Crabs, Crabs and even more Crabs

Waking at 7am we made our way down the omelette Mark had prepared from his own garden, yum, a tasty, fresh start to the day. We only had a fairly short distance to travel so we lingered and enjoyed each mouthful and the interesting conversation that our hosts provided. Again there was the bonus as Rosie their beautiful Queensland Heeler (kelpie to me) was out and about.

Leaving at 10.30 am we didn’t travel too far before a Nike Outlet shop stopped us! Thirty minutes later we emerged with identical model (except for colour) shoes for the gym. And no the Apiarist didn’t buy the fluorescent green, red or orange pairs that were on offer in an effort to look like the recently departed Nigel!! Interestingly Nike are a Portland brand.

Only one stop before we entered Portland. Macca’s provided coffee and although we haven’t been able to find a coffee to match the excellence of a Montague Roasters Long Black we’re getting used to USA coffee, sad isn’t it! One final stop for a “wrap” in a picnic area ext to the Columbia River and then we were back on familiar ground at Jan Braman’s apartment next to the Willamette River.

Jan is the grandmother of former pupils of Educator and we've enjoyed the company of this delightful lady on previous visits. Like previous visits Jan thinks of special things to do or see and on this occassion to taste. The menu for this adventure included Blue Crabs http://www.ilovecrabs.com/hard-shell-crabs/hard-shell-crabs-large.html . Now why were we eating Blue Crabs from Maryland (east coast) in Portland (west coast) we don't really know but we didn't complain.

Again the conversation was good, wine deliciously cold and the food tasty. The spice on the crabs was similar to the spices on the shrimp we ate in Florida and Louisiana and  oh so tasty, and when we added the freshly picked local sweetcorn we were in food heaven! 

The great night led to a superb sleep. Sadly we had to move on the next day which we did after a delicious breakfast on Jan's deck. Another great time with a lovely friend!