This two week trip consists of visits to Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, and San Francisco. Also, this time around, I am am not going solo the entire time (just San Fran by myself). The reason this trip came to be was because I had a wedding of a good grad school friend in Portland and figured as long as I was coming all the way west, I was going to make a trip out of it. I had never been to any of these places before and now was as good a time as ever. AmIRight?
My trip began yesterday and started out pretty funny at LaGuardia as I was waiting for my plane. I was sitting around minding my own business but I kept hearing a "tap, tap, tap." I for sure thought it sounded like a typewriter but knew that it could never be. But then I turned around and some dude was sitting along the edge of the terminal typing on a motherfucking typewriter. It's 2014 and this dude (maybe in his 30's mind you) was typing away at his typewriter with his ipad right next to him, naturally. What in the hipster hell was going on? I wasn't even in Portland yet and already I was witnessing this kind of hipster tomfoolery. Incredible. After I had a good laugh, I boarded my flight and headed on out to Denver (this is an enormous airport by the way Who knew? Not me) where I had a quick layover and then got to Portland.
When I arrived I went to my hotel and met up with another friend in town (C) for the wedding and we walked around a bit. Huge score that not only is our hotel nice (duh! but I knew this when booking) but it is also super centrally location and right across the street from a Nordstrom (huge score!!) We decided to walk around a bit and check out the city a little. She had been there for two days already and had been here before but this was all new to me. The city kind of seemed empty and quiet but it was nice. Time constraints because of the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner kept the walk short, but it was nice to get out and about a bit and see a bit of the city. The rehearsal was at the bride's friend's parent's house where the wedding will be held and it was beautiful. It's a gorgeous home on the outskirts of Portland and we even got a view of Mt. Hood on the way there. (Hood. Hehehe. Fur hood. Pieced hood. Hood. Hehehe. Okay, that is all. I have the maturity level of a adolescent boy.) I'm always a fan of a good mountain view. Coming from Chicago and living in New York, I don't see too many mountains and they are just so fascinating to me. From there it was on to the rehearsal dinner which was a lovely restaurant in the city with a fabulous almost 360 degree view of all of Portland. By that time, I was crashing. My body time was three hours ahead of Portland and I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was go to the hotel and go to bed. Jetlag is a real issue folks! When all was said and done we got back to the hotel around 10:00 Portland time which my body knew as 1:00. Yikes. Even though I was super tired, it took me a bit to fall asleep but I slept like a baby and awoke, as to be expected at like 5:00 am Portland time. I decided to lay in bed for almost two more hours before finally getting up and going for my 11 mile training run. I ran along the Willamette river and did a path that included some of the bridges around there as well. It was a beautiful, hot but not humid run. And bonus, there were water fountains along the way. There was a race going on and I was a little jealous! I wish I would have looked into races before I came, but it didn't even cross my mind. Bummer. However, to be able to get in a long run on vacay is always challenging so I was thrilled I got the miles in and it was a good run at that. Then it was off for exploring the day with my friend C. The legs were feeling okay and I was ready to explore.
Even though my good friend LL is coming tomorrow to do Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver with me, I had to get out and see some of this city. I can't just sit around! With no real plan, C and I still managed to cover a solid 7 miles walking around all day and even had a celeb sighting. (Matt Roloff from "Little People, Big World". What, what? We of course both stopped and stared and couldn't decide if we should ask for a pic. We decided against it, but I managed a "selfie" where he just happened to be in the background. Uh huh.) We hit up a bunch of stores (including Powell's, the world's largest independent bookstore), had a great lunch (Lardo. It was a rec from a friend), and then made it to the famous Voodoo Donuts (for the second time that day. We had gone in the morning but didn't want to wait an hour in line. This time when we went back it was about half as long so we did it). Holy shit were these things amazing. We ordered four donuts to split and they were all delicious. I am not a huge donut (or sweets person for that matter), but these are a must. Portland was super hot out and we had been walking around all day so we were ready to head back to the hotel to rest up a bit before the wedding. To our disappointment, housekeeping hadn't come yet which sucked but we had to lay down a bit. When they finally came, it was suuuuper awkward having them clean with us here but it had to be done.
All in all, its been a fabulous first day or so in Portland. As per me and per usual, I have made some observations about this city...
-There are A LOT of homeless people. A lot. C and I even played a game of "OD or sleeping?" Many of them seem drugged out of their mind. Looks like meth users mostly. But once again, I was shocked by how many there are.
- No stores use plastic bags. It's odd. When I got my post-run vitamin water and chocolate milk the lovely gent at 7-11 put it in a paper bag. This was the second time I noticed this and asked. Apparently there is an ordinance where plastic bags can't be used. How very green of you Portland. (P.S. Even Target (yes there's one close to our hotel and we went) even uses paper bags.)
- There is very little diversity. Everyone around here seems to be white. There are very few black and hispanic people. Super strange in a so-called big city.
- For a little fun, I went on Tinder here and shock-of-all-shocks (not at all), so many guys on there had beards. And like hiking. And craft beer. There was definitely a lot of a certain type of local guys on there which I found humerous. Def a different type than I find in NYC thats for sure.
-The Whole Foods here has Kombucha on tap. So Portland.
- Oregon State University's mascot is the beaver. Cue me giggling. And once C and I saw there was a Beaver Store (it's called that!!), we had to go.
- The city is not that big. C and I walked almost all of it hitting all four quadrants and felt that the map (and the way people were talking) made it seem much larger. Also, it has some great shopping! And FYI, like NYC, it doesn't have sales tax on clothing.
- I got super excited seeing Pizza Schmizza. This is because I still proudly watch "The Real World" and two seasons ago was in Portland and that's where the cast worked. Yes, I am lame for this. Don't judge me.
So that's it, a little over one full day in Portland and it's a really cool city. I have enjoyed exploring and with the wedding tonight (wahoo!!) and my friend LL coming tomorrow and seeing even more the next two days, I am psyched and know there is way more to come and be seen. Man, I wish I didn't ever have to work and money was no object so I can travel all the time. Being away makes me realize how much is out there that I haven't seen and still want to. One day...
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