Portland

Last week-end, we decided to take a trip to Portland, OR to see our new nephew, his parents, and some good friends of ours. Of course we wanted to see Portland too! Living in small towns leaves me yearning to be back in big cities from time to time. I'm not sure I'd ever want to live in a big city again, but if I had to, Portland would be high on my list of "livable cities". Truth be told, I've already lived in the Portland area when I spent a year at Oregon Health Sciences University, getting a degree and interning in Medical Technology (working in a medical lab doing all sorts of testing.. chemistry, microbiology, blood banking, etc...). At the time I was so incredibly busy that I didn't have much time to explore the city, but we've always been fortunate to have family in the area to visit and play tour guides.

This time we went downtown, took the MAX light rail to the Saturday Market to explore the hand made art and craft items. It was interesting to see some of the same vendors that were there many many years ago when I first started going there. They'd moved their location to another area under the Burnside Bridge. I'm afraid the seedier part of Portland was also on full display there. My kids both heard more swear words in a matter of minutes from homeless people than they've probably heard in their whole lives.... Oh well.... They later repeated a few of these words in the car and we had a few interesting teaching moments and discussions... ahem....



Portland is a city of bridges. With so many rivers traversing the city and so many hills it's a challenging place to drive in. No wonder the MAX is so popular.



It has to be one of the most eco-friendly cities that I've ever visited too. Only in Portland have I ever seen these public toilets...



See what happens when you get a tiny camera that fits nicely in your pocket? I wanted to take a picture of the hand dryers too. I've never seen anything like them either, but there were too many people and I'm not quite THAT bold...

Did I mention the food? Portland has some great places to eat. Sushi was high on our list. We stuffed ourselves! My in-laws also had at their home some incredible local coffee, bread and wine that will keep me day dreaming until I we can make another trip to sample them again. I highly recommend Portland as a place to visit. Many have a hard time living there, due to the dark rainy winters, but that's OK. Visiting Portland in the winter reminds me of visiting New Orleans in August. It's a great time for those (like me) who don't like "crowds"!



Since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I must say that I'm incredibly thankful for our family and the friends who have enriched our lives so much! I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!