Portland OR

After driving 700 miles to get here, I crashed early and slept 9 hours. I was feeling much better this morning. Trip is more enjoyable when you are not fatigued. Who knew?

There was nothing that piqued my interest in Top 15 Things To Do from Trip Advisor. So we checked out the neighborhoods instead to see how people live. That's what I usually do when I visit a new city anyway. Matator Network had an excellent article on Portland neighborhoods and I'd recommend it to anybody visiting Portland for the first time. We hit all 5 neighborhoods today.

In all, Portland looks like a cross between SF and Sacramento, Nob Hill and all. It hugs a river like Sacto instead of a bay. the Riverfront trail was too
bustling though. I prefer the quietude of Sacramento's river trail.




Powell Books and the Pearl District was the first order of business. Paid $8 for a used copy of In Cold Blood, had a coffee and then walked to Pioneer Court Square. Next we drove to Lan Su garden, peeked inside from outside -- we were too cheap to pay $20 to get in -- and then walked to the Riverfront Trail. We returned via Skidmore fountain, a European looking square occupied by homeless people.

23rd in Nob Hill looked much like Fillmore in Lower Pacific of SF with shops and eateries lined up on the both sides of the street. It was nothing new to us, so we walked back to 21st, a plebeian version of 23rd, and then back to the car parked in front of Trader Joe's. By then we got hungry so we went over to Boke Bowls for fusion Japanese.

There wasn't much to see in Central Waterfront so we drove directly to Boise, a working class neighborhood going through some gentrification. It's a workable neighborhood. Certainly is not an upscale, but there were lots of greenery and gardens in homes there.

Over all, very pleasant town full of friendly young people. Another 12,000 step day ended back in Gresham.