Astoria, Oregon Wedding Weekend

We headed out of town for a very special wedding in Astoria, Oregon. All these years if we needed a little beach/Pacific Ocean fix we would head south, not north to where the mighty Columbia River dumps into the Pacific Ocean. We were pleasantly surprised at how quaint, hip and interesting Astoria, Oregon is.

We arrived and checked into the centrally located and cute Commodore Hotel before heading down the street to the pier to take in the sunset over the Columbia River bay dotted with large freight ships.

After a lovely rehearsal dinner we headed out to lounge at one of the many divey bars in the main town area. We were surprised at how young the residence of Astoria are - what do you all do in this town and in the winter no less. Maybe hang out at the VooDoo Lounge?

The day of the wedding we started with a fantastic espresso from the 14th Street Coffee Shop conveniently connected to the hotel lobby.

We needed to make sure we had plenty of food in our system so we walked up one Astoria's steep streets to Blue Scorcher Bakery for some breakfast, another great local business tucked conveniently in the main part of town. We got a terrific breakfast burrito and watched them frost the wedding cake.

They also had one of the best magazine selections we have ever seen in a bakery/cafe.

As we walked back to the hotel to get ready for the big day, the City of Astoria was up and roaring in celebration of Veteran's Day.

The wedding was short and sweet; the reception was fun meeting friends and family we had only heard stories of and reconnecting with friends we've known, but not seen in years. Before ending the night at the VooDoo Lounge with a personalized tour of the theater connected to the bar.

Halloween Birthday

It doesn't get much better than having your birthday on Halloween. And that's exactly when Mike's birthday is - Halloween. Lucky devil!

This year with Halloween on a Monday, the celebrating was all weekend long. Starting Saturday with celebratory raman noodles, shinkansen drink specials (shot of Japanese vodka, shot of sake, and a shot of Kirin beer; done one right after the other), Japanese beers and the biggest cream puffs we have ever eaten. We then partied down and danced the night away to all our favorite Talking Heads songs.

Sunday was family dinner with requested birthday meal of Nem Nuong Ninh Hoa and a pie.

On Halloween we celebrated in a cemetery discovering the historical figures of Portland and their Untimely Departures. Then off for stiff mixed drinks at a favorite bar before ending the night with cognac toasts. A great Birthday/Halloween weekend! So much so we're including our travel video "Tuk Tuk Ride to Nowhere in Bangkok, Thailand" to keep the party going.

God's Eye View

Since we met while working at a movie theater and to continue on our theme of movies here is a incredible montage of movie scenes all shot from "God's Eye View" synced beautifully to Yeah Yeah Yeah's "Down Boy". How many movies do you recognize?

This Is The Take Over

The last movie we saw in a theater was back in April, before that we're not sure. We used to go to movies all the time, but lately we can't even find the time to watch the DVDs we get from the library. That is until we came across this little gem just sitting on the shelves. We kept renewing and renewing this movie until finally we plopped it into the DVD player and was blown away by what was coming out of our tv. All the old school rockers & dub songs we have on heavy rotation in our house was playing in this movie.

The movie is about a Roots Rock Reggae drummer named Horsemouth who decides to set up his own business selling Jamaican records via his motorcycle when a band of theives steals his cycle and Horsemouth decides that justice must prevail. This movie is seriously stylish!

Thankfully there are subtitles because that Jamaican patois was heavy! For those of you who love Roots, Rock, or Dub (ode to Portlandia's Mayor played by Kyle Mclaughlin) or for those of you who just love Jamaica this movie is a must see! REMOVE YA!