Having just come back from my 5th or 6th trip to this fine City I can honestly say
it is a City that at once defies a specific description due to its widely diverse neighbourhoods and yet very much projects a specific personality....urban, well-heeled hipster.....or something.
I had the pleasure of showing EV some of my favourite haunts.... river walk, Portland Saturday Market, Powells, Pioneer Square, The Rose Garden and the food cart scene which, for the first time, was very disappointing.
Together we ventured to the Alberta Arts District for an American breakfast of Biscuits and Fried Chicken and sausage gravy which we are determined to perfect the art of at home...because...sausage gravy is the bomb. We wandered in and out of trendy boutiques while the natives queued outside the hot brunch spot on every block in their plaid shirts, rolled up jeans and bushy beards which never ceased to cause us equal amounts of amazement and amusement (we started calculating the percentage of bushy beards in every store or restaurant we went in to.....never less than 75% btw).
We happened upon an art walk in the greeny elevated air of Mount Tabor and loved the craftsman houses as much as the art in them after we walked through their truly stunning gardens (including curbside veggie gardens of course).
We had a wonderful hour in the sun on a patio at a HopHouse...snacking and drinking beer.
We had two memorable meals - one a fine dining experience in the NW at Paleys Place and one in a tent on a deck off a busy road but with amazing Thai wings at the inimitable Pok Pok Noi. (We will not speak of the traffic-induced brain fart that caused us to eat a burger and salt coated fries at Applebees on our endless drive to PDX..(we apologise for our culinary transgression but cannot promise it will never happen again because, as it turns out, we are allergic to traffic....it makes us do weird things).
We loved our little attic suite in a craftsman house in the Hollywood District and I can now unreservedly score one for AirBnB.
Two days in PDX felt like longer thanks to the time warp of weirdness and hipsterness and leafy green perfection.
We gave up hiking in the Gorge today to avoid triggering our second serious allergy..... borderitis....and were rewarded for our sacrifice with a 15 minute crossing...with wine.
EV - you are a travelling partner extraordinaire.....this is the start of something good my friend....Oh the places we'll go! Thank you, thank you!
Portland - keep it weird - we'll be back!
PS ...I ate a grilled duck heart... I didn't like it but I did it! Thank God for beer to swish it down.
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