Rainy day near Roanoke, VA, so a good time to do a little catch up from the trip to Portland, and get in the mood for the next few days in NC.
I got to Portland last Sunday afternoon, and stayed until early on Thursday. Real early. I was there for a CPO Instructor School, something I've been doing since 1999, and which I really enjoy. We had a large class, 50 students, including 15 Spanish speaking students from Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Colombia. For those who don't know, this is a very unique educational setting. Students are split into groups of five, and spend their two and a half days with the same people at their table. Instructors rotate through the tables, so each student has close up interaction with four different instructors. Students have to do four chapter presentations, and are evaluated on their knowledge of the subject matter, ability to communicate, to answer questions, and on their presentation skills and general classroom ability. Additionally, there are several presentations made to the entire student body by different members of the Instructor Committee. Overall, a very intense time for the students, but positive and supportive at all times. I am very proud to have been asked to participate in these schools, and am always very impressed with the students, and even more impressed by the rest of the Instructor Committee!
While we were in Portland, we mostly stayed in the hotel, which was a Doubletree, with a nice restaurant, good meal service at our functions, and a nice Lobby Bar, with several interesting beer selections. The 'usual gang', was assembled there as I checked in, so I just took my things to the room and came back down. Portland has a plethora of brewpubs and other craft breweries, so it's a good beer town. We tried a beer from the Deschutes brewpub, Black Butte, a nice porter, which was creamy smooth, with a nice little nutty/smoky/chocolate taste, and no bitter end at all. That's what we settled on for most of the week.
Since we were pretty much being fed during the Instructor School, we didn't get out to eat but once, for dinner on Tuesday. A happy group of 14 of us went to the Deschutes brewery, home of the aforementioned Black Butte. We nibbled on some cheese fries, and a big fat 'German' pretzel with a very nice cheese dip. To drink, most of us went for a slightly darker Porter than the Black Butte, which they called Obsidian. This version was even closer to a Stout than the Butte was, but once again, it was very tasty, with a nice finish, and it went very well with the 'Black and Blue' steak salad I had.
After dinner, some of us popped over to "Rogue" brewery, just a few blocks away from Deschutes. Both are located in the "Pearl District" of Portland, which seems to be a very popular restaurant/pub area. At Rogue, Brian and Michelle each had a 'hoppy' brew, while Wayne and I were intrigued by, and ordered, the house brewed Root Beer. And it was a good choice, it was cold, creamy, had nice overtones of licorice and anise, and really refreshed.
Portland seemed to me to be similar to Seattle in some ways. Lots of very nice people, many of whom have that upper left coast tree hugger attitude, and lots of places to poke around. Unfortunately, it is also like Seattle in that it's cloudy a lot, and it rains a lot. I'd go back, but I'm not sure I'd just head there for a vacation.
Home on Thursday, caught up on emails and such on Friday, ran errands on Saturday, and back on the road on Sunday! This time, it's off to Charlotte for the National Recreation and Park Association Annual Conference. I stopped in Roanoke, VA for the night, and will get to Charlotte around lunch time on Monday. Got to Roanoke around 3:30, and decided to get a late lunch.
Sometimes, you take one for the team. Today's lunch choice was made strictly due to advertising. Little Caesar's (who actually makes a reasonably edible deep dish pie), has been advertising a pie with a layer of cheddar sauce underneath the mozzarella and pepperoni, and a 'buttered & salted pretzel crust".

"A Family Company", says the box, complete with very cheesy graphics. Open it up and..

Wowza Yowza, that's a happy looking pretzel pie! And a real bargain at $7 and change! Like most of the national chains, it's certainly not a big pie, maybe 14 inches in diameter, as opposed to a typical NY large pie, which is usually 18 - 20 inches. Take away a good 2+ inches in diameter for the pretzel edge crust, and it's a pretty small pie. 

And here's two slices - thin as a frozen pizza might be; and you might think it IS frozen, but no, Little Caesar's mixes up the dough fresh in each store each day. This dough has a lot of cornmeal on the bottom, and I think it's given a little baking soda wash to give it that pretzel look and taste. Taste....well, the crust is pretty bland, but does indeed have a pretzel like flavor, especially the edge with the butter/salt on it. I couldn't really get much of the 'cheddar sauce' flavor, it was pretty overwhelmed by the mozzarella and pepperoni. As far as that goes, not bad. The sauce is not as sweet as Domino's or Papa John's is, and although the pepperoni is sliced as thin as a kleenex tissue, you can taste it. Overall, for what you pay, not a bad snack - but it's nothing like a real NY pizza. I'm not sure I'd get it again; I prefer their Deep Deep Dish pepperoni pie,  but I give 'em credit for trying something a little different. I can see this reappearing on the menu each October, that would make sense to me. Dinner tonight, I think, will be something light, perhaps a small salad from Hardee's or Bojangles.
Tomorrow, off to Charlotte!