I woke up this morning around 4:20am. I didn’t sleep well last night. I am always like this before I fly, I just get nervous or something. So I got up, turned off my alarm, got my things together and headed out. I caught the Metro-Link in Fairview at 5:48am. It took a whole hour to get to the airport. That really surprises me, but oh well. I met up with Chris at the gate and after a little while, we were under way.
The flight to Chicago was the worst, not because anything happened, but because I had been so nervous. When we got to O’hare, we walked around a bit, and then decided to grab some breakfast at Macaroni Grill. I ordered the French Toast, but my nerves weren’t helping me get it down any. After breakfast, we started walking back to our gate. We got there, and I was about to go use the restroom, and Chris wanted to look out the window, when I heard, “Last boarding call for Portland.” The last boarding ended up being about 20 minutes early. I didn’t know that could happen. The flight from Chicago to Portland was a lot easier, my nerves were settling down. Around 4 hrs later we arrived in Portland.
The airport in Portland is a lot nicer than the STL airport; its also a lot bigger. We probably walked a mile just to get our bags. Then Chris needed to go check on a rental care he wants for later in the week. After that, we hopped the Red Line from the airport to the center of Portland where are hotel is at.
When I first found out that this thing was going to be at the Hilton, I was all gung-ho about it….but as with all other “luxuary” hotels I’ve stayed at, I am kind of dissappointed. I guess when you hear a name like Hilton, you expect your room to be above and beyond that of a normal hotel room, but this is probably the most basic room I have ever been in. 2 beds, a tv, a tiny bathroom, and a closet. Hell, every Drury Inn room has a fridge, why doesn’t Hilton?
After checking into the oh so not very swanky hotel, we wandered aimlessly around downtown for a minute before finding a hole in the wall pizza place to eat at. It was pretty good pizza. Chris wanted to go check out a toy store, but they were about to close, so I guess we’ll check it out tomorrow.
[...] I’d talk more but I’m tired and need to get caught up.  The rest of my photos are embedded below and can be found on my flickr set.  Josh has some photos up on his flickr as well. His take on our adventure can be found on his blog (Parts 1,2,3,4,5) [...]