Portland Praise

Who, you ask, goes to Portland for a family holiday in October? What do you mean? Is it rainy there, or something?

We took the above picture during a TORRENTIAL downpour, peppered with hail. Look at the girls...if they looked up, their eyes would be pelted out by ice chunks.

What is the only thing you can do when the skies open in Portland? Head to Powell Books, of course. I actually think it should be raining when you head in to spend an hour or two in a book store.

Our trip to Portland was part of Molly's birthday present. We promised her an NBA game and $30 to spend on books.

She was happy...

We headed down on Friday afternoon, fighting Seattle traffic to make it to the preseason game between the Trailblazers and Golden State. The game was exciting and the arena was packed. It was good seeing some of the fringe players fighting for their spot on the roster.

We had a great hotel across the river, a terrific Hotwire score. After a delicious free breakfast, we headed in to town for the day. The skies cleared while we were browsing in Powell Books, so we walked down to Voodoo Donuts. To wait in line. That's right, line.

There was a half hour wait to order donuts.

Luckily, we had lots to entertain us. Like the crazy "end of the world" guy. Standing in front of the "Keep Portland Weird" mural. So, success there, Portland.

We finally made it inside the donut store. There was some excitement.

And for good reason.

Good things come in pink boxes.

And then the feast began. We got a dozen. They went quickly.

Portland may be weird, but it's tasty, too.

Then we walked down to the Saturday market. The Spoonman was there. He makes things out of spoons. They have apparently branched out and also make some crazy headbands.

Observe Plunger Head.

Lukey, impaled by drumsticks.

Never run with scissors...or a spatula. That looks like it smarts.

That will be a headache in the morning...

We walked around downtown and looked for a place to eat dinner.

We popped into Nike and designed some $300 shoes. Then we walked away.

Dinner was an amazing Vietnamese spot. This $7 bowl of Pho was amazing (I forgot to take a picture until I had eaten most of it...it was that yummy).

Sunday morning, we headed out on a great walking tour. We learned a lot and covered quite a bit of the city.

After another trip for ANOTHER dozen Voodoo donuts, we drove around some of the residential neighbourhoods before heading back to the Rose Quarter to watch the Trailblazers practice. It was a free event and place was packed.

Look carefully at this picture to see Molly's face looking backwards. We had good seats.

As soon as the practice was over, we started our drive home. It was a lovely long weekend and it whet our appetite to return to Portland in the spring.