PDX, Rose City…We Call it Portland

The drive from Eugene to Portland was, by far, the shortest leg of the entire 7,000 miles we’ve driven out west. After a two hour drive with the fabulous company of Dave and Lolo crammed into our backseat, and a nutritious Voodoo Doughnut breakfast, we parted company and drove to our friends Jen and John’s place in Southeast Portland. Look on a map. Find the neighborhood that doesn’t look like the rest of the city’s grid. Doesn’t it seem like an alien landing site? This can’t be confirmed, but it is a lovely neighborhood, none the less.

We were lucky enough to have hospitality warmly extended once again; we enjoyed hanging out and catching up, distracting Jen from her dissertation and John from teaching the finer points of the German language, as well as playing with their truly unique kitty, Ralphie (and pining for the shyest kitty in the world, Lizzie). Highlights of the visit have to include the offbeat trip research contained in the documentary “Cain Toads,” as well as a truly frightening local neighborhood performance of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Oh my! John and Jen also reintroduced us to the wonderful neighborhood bars of Portland: Cheap brews + smoking + pinball = what more could you ask for? Next time we’re in town, it’s ping pong for sure.

We also caught up with our friend Erica in Portland, who’s doing kind of a west to east reverse cross-country trip from ours, but luckily with some sweet west coast overlap. We spent a day in downtown Portland making the obligatory and always satisfying trip to Powell’s books, and we nearly saw Portland’s Japanese Tea Gardens but didn’t (NOT ONLY because we overslept we’ll have you know, but because we were too cheap!)

We met up on our last day for an amazing breakfast and then drove to Multnomah Falls for a short hike up to the top of the falls. One of the cool things about Portland is the close proximity to really cool nature like waterfalls, rainforests, mountains, and beaches. We bid Erica farewell and crossed our fingers that she wouldn’t be pulled over by Five-0 because her station wagon looks like it belongs to a serial killer, which of course, she’s not. So far, so good, we hear.
--K & D