Portland - Urban Camping

We are staying in the Pearl District of Portland, at a friend's loft. This couple is fabulous and the first thing I noticed about their loft is that there is no television!! Rather, there are books everywhere! And great artwork on the walls, Picassos, a Breakfast at Tiffany's poster but in Italian (Colazione da Tiffany) and hand woven rugs. My words can do this loft little justice. And photographs would just be cheesy. So you will have to take my word for it.

We woke up much refreshed after our 14 hour day on the road. We had breakfast from Mama B's (Christina's nickname for my mom) sack of food she had packed us and hit the road.

Since we had spent so much time in the car the first day, we decided today had to be on foot.

Our first stop was Powell's Books. The self-acclaimed "City of Books," truly is. We got lost, wondering from the Red Room to the Purple Room to the Rose Room. Any book lover, actually, anybody could find something that suits their taste. I spent over an hour perusing the recipe book section and the books on chocolate. I briefly stopped at the shelf on Careers and Soul-Searching, when I was feeling ambitious but quickly left when I remembered, I don't want a job. Not a job in the traditional sense at least, one that is constricting, or only gives me limited vacation time. I need a job that I set my own hours and am my own boss.

We were walking around when we saw a long line in a plaza downtown. Our curiosity got the best of us and we wondered over, only to discover a semi-truck with the two magical names "Ben & Jerry's" printed on the side, parked in the plaza. There were people wearing bright red t-shirts handing out free ice cream. Jack pot. We got in line. I spotted street vendors selling food. My friend, who lives in Portland had recommended them for great, affordable food. Christina stood in line while I went and got a burrito from a vendor advertising "Honkin' Huge Burritos." I ordered a vegetarian burrito (there was no other option) on a whole wheat tortilla with plain yogurt instead of sour cream and both pico de gallo and a more traditional hot sauce. When asked what kind of salsa I wanted, I asked for my options and the woman responded by pouring both salsas over a plate of tortilla chips. Smart woman, not only did she earn herself a tip, she also gained a loyal customer, who believes in word-of-mouth and word-of-blog, so if you are ever in Portland, look for Shelly's Honkin' Burritos, or Shelly's Burrito Garden. Although I had ordered a small burrito, it was huge, and enough for Christina and I to share, and follow with our (free!) scoop of Ben & Jerry's chocolate fudge brownie ice cream.

Photo worthy street sign(s)

With our bellies full, we headed for the Portland Public Library. A beautiful building with an adorable gift shop run by the Friend's of the Library. I had never seen a gift shop at a library! I love public libraries. All libraries for that matter. It was too cold in the library, and so we decided to go look for a park to read. In between napping and reading, we enjoyed the Southwest park of Portland.

We then decided to wonder around some more. We stumbled upon Benessere, an olive oil and vinegar shop at 907 SW 9th Ave. What a surprise! We sampled honey ginger balsamic vinegar, strawberry balsamic, truffle oils and many more. The shop keeper was very friendly and I highly recommend this shop for Portland visitors, food connoisseurs or anybody for that matter! All of the oils and vinegars were neatly arranged in metal barrels with spigots for pouring, on two aisles in the center of the store. We left the shop with our tongues tingling from drinking balsamic vinegar out of tiny plastic sample cups. Very worthwhile.

Next we stopped at Anthropologie, my favourite clothing store, and we bought matching shirts, again. Christina and I now have about 5 articles of matching clothing in our wardrobe, all from Anthro. :)

It was Happy Hour, so naturally, we had to find a restaurant for a drink. There are literally thousands of restaurants, pubs, bars and cafés in Portland. We stopped in a cute Latinesque restaurant called ¡Oba! Christina is acquiring a taste for beer and so she ordered a Widmer Hefeweizen, a local beer and I had a lemon drop. And then I had an Oregon Marionberry Margarita. We sat at a table on the side of the restaurant and enjoyed the afternoon sun. The service at this place was great and the drinks delicious.

We then walked to Trader Joe's to pick up dinner fixings and headed back to the Loft. Christina made sautéed chicken and vegetables with Dijon Mustard and basil dressing with wild brown rice. We spent the remainder of the evening reading and then decided to take a night stroll. Our stroll turned into circumnativating downtown Portland and picking out places to visit the following day.

We learned from our experiences today that Portland is much smaller than we expected and very easy and convenient to travel by foot.