Trip Back to Phoenix

Mirav and I made the trip back to Phoenix together for the first time since moving. Mirav went out a little early to work on SSBTR and wedding planning. 

I made the flight out by myself after dropping off the monsters. The flight this time was very uneventful. Cool views from the plane on the way out. I'm not sure what mountain this is. 

We saw a couple wedding venues while we were there. This is regency gardens in Mesa. I didn't get to go inside because they were having a wedding at the time, but it looked nice. 

Sunday we went out to see Lavender and Old Lace. It was a little too frilly for us. Very old cottage feel. 

Next we saw the exact opposite type of place. This is Mon Orchid. It's actually an art Gallery. Very modern and industrial. Its hard to express how much our parents hated it. We liked the modern feel. But mostly it just helped to solidify our choice somewhere else.  

This is what we chose, well the front gate of what we chose. It was locked when Mirav tried to take me to it. Mirav saw it and loved it but I never got to go inside. It's in Chandler. A small, Tuscan style place called Inspirador. We are in the process of signing the contract this week. It's going to be a great wedding. 

After a failed attempt to break into Inspirador, we went over to Tahia's parent's house for lunch. Tahia's mom makes an Indian dish called Pani Puri, which is what you see here. This is Mirav's favorite food. She always tries to talk Tahia's mom into making it. Growing up in a Midwestern household, I never thought I would like it, but it's absolutely amazing. 

Mirav smiling wide while assembling her Pani Puri

SSBTR 2011

After the loss of a close friend to a brain tumor, Mirav became involved in an organization called Students Supporting Brain Tumor Research, SSBTR for short. Each year, in Feb or March they have a walk to raise money. This year we made the trip down for the event. I had our new camera so I took quite a few pictures. I won't bore you with all of them

View of the event from the top of the stands. It gets pretty spread out, so it's hard to capture all of it. The tents in the middle of field are for the silent auction which Mirav helps to run. This year the silent auction raised over $13,000.

Marty Kaye running the food stand. Marty is my post-SSBTR drinking/handstand buddy. We always have fun over at the Kaye's after the event. 

Mirav, Samara and Felicia wearing helpful signs

Mirav and her co-maid of honor Samara got into a spontaneous Kung Fu fight, They called it a draw after everyone got hurt

My mom and Dad showed up to help support the cause

Amanda and Logan also came out. 

We had a good time and raised some money for a good cause. 

Eric's Parents Visit Part 2

I finally got the pictures my dad took on their trip up to Portland and found the time to post them. 

Mom, Mirav and I getting ready for our brewery tour at Hopworks. This was a fun tour

Me and Mirav at Voodoo Donuts waiting in line for the best donuts in the whole world

While we were waiting in line we saw a Wedding!! It was pretty crazy. People pay to have their weddings at Voodoo. I think these people were from Wisconsin. They came all the way out just to have a wedding at Voodoo Donuts. They sell special wedding packages. You get a big plate of donuts instead of a cake. It was very fun to see. We considered having our wedding her, but we decided it was too fancy for us. 

Me and Dad eating maple bacon bars. Exactly what it sounds like. Maple bar with bacon on top. Delicious. 

For dinner we went to Kennedy School. It's an old elementary school that a local company bought and turned into a hotel/bar. The cafeteria is a restaurant, gym is a movie theater and all of the old classrooms are hotel rooms. They even left the chalkboards up in the hotel rooms. It was so cool. This case we're looking at is old memorabilia from the school. 

Last stop, Whiffies Fried pies. My parents wanted to go after I made a blog post about Mirav and I going. They have a little cartoon drawing of two pies giving each other a high five and the caption says "Pie Five." So my parents posed giving a Pie Five. 

Zwickelmania AKA Beer Festival

Portland is the brewery capital of the world. Mirav and I have gotten into beer since we moved up here. More so me than Mirav, but Mirav is getting there. About a month ago Mirav and I decided to attend what they refer to as "Zwickelmania." All the breweries in Portland open their doors and give free samples and brewery tours. We went to what I can only assume were the three worst breweries in Portland. We got 3 samples and no brewery tour. Some friends I talked to had dozens and dozens of samples and hour long brewery tours. Oh well, try again next year. 

It was such a nice day out. It rained every day for 2 weeks before this. So it was nice to be out. We got a late start, hopped on the bus and rode it across the river and into downtown. We stopped at some foodcarts downtown before we hit the breweries. 

The first brewery was a total bust. They stuck everyone in a room upstairs where they keep all their brewing stuff, but not where they actually brew the beer. So we left and went to Rogue. Rogue is really popular in Portland. The gave us a sample of a stout that was not so great. We actually had to buy these little beers just so we could say we had something. 

Since we were downtown, we decided to stop by the Portland City Grill, which is on the 30th floor of this building

Getting off the elevator

This place has a pretty good happy hour. Add happy hour and 30th floor and you will draw a crowd. Our waitress said people show up an hour before the place opens and stand in line waiting to make a mad rush to the elevators to get a seat. Tables are first come first serve so it's very cut throat. Took us a half hour to find something at the bar.

Mirav had some kind of grapefruit drink that she said was mostly alcohol. But the food was pretty good. It was very fancy. 

It was a fun day. Nice to get out of the house. Next year we'll plan our brewery route a little better