![At the bottom of the third inning, the Lions are still scoreless. Rowe stands at home plate, preparing to bat, while Vandenbrink stands off to the side as the next batter up. Despite having the bases loaded, the team was unable to score any runs. “It’s just the beginning of the season. We’re just going to be playing out best by June, [and] that’s where champions are,” Rowe said.](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_3077-1200x900.jpg)
![All smiles. The group poses for a photo with last year’s book, “This is Our House,” along with their award for third Best in Show. Meikle, who was an Editor-in-Chief for the yearbook last year as well, holds both and stands at the center of the group. “That was an amazing feeling, going and grabbing the third place award,” Meikle said. “All of it paid off. I cried so much over that book, being able to receive [the award] was one of the highlights of my high school career, it was like the coolest thing ever.”](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/8bookpose_philly-1200x800.jpg)
The sun was shining and the weather was nice, a good day to take a stroll in Portland. Located in the Pearl District of Portland and only a block away from the world famous Powell’s Books, the Pearl Bakery is a great place to stop in for a quick lunch.
When I walked in the door, the aroma of fresh bread baking filled my nose and made me want to try some. The quiet atmosphere was great to just get away from the exciting and loud streets of Portland. For their lunch options they have many types of sandwiches on many types of fresh bread. I decided to order the Black Forest ham with fontina, romaine, red onion and roasted pepper aioli on one of their signature bread pain au levain, with a sweet hibiscus tea. Their sandwiches were very reasonable at $3.50 each, but my drink almost cost more than my sandwich itself at $3.25. The sandwich was very enjoyable, the bread was fresh and so was the cheese making it a very yummy sandwich with a variety of flavors making it a very flavorful meal.
One of their signatures is their Parisian macarons which were a definite treat. Out of their many flavors I tried the strawberry and salted caramel macarons at $1.75 each. The strawberry was very tasty and sweet, the salted caramel was good, but it had a little too much salt. Overall, I thought the food was very good and reasonably priced.
My experience at Pearl Bakery was an enjoyable one giving it a letter grade of an A. The staff was very friendly and knew a lot about the food and were willing to recommend things to try. The food was great and the atmosphere was fun. It was a nice place to visit with friends and to eat and a delicious meal at a reasonable price. Pearl Bakery is located at 102 NW 9th Ave.,in downtown Portland.
