Hello Portland

   The photographs of Portland I have been updating only do so much justice to the actual experience of the city. Making Portland our final destination of our trip we were preparing for the best. All along our journey every person who we spoke with about Portland spoke highly of the city and told us it is an amazing place. So we headed toward the city with open minds and open embrace. We pulled into the city, coming from Salem, late in the afternoon and found a parking spot for the Astro. On the outskirts of the city and wanting to venture downtown, we had our first experience with the TriMet. The TriMet is one of Portland's public transportation systems. We were somewhat baffled by the whole process of riding the Light Rail and had to ask some locals about how to do it. After missing one rail and almost another we managed to get on the Yellow transit heading into downtown Portland. Sheldon made small talk with some  ladies (around 60 years old), and wanted to get off on there same stop and shop with them at Martha Stewart Living. So, we followed the senior citizens off the 'tranny' and into downtown which was nothing than eye-opening. Skyscrapers created a maze around us, homeless people covered the streets... The concrete jungle.

       We wandered the city for a few blocks then came across a block filled with street vendors. We stared at the shops offering Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Mexican, Italian, and Greek food. Then tucked right in between a chinese and greek vendor we came across a diamond in the rough. Real Chicago hot dogs. From an 'almost famous' guy. Scott was super personable and made us the best hot dog I had ever eaten. I ordered the "Dude!" and it was amazingly tasty. Two kinds of bbq sauce, grilled onions, smothered in three cheeses and a perfectly cooked hot dog all on top of panini bagel bun. Holy Shnikes! One of the best places we ate the whole entire trip.

       After we ate we wandered the streets of the city. We conveniently found our way into a 20-story financial building. We nonchalantly walked inside, past the diamond store and then into the elevator to the second floor. From the second floor we took another elevator to the the 19th floor and found ourselves in an abandoned, under construction office space. We invited ourselves in and beheld the breathtaking view of Portland city from nineteen stories high. Walking around on the top floor for a few minutes taking pictures of the different angles we took a door to the stairs heading for the roof. Unfortunately we weren't luck enough to get on the tip-top of the building, and upon leaving the office space we locked ourselves out and had to walk all 19 stories down the stairs!

      Once outside and downtown again we kept wandering the concrete jungle amazed at all the sights and activity going on. Asking locals on what there is to see we were referred to the Pearl District. A place filled with restaurants, coffee shops, nicer buildings and a clean part of the city. So, we hopped on the transit and headed to the Pearl. We browsed around the area for a bit and then spotted two darling hipsters heading our direction. We struck up conversation and asked for some directions. They turned out to be cool local girls and offered to show us around the city. They took us to an ice cream parlor serving all-natural, made in-store ice cream. We were shown a city park and a few nearby art exhibits. We headed to the location of Saturday Market and passed Voodoo Donuts. We walked around the Waterfront Park. We talked of gender identity, compost, recycling, drugs, social status, life, homosexuality, transvestites, Skrillex, bisexuality, Occupy, parents... Quite entertaining. Later into the night we parted our own ways, never to see each-other again.

           After being left somewhere in downtown Portland, Sheldon and I attempted to find our way back to the Astro. It only took us a few circles to finally make it back to our home on wheels. We hopped in the "machine of genius'" and headed for the hills of Portland. Finding ourselves out of the downtown area and into the ritzy hills of the city we decided to stay the night there and sleep in class. Finding a picturesque street lined with mansions we bedded down for the night, ready to wake up to our last day in Portland.

Willamette River

East and West Portland

Downtown West Portland

Waterfront Park

Hit the Beat Bob.

Waterpark 

Portland

Plug your car in???

Communal Prayer Area

OCCUPY Portland

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder...

Occupy your Mind...

First Ride on the Transit

VOO-DOO Donuts!

Giant Donut

Bridge Reflections

Up in the Sky

Cruisin' USA

Ouside                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Donde esta el bano?

DOWNTOWN PORTLAND