Portland, Oregon, Sept 28-30, 2021

Columbia River

   Sept. 28 - a 4 state drive - Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon - 563 miles which is a really long drive for us. We left early with coffee and sandwiches. It rained for the first two hours as we wound our way through the mountain passes of Montana and Idaho.  At one point, it dropped to 41 degrees, a real difference from the 80 degrees of the day before in Missoula. Then, we got into the flat, dry plains of eastern Washington where the sun came out. Then we dropped down into Oregon and followed the beautiful (but dammed and controlled) Columbia River. 

As we got closer to Portland, it rained a bit more. We are at the Park Lane Suites Hotel, a somewhat funky and old hotel, but more than adequate to our needs.

View of Mt Hood from our bedroom

 

We walked to the Elephant Deli which was hip and delicious where we both had some dilled salmon  and Barbara had some tortilla soup and Mark had macaroni and cheese.

First full day in Portland - Washington Park. We walked a lot today! First, we walked (uphill) from our hotel to Washington Park. The park has a free shuttle bus which is awesome. We first took the entire circuit to get a sense of the park which is incredibly beautiful, large and very hilly. After that, we got off at the Rose Garden which was still in bloom. Unfortunately, the Japanese Garden, which we really wanted to see is closed until after we leave. Mark had a sausage at the Rose Garden. 

Then we hopped back on the shuttle and went to Hoyt Arboretum which is huge and we walked the Redwood Trail, part of the Fir and part of the Spruce Trails. (Mark got a t-shirt - "May the Forest be with You.") Then, we walked back home. Over 3 miles in total. 

That afternoon we walked to The Soop, a wonderful Korean restaurant where we met the very interesting owners who grow their own microgreens at the restaurant. Barbara had bibimbap (rice bowl with lots of veggies and a spicy sauce to mix in) and Mark had japchae (glass noodles with beef.) Delicious. The owners invited us to come for coffee the next morning.

An observation: Portland is incredibly compliant about masking. Everyone wears masks inside and a lot wear them out on the street. We feel so much safer here than we did in S. Dakota and in Montana.

Second (and last) full day in Portland. A cloudy, rainy day. First, we went back to The Soop and had siphoned coffee, courtesy of the owners who let us in before they were even open. Then, they brought out delicious avocado toast, again complimentary. Lightly toasted bread, spread with some guacamole and thinly sliced avocado, an egg and then covered in sunflower microgreens and balsamic vinegar. Amazingly delicious. And, the owner also showed us how to grow the microgreens with a bedding of wet jute paper. Turns out that he went to Harvard Business School for MBA and spent 13 years in finance in the S.F. Bay area. He and his wife, also highly educated, decided they wanted to farm. So, they got an RV and camped their way up the Oregon coast, but settled on the restaurant in Portland. Business has been tough during the pandemic, but they seemed optimistic. (They still want a farm in the future.) 

After that, we walked to Providence Place (near the soccer stadium) and got "Honored Citizen" all-day passes for the public transport. Honored citizens are elders, by the way. ($2.50 each) We took the tram and got off at "Library" and walked our way to the Portland Art Museum. It was nice to see art that we've never seen before, even from artists like Monet and Van Gogh. 

A Van Gogh

There was a lot of Native American art and quite a lot of African -American contributions. There was an exhibit of Victor Jorgensen's photographs of WW II sailors. They were so young and we couldn't help feeling the pang of nations sending the young to war.

Then we walked down to the waterfront which we found underwhelming, got back on the tram and back to the hotel in the drizzle.

Tonight we tried Burmese food for the first time at "Top Burmese." Mark had a chicken curry with coconut rice dish and Barbara had coconut soup. The descriptions do not do justice to the layers of flavor. We want to try to replicate them at home and took photos of the menu descriptions of the variety of spices used.