Me and Lewis and Clark

Back from Portland, OR. Well, hello fantastic place to live! Although certainly the fact that it rarely crawled out of the 50's - in July!- making it 40 to 50 degrees cooler than Houston, was a pleasant shock to my bod! Stayed with a dear friend from high school. Actually she was my very first friend in h.s. We'd moved over the summer and I was forced into the dreaded march o' high school death where you walk in the first day and everyone knows each other... except you. So when I realized that Marjorie was in almost all my classes and lived a few blocks away and even had a brother who was in junior high with my brother and best of all shared my wacky sense of humor, well, the friendship didn't take long to solidify - and it's stayed that way even with me in Houston, her in Utah and now OR.

Anyway, in no particular order, here are Joy's reasons why you should visit Portland if you've never been:

• Self-service gas stations are against the law. Someone comes out and fills your tank. Can you imagine??
• You are surrounded by mountains. Mt. Hood. Mt. St. Helens. (okay, it could erupt, but whatever). You can ski and snowboard on Mt. Hood in July.
• You can go hiking at Multanomah Falls near the Columbia Gorge. It is amazingly beautiful.
• In 90 minutes you can drive to the coast. Check out Haystack Rock. But go while the tide is low.
• Powell's Books!
• Coffee People coffee!
• Farmer's Market and the Pearl District
• Great light rail
• Trilogy Videos - a video store that mostly stocks indie films!
• Tons of shops and restaurants and Oregon wines and beers. Like a mini Napa with more social consciousness.
• The Portland Rose Garden. Acres of roses since 1912. All for the public to enjoy.
• Pittock Mansion and grounds. Great view of everything. (okay, mostly the mountains kept hiding) But they'd peek out now and again.
• And did I say coffee? The entire city enabled my already raving caffeine habit.
• No sales tax.
• Portland airport had a pianist, wine tasting, and a I bought a tall coffee plus a bottle of water all for $3.50. In the airport!

So, if you are the outdoorsy/coffee/organic type, Portland is for you. I would go back tomorrow.

Til next time...