A Day Trip to Portland, Oregon for Family Time - Sunday, August 23, 2020

Family time is so important when you live far away from them. It's a long haul from San Antonio to Portland, so now that we're staying in Gig Harbor for almost two months, we are taking time to spend with family. 

Today is my son Michael's 41st birthday. Happy birthday to you! At 11:00 a.m., we met at the restaurant of his choice, Red Robin, for his birthday lunch. My brother and sis-in-law Frank and Gina, my sister Jan, our son Randall, and Bob and I got together to celebrate with him. 

It's great that the restaurants are opening up again with mask mandates and 6' distancing between tables. This allows for families and/or friends to go out to eat again. It was a very good lunch and we included dessert, of course. 

Me, Jan, Randall, Frank, and Michael
(Bob took the photo).

Michael has a Red Robin Rewards Card and received a free burger and free Gooey Chocolate Brownie Cake. We also ordered three Mudd pies for our table. My brother ordered his Mudd Pie "a la mode." We kidded him about it and told him it's an ice cream pie. He had never had Mudd Pie before. Three Mudd Pies were too many for our table of six. OMG. We waddled out of there...and didn't finish all of our desserts. 

I'm going to back up to the start of our day. We had a very nice drive down from Gig Harbor to Portland. We saw Mt. St. Helens and read about three small towns in Washington at a Shell gas station picnic area. See the info boards about Toledo, Vader, and Winlock below if you'd like to go somewhere off the beaten path.

Mt. St. Helens, Washington.

On our way to the restaurant, we drove by our first two houses in Beaverton, Oregon. The first one was 1,200 sq. ft. and we lived there until our furniture and the boys got too big. Then we moved 1/2 block down the street to a 2,400 sq. ft. house. This allowed the boys to graduate from the Beaverton School District.

1,200 sq. ft., 3-bedroom home.

2,400 sq. ft., 4-bedroom home.

After lunch, Randall headed home and the rest of us went to my sister's home to play pinochle. Well, four of us played pinochle. Bob took a nap. 

We were fortunate today to be able to visit Mom at assisted living. They had an outdoor courtyard set up with a plexiglass divider and we could visit with Mom two at a time over a 45-minute period. However, we had to stay on our side of the plexiglass, no hugs or kisses. Mom is doing very well, but she's getting stir crazy. She can't go out on excursions or have visitors go in to see her. But because the facility is COVID free, they set up the outdoor meetings. We'll take what we can get!

Mom peeking around
the plexiglass.

At the end of our visit with Mom, we all headed back home. It was so nice to get close to her again. We'll be thrilled when we can actually give her hugs and kisses again! Maybe we'll get another chance for a courtyard visit before we head back to Texas. In order for that to happen, all the staff at Marquis must test negative for coronavirus for 14 days and there can't be any coronavirus germs on test surfaces in the facility.

The day went as planned and we enjoyed it. It took us about 2-1/2 hours to drive back to Gig Harbor. 

Hamburgers - Thursday, April 9, 2015

"I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."
 ~ J. Wellington Wimpy from Popeye cartoons

Hamburger Hamlet in Westwood, California, is where I fell in love with gourmet hamburgers when I was in my 20s. My friends and I used to go to Hamburger Hamlet before or after a movie in Westwood. The food and service were always top-notch. We considered our meals there a grand treat. Their menu let you choose your toppings individually or you could order one of their combinations. One of my favorites was a teriyaki burger.

Homemade burgers are also a favorite: thick, juicy beef cooked medium well, topped with lettuce, tomato, avocado, bread-and-butter pickles, ketchup, mustard, relish, easy on the mayo, NO onions. A drippy, messy burger can't be beat.

Stanich's in Portland, Oregon, earned their reputation on AOL Cityguide's 2007 list of the "15 Burgers to Try Before You Die." Stanich's was on the list at number 11 in the nation. Here's the whole list:

1. All-American Drive-In, Massapequa, New York
2. Chris Madrid's, San Antonio
3. CityGrille, Denver
4. Dick's Drive-In, Seattle
5. Goldyburgers, Chicago
6. In-N-Out Burgers, Los Angeles
7. Jack's Old Fashion Hamburger, Oakland Park, Florida
8. O'Connell's Pub, Saint Louis
9. Peter Luger, New York
10. Roaring Fork, Phoenix
11. Stanich's, Portland, Oregon
12. Tessaro's, Pittsburgh
13. Thurman Cafe, Columbus, Ohio
14. Val's Burgers, San Francisco
15. 96th Street Steakburgers, Indianapolis

What makes Stanich's burger so wonderful? To me it was a feast on a bun, complete with a fried egg, over medium. Never before had I thought to put a fried egg on a burger. Genius combination! The burger was a menace to wrap your mouth around, but oh, so delicious!

One chain restaurant that makes this list for their burger selection is Red Robin. I love quite a few of their burger choices. You can substitute a leaner turkey burger on most of their burgers too. Now that they've added sweet potato fries to their menu, I'll be heading that way more often.

Even fast food burgers make my list, but with a lowered expectation. Dairy Queen has a decent burger; I love their special sauce. In Rice Hill, Oregon, on the west side of Interstate-5, is K&R Drive-In where our family stopped to eat whenever we traveled in the area. Their large and very tasty burgers are served with Tater Tots, which I find to be a nice change from French fries or potato chips. The piece de resistance, though, at K&R Drive-In would be the Umpqua Ice Cream cones in a rainbow of flavors.

We have been in San Antonio for three years, and have found some new burger places to satisfy my burger craving. Whataburger makes a decent fast food burger that will do in a pinch.

If I want a sensational burger in San Antonio, The Cove is my restaurant of choice. The Cove's motto is "sustainable, organic, local." I am in love with their Real Burger: grass-fed beef with American cheese, no onion for me, tomato, pickle, mayo and mustard. The flavor of the beef is what makes this burger stand out.

Last but not least is Mad Mack's Burger Company which opened three weeks ago just down the street from our RV Resort. Last night Bob and I had dinner there. It was very good. The menu is simple, but that's okay. There are plenty of yummy choices. The decor is straight out of a 50s diner. Having dinner there on our "h" word day in the blogging challenge made it easy to choose my word for the day: hamburger.

Interior of Mad Mack's Burger Company

Mad Mack's Burger Co.

Here's a look at what we ordered. I had an All-American Burger; Bob chose the fish sandwich.

All-American Burger

The fish sandwich is made with pollock. They hand bread the fish just before they cook it.
Be very hungry if you're going to eat this, or split it with someone else.

Fish sandwich

Where have you found good hamburgers?