Vancouver and Andina

I asked for some advice a couple of weeks ago and wanted to let you know everything worked out perfectly! We arrived at PDX around 2:30 and had no trouble finding the Vancouver Historic Reserve - went up I-205 to 14, and there was an exit for it right from 14, didn%26#39;t have to go all the way to the I-5. Signs took you right there.

We toured the Pearson Air Museum, drove past the Barracks, walked and drove past several of the houses on Officers Row (went inside the Big One, the Marshall House, and saw a 25-minute video of the area), then toured the Fort. Many buildings were open and staffed with docents, and it was fun to walk through them and also to see the gardens out front. The Marshall House, while ';open';, mostly contains offices so there was not that much to see, but the rooms on the main floor are quite lovely. And the Air Museum was small but interesting. Of course many of us have been to Bigger, Better, More Extensive of all of these types of things, but if you are in the area it was a nice stop.

Had no trouble with getting back into Portland, and really enjoyed our dinner at Andina. Peruvian food is not that strange or exotic, but we tried to taste a lot of different things. There were 4 of us, and we first started with 4 different cocktails - the big winner by a landslide was the ';S*xy Something or other'; - Passion fruit and hot peppers! Addictive! We got 2 more of those to share :) Had 3 appetizers for the 4 of us - a ceviche plate, yucca root, and piquillo peppers stuffed with quinoa. All were great. Main courses were rack of lamb, lamb shank, duck, and scallops. The scallops were by far the favorite, although all were good. Delicious dipping sauces for the bread. Were so stuffed we only got one dessert to share - the Chocolate Espresso Semi - Freddo - rich and delicous. There were 2 things I didn%26#39;t care for about the restaurant - it is LOUD!!!, and 3 of us had leftovers we wanted wrapped to take home - we thought we had communicated that clearly to our busboy who didn%26#39;t speak English very well, but apparently we didn%26#39;t. That was unfortunate because we really wanted them, but on the other hand didn%26#39;t want to get the busboy in trouble if we told we waiter or manager so just let it pass.

The place was PACKED on a Wednesday night - we had 6:30 reservations, the place was full, and there was a crowd waiting when we left.

Vancouver and Andina

Hi

Thanks so much for posting!

Too bad about the busboy, we had a waiter take a half full glass of wine once..it is annoying but you feel bad complaining..

So glad your trip turned out so well :)

Vancouver and Andina

Awesome! So happy it all worked out for you, and thank you for volunteering to be our tourist for the year!

I%26#39;m happy to share more fascinating insights about The Coov with anyone else out there who wants to know....anyone?......hello?....

(listening for echo)

....hello?.....hello?.......

=D

Big chuckle, thanks Johann and Sandra!