Ten days in Portland

I've just spent a glorious ten days in Portland, Oregon and returned with 1330 photos. I've always wanted to see the Pacific Northwest and a chance came up on the spur of the moment. Our friends Todd, Rebecca and daughter McKenzie just sold their home here in Florence and they are moving to Portland. Rebecca and McKenzie were heading out there to find a house and I tagged along.

We spent three days looking at houses (which was fun and I learned some things about real estate) before Rebecca found the house she wanted. It was a great opportunity to see the various neighborhoods of Portland. It was then time to play and I toured the incredible Japanese Gardens, Rose Garden, Lan Su Chinese Garden, Multnomah Falls, etc. and had some fantastic food. I'll do a post on each place I visited but for now, some various photos of what is to come and words to describe Portland:

SCENIC (the Columbia River Gorge) - I would not necessarily want to live in the city
but I would love to live in this area.

GARDENING - Okay, I knew there would be lots of gardens in Portland but what I wasn't prepared for was the fact that almost every home has an extensive garden. It is the complete opposite from Alabama. Here, you might see one or two fabulous gardens in a neighborhood but in Portland, almost every home has one. And they are gardens like this! It was mind blowing.

ECO-FRIENDLY - Portland is a very green city - everyone recycles and it is very easy to find freshly grown organic produce. This stand was inside a market/restaurant called "Proper Eats" in the St. Johns community where Rebecca found their house.

TASTY - I had some incredible meals and my favorite came from a charming little vegan restaurant called "The Loving Hut" in downtown. This was sooooooo good. We went there twice!

SHOPPING - I'm not much of a shopper but an underwear store for men? Color me happy!!

ACCESSIBLE - Portland is a large city spread out over a wide area but it is easy to get to any part of the city via the Public Transit System which provides bus, light rail and commuter rail transit services. I didn't get a chance to ride the bus but everyone said that I had to experience it - maybe next time! I'm not sure who these folks were walking in front of us - pilots?

ARCHITECTURE - There are many beautiful buildings, old and new, but surprisingly, not too many skyscrapers. The city is similar to Florence in that it expands outward instead of upward.

BRIDGES - This is just one of the many bridges that cross into the downtown area. The most beautiful is the St. Johns Bridge that I will show you in a later post.

TRAFFIC - One thing I didn't like about Portland was that there were just way too many people and the traffic was horrendous if you ventured out during peak hours (I know, it doesn't look like that in this photo!). However, the traffic did move at a slow pace so it wasn't frantic or nerve wracking like Birmingham. The speed limit on the freeways was usually 55 and under. Drivers are very courteous!

FUNNY - A crocheted planter cover - why not?

ROSES - Portland is the city of roses and you see them everywhere, even along the freeways. Wait until you see the Rose Garden!

AWE-INSPIRING NATURE

And yes Weird! - delightfully so!

Up next - the Japanese Gardens.

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy