 

Eventually we hit snow, a surprise as it was 60F!  I was my usual wussy self and said that we couldnt make it through the snow. At that point, a family of four in a small rental car came up and proceeded to try and get through the snow.  Luckily we had a tow rope to help them get out when they got stuck!  So we turned around, deflated at having not made it to the hot springs. Then we decided to try some random forest service roads to try and circum-navigate the snow, but that just wasted our time. Then on the way back, we happened to notice a road we hadnt seen before, and low and behold it was the right road! We made the short hike in (1.5 miles) across Bagby Creek and then had to wait for a 'canoe'.  It was only a 40 minute wait until we got to disrobe and enjoy the 'healing properties' of the hot springs.  It was so hot, we had to add four buckets of cold creek water to the 'canoe'.

Sunday we got up late and lined up outside Voodoo Doughnuts for our breakfast - possibly the only time in our lives we have or ever will line up for doughnuts! They were tasty, but we definitely had a sugar overload.  We drove down to the Woodburn Company Stores where we spent a small fortune!  Danny was happy as we finally bought real luggage and I may just have found something to wear to Lisa's wedding!

Back to work tomorrow. Oh no, it starts again. Only 4 more days!