With snow yesterday and the chance of more flurries overnight, plus temperatures predicted to be in the low 20’s, a bike outing today was an early morning decision.  For H+M it luckily turned out yes, but we stayed in NE just in case, and thus The Arrow at MLK/ Alberta became today’s destination.

Opened in June, 2017, the coffeehouse used to be a well-sized specialty bakery,  and the owners thus had the bones for food production but needed significant remodeling to make it more conducive and cozy for a coffeehouse clientele, plus maintain a commissary area.  From a hangout perspective the owners succeeded quite well: the shop has a mixture of comfortable seating options and furniture, great window lighting, bright well-decorated walls, tasty fresh pastries, and games to play.  Our only suggestion for making it more hangout friendly would be to find a way to reduce the cost of coffee refills from $2.00, which may discourage some from staying longer.

Today’s discussion topics included: the wonderfully unique and brightly lit winter light festival which M and his wife J visited last night; how we both have full plates and are behind on projects even though we’ve “retired” from 40 hour/week jobs; how the sometimes tumultuous histories of our parents when they were younger, have such an effect on who we are today; and the pros/cons of alcohol in H’s extended family.

5943 NE MLK Jr Blvd.                                       http://www.thearrowcoffeehouse.com/portland