Showing off Portland

Pedro and I had visitors the first week of June. Greg and Connor are from Texas, but we met them in New Zealand. With our invitation, they came to stay with us in Portland and see the area. Greg is Connor’s father. Greg was midway through a month-long road trip, and Connor had flown into Portland to meet his dad for a single week of it.

{Note: I have included a bunch of hyperlinks in this post. Nearly every one goes to an old blog post that talks more about the subject at hand, if you’re curious about any of these things that I’m breezing over.}

On Monday, day one, I was their tour guide. I took them all over the city of Portland. I think it’s a beautiful city and they were here in splendid weather, so I had an itinerary that kept us in a somewhat tight geographical boundary. First, Pittock Mansion for an overlook. It’s a free stop and maybe it was the right place to get their bearings before we headed on in.

We parked at Powell’s City of Books, but did not go in. We took an Uber to the Portland Aerial Tram. My idea was to get a ride to the farthest point, then slowly walk our way back.

After we rode the aerial tram up to the hospitals on the hill, we rode it back down and began walking. First, we crossed the Tilikum Crossing Bridge, the only car- and truck-free bridge in Portland (the only autos allowed are busses). It is a long walk and my plan was for us to rest in the cool air conditioning of the train museum on the other side.

The bridge was just as long going the other direction, and we were all ready for a meal by the time we returned to land. No problem, I said, the waterfront has lots of restaurants. I was right – it does. But! It was 12:50 pm and two of them closed at 1:00 pm till the dinner rush, and two others were closed Mondays. We kept walking.

I was having them walk their legs off and we were so hungry! I desperately searched, and discovered that being closed on Mondays is a major waterfront problem. Greg said he had identified a niche market that someone should capitalize on. Finally, I found one that was open. We didn’t even care anymore what they served, and headed for the only place we could find that was open and nearby; a place that we agreed had a terrible name: Gastro Mania. But we got so lucky. Gastro Mania OR is a Mediterranean bistro with outstanding fresh-made food, huge portions, and great prices. Instead of Plan B, that will be my destination next time.

From there, we walked to what was until recently the World’s Smallest City Park. The park, a tiny circle in a median strip in the middle of Naito Parkway, is called Mill Ends Park. Greg and Connor were not impressed, but they took photos of it to make me feel good. Then we walked over to one of Portland’s most famous exports: VooDoo doughnuts, which people are typically impressed with. But, I struck out one more time. The guys were too stuffed to even think about dessert, and really didn’t care about the funky decor either. They were more intrigued by the mural across the street.

Greg was eager to see evidence of the “weird” slogan, that he said Portland had taken from Austin, Texas. This was significant to them because they are from Dallas, Texas. I thought he was mistaken, but let him believe it, planning to look it up later. He was RIGHT! Austin was first, in 2000, Portland grabbed it next, in 2003.

Usually Powell’s is amazing to people visiting, but not so much this time. Our two friends are not used to walking, and I had subjected them to all-day walking.

I think Powell’s is incredible: it occupies an entire city block. It was not built to be a bookstore, but began in one portion, and expanded over time, occupying more and more pieces. So it’s a nonsense jangle of buildings connected by doorways, and the levels don’t match and you can’t get there from here, and each section must be color-coded or one certainly would get lost. Whether you like books or not, it’s amazing! And it’s always filled with book-lovers, and Japanese tourists, and hippies selling used books, and teenagers buying book-themed gifts and middle aged men sipping coffee and paging through a new book, and white-haired ladies in a cushioned chair in a corner, lost in a story. Well…moving on…

{In looking for a Powell’s link, I see that I do not have the tag of Powell’s anywhere, except a YouTube video I reposted. What?! Can I possibly never have blogged about the bookstore? Well, that needs to be remedied.}

There were votes all around for some extended sitting, after all that standing and walking, so I drove them for a quick stop to Mt. Tabor because I insisted there is a dormant volcano right inside city limits.

The most successful stop was the next one: International Rose Test Garden. I did not know before their trip that both men are very interested in gardens and biology. They enjoyed the rose garden.

That was enough Portland for us! We came home and rested after that.

Greg and Connor took off the next two days on their own adventures, and the next time we joined them was Wednesday evening for a sailboat cruise on the Willamette River (the river in the photos above). It was another spectacular weather day and I look forward to showing our cruise photos in my next post.