Friday, July 20: Portland, OR

First stop of the day was at Voodoo Doughnut. It lives up to the reputation. I only had so much stomach capacity, so I kept it simple with an old-fashioned glazed, a Portland creme, and an apple fritter (which I could not finish and saved for later). All of it delicious, definitely worth waiting in line.

Then I wandered around the downtown area, which is smaller than I had imagined. I stopped at Powell's City of Books and it was glorious. Better than the Strand in New York, in my opinion. It was terrible because I had to resist the pull of buying anything. Then more walking. It took me a while to find the visitors center in Pioneer Courthouse Square because there was a sandcastle building contest blocking the view. Look up "whimsical" in the dictionary, and you might see an entry for Portland. Of course, it was for a good cause and they looked like they were having fun, so who am I to criticize? But it really does seem like Portland is embracing its reputation.

Then I went to the Rogue Public House where I had an excellent beer, burger, and conversation with a friend from law school who was in Seattle with me during the Katrina semester. Portland does good beer, I cannot deny it, and it was again good to catch up with an old friend.

For the afternoon, I was torn between checking out what the museums had to offer or going to see the new Batman movie. Showtimes didn't work out, and my friend also informed me of the tragedy in Colorado, so museums it was. (By the way, I have been almost completely oblivious to news in the past three weeks. I know that we signed Drew Brees and that there haven't been any hurricanes threatening New Orleans, but that's it.)

The Oregon Historical Society Museum is not an essential stop. The "Oregon My Oregon" exhibit, of the history of the state through the 1950's, seemed very disjointed. But the Oregon Maritime Museum was a fun place to spend half an hour. I got a tour from a nice docent named Dave. The museum is in a restored steam tug, and all the restoration work on it has been done by volunteers. For the nautically inclined, I would recommend it.

Dinner was Hawaiian plate lunch from a food truck. (The Swamp Shack food truck was closed so I did not get a chance to see what Portland's version of cajun cooking is like.) On my way back to the Greyhound station I passed the Portland International Beerfest. It was already packed so I resisted the pull.

On the whole, I liked Portland. It seems like one of those towns (I would include Asheville in this list) where everybody seems to have a lot of fun and it's not clear what anybody does for a living. But it was a very fun place to visit and I wouldn't mind seeing it again some day.