As the last hurrah of Summer rapidly approached, we were still undecided as to where we might go to celebrate. We had hopes of going camping, but with impending rain forecasted for the entire weekend it did not seem like a desirable option. After doing a little research, we were able to locate a great deal at our favorite hotel in Portland and knew it was just the ticket. Feeling as though a three day weekend just wasn't long enough, we opted to make it a four day weekend for ourselves. Instead of camping we decided to enjoy the exact opposite- luxury. The drive down went quickly and soon we were surrounded by that familiar chocolate brown and turquoise ambience. Aaaahhh, I could live at this hotel.

Located in the heart of downtown, we are able to quickly abandon our vehicle for foot power as we weaved through the Pearl district, Nob Hill and then back downtown. Since Portland is devoid of any real hills, it is quite easy to make tracks for point a to point b. Having been to Portland on numerous occasions, we have our local haunts, but we also made room for some new favorites. Among some of our favorites are this Chinese imports wonderland called Cargo,

this hole in the wall clothing store called The Lizard Lounge,

an inexpensive shoe store called Ether, and then there are all sorts of places to eat like Pizzacata, Mio Gelato and Moonstruck Chocolates. We have always purchased chocolates at Moonstruck, but this time Cameron decided to try a Chocolate Peanut Butter milkshake. I even was able to wrangle it away from him and sneak some sips.

Voodoo Doughnut was a place we had heard about, but had never visited. The first time we walked by there was a line wrapped around the corner of the building. We checked it hours and it was open from 6am-3am. It is open for a total of 21 hours a day, which made us think we might be able to come back during a slower time. Just because we could we decided to venture there at 12am and were surprised to see a line, albeit a much shorter line, but a line nonetheless. They have all sorts of crazy donut combinations like ones with cereal on them, or the Maple Bacon Bar with two strips of bacon on top of a traditional maple bar.

Fall foliage is starting to sneak up on us.

This trip for me was all about capturing texture. There are so many old warehouses, abandoned buildings, and crumbling painted brick.

I don't think that anyone makes me laugh and smile more than Cameron.

Everywhere you turn there are traces of what once was.

Considered the "City of Roses", even sidewalk grates are a thing of beauty.

Ever since my trip to San Francisco, I have had a fascination with fire escapes. I also love the brick with a blue sky backdrop.

The shopping bug must of bit us as we crossed over the border into Oregon, so we spent two glorious days getting our fill of every modern furniture store in the Pearl District, every funky clothing store we miss in Seattle and boutiques, boutiques galore. Something about no tax seems to make our hearts flutter in a way that motivates us to see how much money we can "save". Many years ago when I worked in retail there was a term called "spavings" which means the more you spend the more you save. We fully embraced this concept as we even made a dent in our Christmas shopping.

Here is the couch Cameron dreams about day and night. It is from Restoration Hardware and is as deep as a twin bed. The couch fits him perfectly, while if I sit back my feet cannot touch the floor.