The Rose City

I'm going to briefly write about visiting Portland, OR.  I'll post later about Washington and L.A.  My Portland trip started with a twelve hour drive from Salt Lake City.  It was a long day driving through the rain in Utah, Idaho and Oregon.  The good news is that I can check two more states off that I'd previously never visited. 

When I got to Portland, I met up with Erika and grabbed a beer at a local bar.  Erika had to work Friday morning so we called it a night pretty early.  The next day, after Erika left for work, I decided to walk around the city.  Erika had informed me that Portland was small enough that I could easily walk across the entire city.  I didn't attempt that.  Instead I went to buy new shoes which were desperately needed.

Erika got done work early so we went to a nice neighborhood to walk around and get some food.  We rode a couple different forms of public transportation.  Seeing 'Portlandia,' the enormous statue downtown was really unique.  After a fun afternoon, we regrouped, had dinner and made plans to go out.  We went to a couple different bars, both with their own flare.  All of Erika's friends were so kind and very friendly to me.

The next day was a walk through Forest Park, a visit to the Rose Gardens and a handful of other 'must see' sites.  That evening, Erika and I took time to visit some of the excellent pub/breweries that Portland has to offer.  We had a blast ordering flights of beers and eating good food.  After a brief respite, we gathered with the roommates again and went to a nice bar and got late night food at 'The Grilled Cheese Grill.'

I was supposed to leave on Sunday, but decided to be lazy and stay another day.  We went grocery shopping, read books, took naps and cooked supper.  What a great day.  That night we watched a movie and went to bed early.  Monday morning, I drove Erika to work and took off for Washington to visit Jamie, Eric and the kids.  Will post later...