Portland

The husband and I (and Sofie) went to Portland last week for a little vacation. We had a nice time, but it wasn't thrilling or anything.

We left on Wednesday and drove, taking 2 days so we wouldn't be exhausted. We stopped in Redding and went to a little used book store, where we got my dad some Zane Grey books. Then we tried to see the Sundial Bridge but there was a sign saying "no dogs" so we didn't bother getting out of the car.

After leaving Redding Thursday morning we stopped in Mount Shasta City to get a close-up of the mountain. I'd read about Shasta and always hoped to see it in person, but never thought I would. It's pretty impressive, even though it was shrouded in mist and clouds.

When we got to Portland, we checked in and went for a walk. The hotel was right downtown so we saw some of that area, including Pioneer Courthouse Square where we saw a man walking a cat on a leash. Sofie and it made eye contact, but nobody wigged out. Then we got some excellent Indian food from one of the carts in a parking lot and went back to the hotel to relax.

On Friday, we drove out to Powell's to drop off 12 boxes of books for trade-in, then took off to Fort Clatsop (the Lewis and Clark fort out on the coast). It was a scenic drive but it looked a lot like East Tennessee. After the fort, we drove down to Seaside and took Sofie to the beach. She was ok with it because the water must have been at low tide and was a distance away. The only thing that did bother her was a German Shepherd named Brutus who kept licking her. Then we had lunch at Bigfoot's Pub and Grub, which was probably our 2nd best meal after the Indian food.

Saturday it rained, but we went to the Saturday Market and had a look around then drove out the Columbia River Gorge and saw the waterfalls - Wayne's recommendation and totally worth it.

Sunday we drove up to Fort Vancouver just over the river in Washington. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Since it was a fort of the Hudson's Bay Company, it was pretty swank. I'm so used to the bare, stark military forts that it was a nice change. We also had lunch in Mt Tabor Park, which is an extinct volcano within the city limits. If I ever moved to Portland, I'd want to live within walking distance of that park.

Monday we took Sofie for her morning walk and went down to Voodoo Doughnut. We'd seen it on tv and had tried to go on Saturday, but there was a line. Luckily, no line on Monday and we got 3 tasty examples. Then we checked out and hit the road.

The drive back seemed to take forever, but you get a much better and longer-lasting view of Mount Shasta heading south. We stopped in Reading again and went to the Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area. I got my passport stamped and then we headed a bit further south before stopping. We finally got home Tuesday around 3:30pm and that was it.

When all is said and done, I liked Portland and would take a show going there, but I doubt I'll go back on my own to visit again.