The drive down was pretty smooth and finding the new place not too difficult. After breakfast and some visiting it was time for Julie and I to go play. That was about the time that we noticed a flat tire. I was anxious to get going, so the trip to get a flat fixed that lasted an hour and a half was frustrating to say the least.
Portland is notorious for bad freeway traffic and because of construction projects this day promised to be worse than usual. We decided to get some lunch before facing the madness. Dave suggested we try Five Guys, a burger joint nearby. It was pretty busy when we arrived but not terribly so. The overall ambiance was very plain, simple and to the point. They are known for their fries which are hand cut and extra greasy. You will not leave there hungry which I guess is the point. The food was pretty good but almost instantly made me feel bloated and lazy. Perfect condition for someone about to go sit in a car.
Traffic wasn't too horrible and we made it to downtown fairly easy. Our first stop was the Portland Saturday market. This is a great place to shop for handmade items, listen to street performers, get your fortune read or just people watch. Every hipster, hippy and homeless teenager is here and I felt right at home even though I am none of the above. Julie picked up a beautiful necklace and I got a pretty cool new t-shirt.
Our accommodations were at the Benson Hotel. It was a nice place to stay and I enjoyed the view from our room on the 9th floor. There must have been a white trash wedding discount that weekend as the place was crawling with brides, grooms and drunken wedding attendees. After a bit we decided to go venture around the neighborhood a little. On our way back to our room we noticed that we had another flat tire!
Good thing that Portland has such a great public transportation system that we didn't really need to drive anyway. We took the streetcar to the Nob Hill neighborhood and had a nice dinner at 23 Hoyt. The appetizer of flatbread with goat cheese caramelized onions and mushrooms was delicious but a little too crispy. Our salads had great flavors especially the romaine heart with bacon, fennel, onions and buttermilk blue cheese dressing. For our entrees I had a wild sockeye salmon steak that was simple but tasty and Julie had the special rib eye steak with béarnaise sauce that was exceptional. I sometimes suspect that when I eat out with Julie and my entree isn't very large she feints that she is full so that I will finish her plate. What an awesome wife!
After dinner we visited Powell's bookstore. This is the biggest bookstore I have ever seen. If there is a heaven for a book lover this is it! Julie and I could spend hours in a place like this but as it was starting to get late and I was worried that the gelato place across the street would close we cut our visit short. Luckily it was open and as I was eating my favorite sweet cream gelato I thought to myself Portland is alright.
After a great night's sleep we woke to a beautiful sunny morning, checked out and headed down to Kerr bicycle rentals and got outfitted with some wheels. Portland is such a great bicycle city that this is an easy way to get around and get to know the city better. We rode around exploring the bicycle trails along the Williamette river and over to the south end of town in the Hawthorne neighborhood. Here we looked at cute little shops and had lunch at the Mai Thai Bistro. The décor was beautiful and the presentation was exceptional. The coconut soup and shrimp soup were both quite good. I ordered the phad thai and it was below average. It came with red sauce and peppers on the side which was good as it had absolutely no flavor without them. The service was adequate but bizarre. When Julie requested water without a lemon she was asked if she had a lemon allergy or if she just didn't like lemon. Our server then asked if we had any food allergies she should be aware of. Weird. When Julie's diet coke arrived with a cherry in it we realized that we were in the land of unrequested fruit in beverages.
I was very proud of Julie as our bike ride included riding on some fairly busy city streets and up some hills. We made it back just in time as a nice rain squall hit after we had returned our bikes and were on our way out of the city. Other than perhaps a sore butt we were no worse for the wear.
Portland is a fun place to visit. Even though I had been there before for some brief visits and even proposed to Julie at the Portland International l Rose and test garden I had always just kind of ignored it. It always seemed too close in location and character to Seattle to pique my interest. Now that we have a base of operations, a babysitter and a good reason to visit I am sure we will be getting to know the area much better. I look forward to it.
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