Pacific Northwest 2016:
Day 3 - Portland

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Pacific Northwest 2016: [Day 1 - Seattle] [Day 2 - Seattle] [Day 3 - Portland] [Day 4 - Portland] [Day 5 - Portland] [Day 6 - Lake Tahoe] [Day 7 - Chico] [Day 8 - Reno] [Day 9 - Reno]

	Monday, April 4, 2016: After a sleepless night at the conveniently-located, budget-priced Motel 6 (thanks to a dramatic 4AM conversation between a fellow guest and the police), we were up early the next morning. Hey, that's our baby grandson's name on the restaurant next door!
	After two days of sunny skies, had our weather luck run out?
	Nope, not really. We had a little rain and were rewarded with this pretty rainbow.
	We spent hours in the car listening to the Hamilton soundtrack. We dare you to listen to it without getting addicted too.
	We were headed south back to Portland. Here's a map to show you where that is relative to Seattle. It's a pretty easy drive down I-5 to the Oregon border where they keep Portland.
	Gillian had told us about this non-descript little hill next to the Toutle River. It was created using ash from the Mt. St. Helens eruption dredged from the river. That's a lot of ash!
	We were back in Oregon once again, our home sweet home for the next four nights.
	There's Portland, ...
	... and there's the iconic Portland, Oregon sign.
	Before dropping off our rental car, we headed to Voodoo Doughnut Too, just in case we didn't make it to the original Voodoo Doughnut later in the week (spoiler: we did).
	Even mid-morning on a Monday, there was a line. We were unfortunate enough to arrive behind several busloads of students.
	Here's the written menu, ...
	... and here's the visual menu.
	Take a closer look at some of the treats available.
	Crullers! Including the lemon chiffon cruller featured in one of Rogue Ale's doughnut-flavored beers.
	This level featured the famous Maple Bacon Bar, the Voodoo doll, and the large chocolate-covered doughnut in the above left part of this photo that can't be politely described on a family website.
	More doughnuts.
	We made our selection, including some Voodoo stickers, and took our lovely pink box to the parking lot.
	We went with the obvious choice: the Voodoo Doll. Love the eyes and teeth on this guy.
	We also got the lemon chiffon cruller (surprisingly disappointing), the Old Dirty Bastard, the Portland Cream, and the Maple Bacon Bar.
	Next, we drove out to the airport, dropped off our car, and got a shuttle back to the city. We shared an awkward drive into the city with Debbie's former boss, who just happened to show up for the shuttle at the same time.
	We ran into our good friend Tom D. at the hotel and invited him up to our room after we checked in.
	Our room had a great view of the river and the clouds overhead.
	What's this? The clouds are going away? Of course they are, because that's how amazing our weather luck is.
	The three of us headed out to find some lunch. We passed a couple of food trucks along the way and took note, so that Tom could grab some lunch while Tom D. and Debbie and several hundred other people attended the 4D Summit for the next couple of days.
	It's almost comical how great our weather luck is. You can see that the streets were freshly wet from rain, but the sun was shining on us the minute we stepped outside.
	We enjoyed lunch a couple of blocks away from the hotel and had a great time catching up.
	Back at the hotel, it was full sun.
	Debbie checked in for the conference and picked up her 4D swag, including a portable battery and keychain/thumb drive. Not shown: an excellent 4D insulated lunch bag.
	We headed to our room to drop things off and freshen up ...
	... then went back outside to enjoy the afternoon.
	We spent some time in the sun on a bench right on the edge of the river.
	Next, we walked along the riverfront, directly under this bridge. You can see a car passing over in this shot.
	Flags of other countries line the riverwalk. But why?
	They represent the host cities of the IAAF World Indoor Championships to celebrate Portland being the host city in 2016. Here's Barcelona, ...
	... and here's Doha, Qatar.
	We had dinner at House of Ramen a few blocks away from the hotel, ...
	... then Debbie was officially the first person to enter the 4D Welcome Reception which kicked off the 4D Summit.
	The Orchard Software crew consisted of Travis, Spencer, Ryan, William, and Phil this year.
	Cheers!
	The bumper stickers on the tables were immediately put to good use by Lo and Wayne.
	Here are Tom D. and Chuck, ...
	... us, ...
	... and Brian, Damon, Wayne, and Lo.
	Brian and Debbie decided that it wasn't too early to pose for their annual squished-face portrait. This tradition dates back to 2004 and has happened at every 4D Summit since then.
	We're not sure what happened here. Weird.
	Tom got a photo of Debbie, Brian, and Tom D. ...
	... at the exact moment that Debbie took a photo of the same three people.
	After the reception, we rode the elevator with Phil K. up to Randy and Sara's room ...
	... where they were hosting a wine-tasting party.
	We stayed for a short while and had a nice talk with Randy but were long gone when the party was shut down for being too loud. Day 4 >