Walk about Portland

This weekend we ventured again from East to West only this drive was 3 hours instead of 53 hours.  Our destination: Portland Oregon.  We stayed in a house found on AirBnB which is a website for bed and breakfast joints. The rooms are not usually at an established bed and breakfast but more like a room rented out of someones house.  The website also has some house boats for rental and tree houses. https://www.airbnb.com/

Our particular house was within walking and public transportation distance of downtown  Portland.  We began the weekend Friday night by having a beer at Upright Brewing Company and then headed down to the 5th quadrant for dinner and beers at the Sidebar. On the way back to the car we were walking and looking up at the stars which was amazing to be in a city and see the stars but dangerous to walk looking up after having a couple beers. Sadly I stepped into a pot hole and fell. I wasn't too banged up just a scraped elbow and a little humiliation.






One of the coolest things about the house was there was an outdoor bath house which included a sauna, shower, and bathtub in a not so hidden location. At first I was skeptical but after some convincing from Jonathan I gave it a try. I'd say the best part was being able to step into the sauna after the hot shower.
 

 
The next part of our day involved walking and walking and walking to Forest park! This is the largest park in a city in the USA. All the guidebooks and websites say to come here.  The thing they failed to mention is that you should really drive here! It was somewhere over 4 miles from the house to the park. On the way back we hopped a bus!

The second biggest thing to do in Portland is eat from a food truck.  They have blocks in the city dedicated to just food trucks. We decided to go with Egyptian food and it was a good decision.  While waiting in line a saw a girl walk past with a pet rat on her back. I was too slow to snap a photo but very alarmed!

There are too many breweries to visit in a day but we managed to go by a few and stopped in for some tasting.

The main reason we choose this particular weekend to go to Portland was that one of our favorite bands was playing called The Greensky blue grass band.  They played at a little venue called the Wonder Ballroom which used to be a church. Lady Gaga was known to play here just before she got big.

 

Here's the inside

 This was definitely good people watching at this concert. Most of the audience were hippies. One such girl with a plain dress and dreads in her hair was also using an iPhone...such a minimalist!  Another guy came dressed as a taco. Literally a taco.  I should never spend time worrying about what I wear again!

On the drive back to Pendleton we made another few stops. One was at Bridge of the Gods which crosses the Pacific Coast trail and was the stopping point of the girl hiking in the book Wild.

Another stop on the way back was the Stonehenge replica just across the Columbia river in Washington. It was built as a war memorial.

windmills!