I moved from Portland when I was five, so I only have vague memories of when I lived there. I have visited enough over the years to have some favorites; when I go back to visit friends and family, I try to do a mix of exploring new places and visiting old, familiar ones. An absolute must is Powell’s City of Books, which is their main location. You can pick between whatever’s available according to your taste, be it paperback, hard cover, new or used, because Powell’s shelves then all together. When I was there in 2015, I had a shopping list of classic science fiction books; I was able to find all of them.
We met friends for dinner a couple blocks away from Powell’s, at McMenamin’s Ringlers Pub. We were so busy having fun, I forgot to take any food photos while we were there. Suffice to say I’d be happy to eat there again.
The exploration part of this trip was a trip into Washington state to the Mt. St. Helens Lava Tube. I was discussing my upcoming trip to Portland with a (now former) co-worker, who told me about the lava tubes. It was an amazingly scenic drive – as much of the area around Portland is – and we opted for the short, easy walk down the tubes, rather than the extreme
one going up. Our initial plan was to follow this with a trip to Multnomah Falls, but everybody else was already there – the parking was full, and the freeway exit closed. We were quite hungry, so revamped our plan to eat at a restaurant underlooking (it’s like overlooking, but we could see the underside of it) the Bridge of the Gods.
The main purpose of this visit was my grandmother’s birthday party, which was a fabulous reunion of family members and friends. After the party, with only an hour or so before it closed, I went to the Portland Saturday Market and then to the Lan Su Chinese Garden. Sadly, I was still quite full from the amazing food at the party and couldn’t try anymore food at either location.
I did stop at the teahouse in the Chinese Garden, operated by The Tao of Tea, to pick up some Rose Petal Black tea, which is an all-time favorite of mine. I also watched a drawbridge go up, which is one of those fun things to do if you’re not one of the cars stuck waiting on the bridge.
But all good things must come to an end, especially with a houseful of cats waiting at home and a week of organizing before starting my new job. We did find a delightful farm-to-table restaurant at the airport called The Country Cat where we bought a filling lunch. This turned out to be fairly important… we were getting ready for bed after arriving home and realized that because of the time difference and flight time, we never ate dinner. Oops.