Working the Days Away...

Last week I went down to Portland for a few days to attend a sort of conference for work. My division has all the staff from all 4 states (Idaho, Oregon, Utah, and Washington) come together once a year. This year a few coworkers and I decided to take the train and stay in the hotel the night before the conference. Usually we have to get up early the day the conference begins and drive for 3 hours or so to then sit in meetings all day which is quite exhausting.

The train ride down was not the greatest due to many factors, but I won't go into that. It was really nice to go a day early this time and relax the night before. Most of us had dinner together at this wonderful Wine Bar & Bistro called Thirst. We decided to be experimental and I tried a lot of things I don't normally. Afterwards, we went back to my suite and met up with some other coworkers. The entire night was very fun and relaxing which was much needed after the last few weeks we've had at work with pressure deadlines.

The next day we met up with the rest of our coworkers who drove up that day and the staff from the other states at our Portland office. That night we all went to dinner which is usually arranged so that we can all get to know eachother better and network. This year it was arranged that we go to a place called Brazil Grill. It was a very unique experience! The restaurant had roaming gauchos that came to your table offerring different types of Brazilian grilled meats off their swords. They would serve it or slice it right off their swords. There were things like bacon wrapped chicken, sausage, prawns, and grilled pineapple with brown sugar. It was a very fun atmosphere!

After eating an all meat meal, we needed some exercise so a group of about 10 of us decided to walk to Powell's Bookstore which is always a must anyway when in Portland. We got to witness an interesting car chase that came up the sidewalk near where we were standing.. Kinda scary! Then we all decided to walk back to the hotel afterwards even though it was hella far. It was fun walking through the city and the waterfront at night with everyone though. I realized during this trip that I am very fortunate to have a wonderful group of coworkers who I really enjoy spending time with.

Anyway...it's nice to be back home. It was a fabulous few days away in a wonderful hotel suite, but there's nothing like being home.