Flying Monkeys Rule!

 I often tell people that I have a trivial mind.  I can't seem to remember how much money I have in my checking account or the code for my ATM card but I can name all of Elizabeth Taylor's husbands.  In order.  I can remember the details of sports stars' or celebrities' lives.  I mean, who cares?  I don't even care about those things yet, I remember.  I suppose it's a gift, in a weird way.  I always enjoyed playing Trivial Pursuit when the game was in its' heyday so I was excited when our Portland friends, Nadine and Eric invited us to Trivia Night at a local restaurant, the Radio Room.

Nadine and I met at Joliet Junior College back in 1975 and we've been friends since then.  We've shared all of the ups and downs of life together long distance since she moved first to Colorado over 25 years ago and now to Portland.  The chance to spend some time together with Nadine and her husband Eric was the prime motivator when Jack and I chose Portland as one of the stops on our America Tour. 

 

Jack had to work late that night so we drove up to the restaurant about 15 minutes before the game was scheduled to begin.  We were able to find free onstreet parking about a block away and laughed about how different parking and traffic is here in Portland compared to the larger cities we're used to.  In Portland we said, "We HAD to park a block away!" while in a city like Chicago or New York we would have been doing the happy dance and saying, "Yeah, we found a parking place only a block away!"  

Located in the Alberta Arts District in Portland, the Radio Room is a casual restaurant/bar that features the work of local artists.  They even have a repurposed cigarette machine that distributes small, original works of art for $5.  The food is good, the music isn't too loud and they have a great outdoor space with tables and benches around a firepit.   

 

It turns out that the four of us make a pretty good team when it comes to Trivia.  After choosing the team name, The Flying Monkeys after a painting on the bar wall, we smoked those young twenty-somethings when it came to the "Chips" category and won the first round. 



Unfortunately, our luck did not hold up in the music video category. (If only some of our kids had been there!) I had no idea who those people were in the videos (the game organizer was a former college radio deejay) but it was still a lot of fun.  Jack and I are looking forward to exploring more spots that are off the beaten path as we get to know the city of Portland and we're glad to have such great local tour guides as Nadine and Eric.