It all started with the shuttle ride from the Portland airport to the rental car ‘base’. Our 60-year old hippie driver was nothing if not ‘high on life’. The weather was spectacular, crisp, clear, not a cloud in the sky. This seemed to amaze him beyond belief, and his cheerfulness was infectious, if only tempered somewhat by him constantly craning his head back to chat with a co-worker on the shuttle, instead of keeping his eye on the road.
We kept the happiness going with excellent appetizers at a downtown resto-lounge called ‘The Saucebox’. Along with a couple of imaginative martinis, we slurped up some impeccably fresh albacore tuna sashimi, and ahi poke, a traditional Hawaiian marinated fish dish, enlivened with hot chili, lemon and lime juice and a crisp seaweed cracker.
Dinner followed at Pazzo in the Hotel Vintage Plaza, a very, very good Italian meal. More to follow…here’s a pic of the chefs:
But right now we are at Cannon Beach on the coast. Eat your hearts out! 
