Best View of the City: Found

…but the caveat is, we discovered the place on a crappo, cloudy day. (Sigh.) This morning I was reviewing my heap of Groupon/Living Social buys – and cashing in soon-to-expire Fandango bucks for Thursday night Hangover II tickets – when I realized I still had two tickets to Pittock Mansion.

Pittock Mansion, nestled 1,000 feet above the city in the West Hills, seems to be kind of a big deal. It shows up in the majority of the “Top 1o Things to do in Portland” travel lists, so I figured we need to pay a visit sooner or later. So when a Living Social deal came up for 50 percent off admission – bam! I was all over it. Back to the mansion: It was completed in 1914 and was home to the then-owner of the newspaper, The Oregonian, which remains the main paper in Portland.

Jeff at the scenic lookout at Pittock Mansion

I recently started reading a book called, Architecture: A Spotter’s Guide, and boy, I wish I would’ve finished it to appreciate some of the features of the building. It was beautiful! And the views – breathtaking. I was wishing it was a clear day, because Mt. Hood and Mt. Saint Helens would’ve been as clear as day. But…it’s Portland, which means a clear day is often hard to come by. It was still amazing, and is another reminder that living in hilly country is darn cool.

The rest of our weekend was spent running errands and catching up on DVRed shows. (Glee! Modern Family! Desperate Housewives! How I love my DVR.) We had our first BBQ with building-mates on the back patio, which made for a great Friday night. Jeff and I are SO happy we landed in this building because our neighbors, Lindsay and Daniel, and our landlords, Travis and Kim, are the coolest people ever. They’ve been instant friends, and it’s even cooler having them across the hall and sitting on the front patio with beers when we come home. 🙂

There’s that nasty drink! The food was so much better though…

Another great find this weekend was the restaurant ¡Oba! that serves “nuevo latino cuisine,” which translates to some tasty jazzed-up Mexican. Although I discovered the WORST drink in the world: a mix of habanero-infused absolut, mango puree, house sour mix and muddled fresh cilantro. Hell on earth for me and my esophagus. Luckily their food was fantastic so it more than made up for my poor choice in booze.

And I gotta work in a congrats to my best bud Nena and her hubby Court for their super-cute, brand new little boy Lincoln. He’s their first and I know they’re going to be perfect little parents – I just wish we were closer since they’re all the way across the country in Sarasota, Florida. And on the subject of babies, I’m going to be an aunt for the second time tomorrow morning when my sis Lori has her little girl Macy via C-section. Thankfully I’ll be back to see her and the family for the baptism (godparents duty!) and I can’t wait!