April 27- May 2nd, 2009 - Days 5-11 Portland, Oregon and The National Bernese Specialty
Past Days: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4
written by Mary Dawn (with all of the "fluffy words" : )
[Tip: While watching slideshow above you can switch to full screen by click on icon in bottom right]
Link to map to this set of tagged photos -> map.
Monday morning, we awoke to yet another glorious day. After checking out of our wonderful “Pet Friendly” luxury Condo at the Columbia Cliff Villas, we went back to our favourite European-style café, Café Doppio, in downtown Hood River. We sat and had a leisurely breakfast on their totally “dog friendly” patio, and were approached by many other dog lovers/owners who wanted to say “hi” to Smokie and Valentino.
I had my favourite breakfast Panini with spinach, cheese and egg, whilst Michael had TWO chocolate chip scones. Yum for me and Yum for him! Michael Barthmus, the owner, came out to chat with us and tell us more about his German heritage and how he wanted his Café to be a nice, pet friendly and relaxing place for breakfast, lunch and evening. He definitely got a thumbs up for his coffee concoctions, his food, the atmosphere and excellent internet access. We even finished one of our blog postings whilst sipping on our frothy cappuccino and soy latte. Before leaving, we popped into the bathroom and to our surprise, there was a big poster of Telluride on the wall!
We could have stayed there all day, however today was the day that we had to move on to Portland, where we had to set-up our Alpen Schatz booth for the show.
Little did the pups know, but we had plans for them, too. Our first stop upon arriving in Portland was at a local Petco which happened to have grooming facilities. And so whilst we were sweating it out setting up our portable “store”, the pups were treated to an afternoon of beauty and bath! It was early evening when we picked them up and WOW! What a great job the groomers did! The pups looked a million dollars and we were the proud parents of pups worthy enough to be in the ring with the top show dogs of the country who had come to Portland to compete for the National championships that week.
A little background about the National Bernese Specialty: it is an annual show taking place in a different part of the Nation each year. Alpen Schatz has been supporting the show with a booth since 2002, as many of the attendees love Swiss/German things both for themselves and their pups. These people are not only wonderful annual customers of Alpen Schatz, but have become our friends over the years. Therefore, the show is not only a selling event for us, but an annual reunion each year of delightful Berner lovers.
I always love wearing my Alpine “Tracht” or traditional dresses called Dirndl’s at the event and this year even got to dress Michael up in Lederhosen – his first time!!! I gotta say, that he looked quite handsome in them and had more pictures taken of him than the pups at our booth! He was such a hit and looked so “good” in the traditional wear. I guess it was his “Heinz” ancestry coming out!
The week was filled with early mornings and late evenings. One evening we attended the Awards Banquet, where we and two friends all went in our traditional outfits. It was quite the hoot! Another night, Michael and I took the local public transportation, the MAX light rail, to downtown Portland and had a fantastic dinner at Jakes, a great seafood grill. On yet another evening I organized a “dining with your dog” at a Portland Wine Bar called Thirst and will post about this evening in the next post as it is worthy of it’s own story.
Valentino's breeder, Stacy Temples was also at the show, and she was very excited to see the pup which she bred from her own magnificent Bernese from her kennel in Fort Collins, CO called Wagontale Bernese. Stacy was so proud of our little pup and said that he was growing up just fine and looked great! She would take Valentino on little walks to show him off to her friends and others who also had Wagontale Bernese from her. Hence, Valentino got to meet many distant cousins of his, many of whom were showing at the Specialty.
We stayed at the beautiful Red Lion Hotel at Jantzen Beach. Our room was extremely quiet, large, and had a balcony which overlooked the Columbia river. We also had a fridge and microwave, which always comes in handy when travelling with pets and children. In fact, this and all Red Lion hotels are pet friendly and a great recommendation when travelling with one’s pet. Indeed, for this show, they accommodated over 1200 (big) Bernese Mountain dogs and their people…which I thought quite commendable. Indeed the staff were nice and overall, the week-long event went by quite quickly.
Last day…Saturday…Best of Breed and many last minute sales, so we did not get started on the pack-up until after 4pm. When we finished, it was after 9pm…and we were supposed to already be 5 hours down the coast in Yachets…so instead, we drove south as far as we could to a little town called Wilsonville, and stayed at the Wilsonville Inn …a quaint and clean highway Inn which took people and pets. We were so tired, that the moment we checked in and had walked the dogs…we were out like a light…
