I’ve been to Seattle.  I worked a rather large, historical storm that hit Tacoma in December 2006 back when I was a catastrophe insurance adjuster so my first Pac NW experience was visiting people with 100’ long trees piercing the middle of their homes that needed me to write estimates for them to fix it.  December this close to the North Pole means that the sun disappears at around 3:30PM.  It was very wet.  But I still loved it.  And even though Seattle is not the same city as Portland, and even though Seattle is 3 hours away and in a different state I vowed that I would be back to the Pac NW to visit Portland someday.  Only not in the dead of winter.

By the summer of 2012 I felt the time was right.  I booked a room via Airbnb in a cute duplex in the area of Portland known as the Alphabet district so that I could walk places and not have to stay in a hotel.  I flew in on a Southwest Airlines flight out of Austin.  The weather was in the low 70s and sunny.  I pulled out of the airport in my rental car and turned on the radio.  The radio was set to a station that was playing the song “Some Nights” by fun.  I couldn’t have asked for a better song to blast while rolling down the highway and getting lost by accidently crossing into Vancouver, Washington.  The birds were chirping, the sky was blue and I was surrounded by green and bridges.  Portland is really a very beautiful city.

My first stop even before I checked into my duplex was a place called Sauvie Island.  Sauvie Island is in the NW part of Portland and is very popular for its berry and vegetable picking farms.  I wanted to go and pick fresh berries to have to snack on for my extended weekend.  I decided on Sauvie Island Farms for my farm because it was located at the back of the island and was supposed to be one of the largest and best.  Unfortunately being late August all of the raspberries and blueberries were gone but the blackberries had just hit their peak season and the vines were aching with them.  My love affair with Portland probably started right here with my head buried deep into the vines, picking fresh blackberries. I filled the boxed canister with the berries and carried them back to the place I would be staying.

My nights in Portland were filled with coffee and beer, two of my favorite things.  Prior to hitting up these places I went out to the Oregon Zoo and watched a concert on the grassy knoll as part of their summer concert series.  Robert Randolph was there with his family band and the place was jam packed with people sipping wine and eating picnics.  This was an extended weekend trip so I had to see as much of this as I could.  On Saturday I did an underground tour of Portland that took me into some of the historical tunnels that run under the city.  Portland back in its early days was a sort of frat house of men who came to town for work in the forest and shipping industry.  There are a lot of rumors about the tunnels but alas most of them are supposedly not true.  Regardless there has been long suffering in this town and Portland’s history runs very deep indeed.

I have always respected the fucked up writings of Chuck Palahniuk and it just so happened that Saturday afternoon was the 41st Birthday celebration of Powell’s books.  Chuck was there giving autographs and giving a mini reading on why he loved Powell’s books.

My friend Didi joined me for the celebration and we went “fishing” for books as part of a game and shopped inside.  Being a book junkie I bought two bags worth of books and then struggled to find room for them in my tiny suitcase.  Powell’s books is another main reason why I fell in love with Portland. It is the largest independent bookstore in the US.  You can get lost in there yet still feel at home.  The birthday celebration included free prizes, food and various speakers.  Portland is a city filled with intellect.  I really, really like the thinking culture it provides.

One of my favorite places was Mission Theater.  This is a historical theater that is set up with a full bar and tables where you can order food and eat and watch a film.  It was their 100th birthday celebration that weekend and they had free cake and were showing free movies like Casablanca outside and The Big Lebowski inside.  I spent the last part of my Saturday night at the famous Crystal Ballroom seeing Conor Oberst’s punk band perform.

One of my favorite parts about Portland was their Farmers Market.  The number of cheese, eggs, wine, homemade pasta, spice, flower and produce vendors was unbelievable.  To be able to live in an area so rich with such diversity of offerings is a real blessing.  In addition to the markets Portland has a great amount of vintage shops and clothing stores.  My last afternoon I spent walking up and down the Alphabet district eating PBJ sandwiches from a food trailer and shopping for vintage items.

Out of all the cities I have visited and enjoyed in the US I have never had the urge to move to one as much as I have had the urge to move to Portland. The ease and accessibility Portland has to all the great West coast cities makes it really nice, as does the fact that it has no sales tax and a really nice outdoor scene, music/film/book scene and even sports.

To Be Continued…