A Trip to Remember: The Pioneer Woman in Portland!

Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman

I have been following The Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond) on her blog for the last year and a half or so. When I found out that she would be signing her cookbook in Portland, I was beyond excited, and made plans with my Mom right away to make the trip together. Mom is about 3 hours from Portland, and I am another 2 1/2 hours from Mom, so it was going to be a long trip, but we knew it was worth it!

I drove up to my Mom's house on Sunday night, and tried to get some sleep.... but.... instead of sleeping I decided to make some jewelry for Mom and I to wear the next day. Plus, I wanted to finish the jewelry I was making to give to Ree at her book signing. So, I got about 3 hours of sleep or so. Mom drove to Portland though, so I just got some rest in then.

Monday morning, we started to head up to Portland at about 11:00 or so. Much later than planned, but it ended up working out just fine. We made a few pit stops, (one in particular in Eugene, which I will talk more about in another post!) and we arrived in Beaverton, OR at about 3:30. The first thing we did was go buy Ree's cookbook. Now, I actually already have her cookbook, but I accidentally left mine at home!! AHHH! I was about an hour away from home when I realized what I had done, and I decided to just buy a new one instead of going back home. Geez! What a ditz!

The book signing didn't actually start until 6:00, but it was sure a good thing that we got there when we did, because shortly after we arrived, people started pouring in! I believe there were about 500 people there total, and we were only behind about 60 people when we arrived. I took the time before Ree arrived to finishing putting together the little gift I had put together for her and to take a few pictures of the crowd.

The crowd behind us. There were people standing on the planters in the walkway of the mall to see!

A little something for Ree. :-)

Ree arrived just a little after 6, and started things off with a little Q&A from the audience. She was just so sweet and friendly, and it showed how much she truly cares about her readers. She was very funny, as usual, and very heartfelt as well. It was really a pleasure to hear her speak!

Ree, during Q&A

Definitely a beauty, on the inside and out.


Signing her cookbook.

The book signing started next, and Mom and I had our turn to meet Ree after about 30 minutes or so. Now, this is where things got a little funny... I had borrowed my Aunt's camera for the weekend, and my Mom had never used it. I had been using the zoom to get some shots of Ree earlier, and forgot to reset it, so when Mom went to take my picture with Ree, it was zoomed in WAY too close on our faces and Mom couldn't figure out how to fix it! The workers at the bookstore had made it very clear that everyone needed to be speedy in out picture taking so as not to hold up the line, so when Mom couldn't work the camera, she started to get flustered. Poor Mom!! Luckily, we got it all worked out, and have some great pics of us with Ree to show from the ordeal. Ree was so sweet, and was just laughing with us about it.

Mom having trouble with the camera, too funny!

My Momma with Ree

Ree & I :-)

After we met Ree, Mom and I stopped at Starbucks for a drink. We laughed about the camera incident, and talked about how genuine and real Ree was We admired our new cookbooks with our personalized inscriptions, and then we headed back home.

Mom, with her cookbook.

Our signed cookbooks!

All in all, it was a great day. It was a great experience to be able to share with my Mom, and we had a blast! Thank you Ree, for giving us the opportunity to meet you. Your blog inspires me on a daily basis, as do you. It was truly an honor to meet you! I hope you enjoyed your trip to the West Coast!

~Amber