My little brother Dave finally made his way out to Portland last weekend – thanks mainly to my friend Wendi who offered a free Southwest ticket that was expiring within weeks. (So nice of her!) Dave’s only flown the Dow jets to and from Houston, so his trip to Portland was his first “real” flight. His trip involved planes, trains and automobiles: Kalamazoo to Chicago – where he spent a night with Rob and Amy – to Portland.

Dave conquering the Prost! “das boot”

It was great seeing Dave – with him away at college and being nine years younger, it’s not often we get to hang out. Jeff and I plotted a weekend to give Dave a taste of everything he’d love in Portland: breweries, snowboarding and tasty food.

I took Friday off work, so Dave and I bounced around town taking in the sights. Breakfast at Pine State Biscuits (seriously, just take a look at their site. drool.) followed by dessert at Voodoo Doughnut (Grape Ape for me, Old Dirty Bastard for Dave), drinks at Kelly’s Olympian and the 30th-floor Portland City Grill, before heading to Nike to wait for Jeff in the Boston Deli. Then, dinner with Daniel and Lindsay at Rogue Ales and a McMenamins brew at the tiny Ringler’s Annex…we needed to be home at a reasonable hour so the guys could rest up before an early-morning snowboarding trip.

Jeff and Dave spent Saturday at Mt. Hood Meadows, which boasts 85 runs spread across 2,150 acres. (Of course, Dave loved it.) At night, we grabbed dinner at the popular ¿Por Que No? and checked out Mississippi Avenue: sharing the 2-liter “das boot” at Prost! and sidling up to the bar at the hipster-hangout Crowbar.

Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday – as well as a Michigan State/Michigan basketball game day. Sports galore! We watched the big game at the divey Silver Dollar Pizza Co., hoping to score a longboard, Timbers tickets or TV in their raffle. (No luck there – although we did score $25 in the Krass Super Bowl squares.)

Monday morn, Dave was back to Chicago to take the El and Amtrak back to K-zoo. Such a nice visit! It sounds like we have a few more visitors coming through town: Phil from Arizona, Joey from Cali, and my old boss Dan from Indy. Anyone else? 🙂

Dave’s first night in town: Dinner and drinks at Bridgeport Brewery

Wasting some time at Kelly’s Olympian

Dave enjoying his Old Dirty Bastard outside Voodoo Doughnut (which has a line to get in, of course)

View of Mt. Hood from the 30th-floor Portland City Grill

Beautiful sunset over Lake Nike on campus

Enjoying the new “pagoda” in our back patio with our housemates

Dave and Jeff at the cozy Ringler’s Annex

Dave and Jeff hitting the slopes at Mt. Hood Meadows

Bluebird day for Dave and Jeff’s snowboarding

The edge of the world!

The view from Mt. Hood Meadows

One big beer at Prost!: 2 liters shared by the 3 of us

Catching the Big Game at Silver Dollar Pizza Co.

Super Bowl drinking game rules