Visiting Portland |
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| I’ve been to Portland two times, but the first visit was before I had this website and I took no photos. On my second return in 2012 I realized I had forgotten how big of a city Portland is. It’s no Chicago or San Francisco of course, but it’s definitely a large city by American standards with a strong personality and a place on America’s map that shouldn’t be missed. The first discussion that usually follows the topic of Portland is almost always about its bad weather. I visited Portland on a long weekend when the forecast had claimed sunny skies for Saturday, a somewhat rare phenomenon for the city. Either the forecast intentionally lied to encourage me to visit that weekend or Portland’s definition of sunny was different from mine. When I arrived I had a full overcast that was often mixed with rain and it lasted my three day weekend. |
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| Aside from its nasty weather, there is a lot Portland is famous for. Its music festivals, nightlife, restaurants and breweries, parks and gardens, and its overall liberal atmosphere make it an attractive place to visit. When I was looking for a parking spot I was confused why cars were parked so far away from the curb, I then realized that the space provided to the right of the parked cars was a biker lane. On the upper right is one of many tunnels within the city that goes through the city’s mountains. The city is a great place to live if you want to stay in shape since it is so biker friendly and there are plenty of challenging hills and mountains for running and hiking. |
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| One of Portland’s nicest districts was the North West. Here you’ll find lots of restaurants and small pubs in a densely forested neighborhood. Almost all the businesses here appeared to be houses that had been converted over, and in some ways I almost felt like I was entering someone’s property. I had dinner and drinks at a Mexican restaurant and then admired the streets and shops until it started pouring rain. |
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| Another district I entered had a large market that was packed with people and events. One of the places I stopped at outside the market was Voodoo donuts, which got my attention because of the long line of people going out their front door and up along the sidewalk. The line was so long that I didn’t want to wait in it, but I the guy above was nice enough to let me take his photo of a giant donut he had purchased. I did see some donuts on display and honestly some of them looked quite disgusting. There were many unique flavors and some donuts shaped like people with other strange combinations that didn’t appeal to me. The donuts in the photo above shows one covered in cereal and others that were covered in different kinds of candy. |
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| Within the same market I came across the man on the upper left who for whatever reason approached me and asked to have his photo taken. On the right is an entertainer showing off his break dancing skills to a small crowd. Other people were doing stunts of their own, including a guy wearing stilts in an all out superman costume. |
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| The market also was full of lots of shops, many selling clothing, fantasy art, and other creative things like this plant on the upper left growing out of a seashell. There was a large live band doing covers of artists like Tom Petty. |
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 Thanks to my girlfriend, I learned to appreciate farmers markets, and while we were in Portland we stopped by a large one that takes place every Saturday at the Portland State University. I used to foolishly think Farmers markets were nothing but an outdoor grocery store where you can buy lettuce and tomatoes directly from the supplier, but after visiting a few I learned that they are much more than that. I should have taken more pictures from the farmers market, but on the upper left you can see a large gathering of people going in between different tents and some flowers and plants being sold above. Many places here sold speciality food with ingredients taken from the farms only days ago without being frozen or processed. You basically can’t get any fresher than this, and with so many vendors out you can try dozens of different types of dishes and locally made foods. There is more to the market than food of course, on the left is a group of three guys playing live music, while other places sold souvenirs, hand made items and art. |
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| Like most major cities in the west and north east, Portland has its own Chinatown. This district was once a nice place to visit, but seems to have declined over the years and might even be considered an eyesore these days. Compared with the busy markets and other districts I had already visited, Chinatown seemed empty and packed with lots of homeless people. I had even read online that some travelers might be disappointed with their visit here but there are still a few things worth seeing. On the upper left is a shot for the Chinese garden and on the right the Chinese arch that marks the entrance to the district. Below are some dragons for sale that I found in one of the few shops that were still open. The lower right was a very strange machine on the sidewalk. After we put a quarter in the machine, dolls became animated, fans turned on, and two old TV sets began displaying images and talking but the machine was so old I wasn’t sure what it was trying to tell me. |
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| While in Portland I went to catch a movie which took me to the more average parts of Portland. The theater I went to was part of a shopping mall and had its own indoor ice skating rink. |
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| A famous and beautiful place in Portland is Washington Park located in the mountains of the city. Within Washington Park is more parks, such as the surrounding photos from their famous Japanese garden. There is also a famous mansion that is a popular visit, some other gardens and recreational places such as tennis courts and some upper class neighborhoods. The Japanese garden here is said to be one of the best in the world outside of Japan, and it was definitely worth a visit. On clear days from Washington Park you can supposedly see Mt. Hood. |
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