MY KIND OF TOWN... PORTLAND IS

This past week Kathleen and I travelled to Chicago for the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting. Kathleen's sister Laura was kind enough to come down from Tacoma to help out and watch the kids at our house. This meant that we were on our own. Yippee!

On the first night, we met some friends at the Chocolate Bar in the Peninsula Hotel that has an all you an eat dessert buffet. The next day, we went to the meeting. However, we also snuck in an hour at the Art Institute of Chicago, one of my favorite museums of all time. There, we saw:


the "Chagall Windows"


Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte"


and Picasso's "The Old Guitarist" among many others.

Another night, we had deep dish pizza at Gino's (forget about Giordano's) and saw the movie "Bridesmaids" that was absolutely hilarious.

On our final night, we again met some friends. First, we had small plates and cava at a fine restaurant called Avec and later went to a rooftop bar called C-View at the Affinia Hotel for drinks. What a night and what a week!

However, despite all the revelry and time for bonding, I missed my two little guys more than I can describe. I thought of them all week, and even kept a hand-written note from Nicholas in my wallet that is reproduced below.



Though no translation is necessary, it says, "Dear dad, I hope you have a good trip. Love, Nicholas."

While Chicago is a great town and while this vacation was great, home is where the heart is. Now that I am back in town with these two little people, there is no place I would rather be... than in Portland.