Northwest 2015 (Day 5 of 22): Portland

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Breakfast at our hotel, Embassy Suites in downtown Portland

Again we arrived too late to enjoy the amenities of the hotel. Embassy Suites is known for their nice complimentary happy hours in the evenings, but we've never made one. In my mind,  we're possibly going to make the happy hour, enjoy a relaxing dip in the pool and hot tub, bask in the ambiance of the nice lobby and watch people go by, etc.

When we went to look at the pool in the morning it was closed for repairs. Not that we had time to use it, but it's still annoying. A lot of times the pools don't open until 9 or 10 in the morning and they close by 9 or 10 in the evening. That's prime sightseeing time. I need things to be open 24 hours.

Adam's the only one really interested in going swimming with me, but he never wants to get up in the morning. It's not even that I specifically want to go swimming. It's more that I want to fully enjoy the amenities and atmosphere that I paid for. I could pay less money for less amenities and atmosphere, but I don't want that either.

Adam gladly took the fold out sofa

Voodoo Doughnut was a couple blocks away from our hotel and people were always lined up outside

The area nearby has some seedy places. We passed some shady looking clubs and people milling around with that morning after look. We snaked our way through a bunch of people waiting outside the Salvation Army. I think a couple of them said something in our direction. We kept walking.

Keep Portland Weird sign across the street from Voodoo Doughnut

We walked to Lan Su Chinese Garden

The garden was really pretty and a nice oasis amidst the hustle and bustle of the city

Although it would probably be a lot nicer if it weren't in the city with all the loud trucks, sirens, etc. But isn't that true for just about everything?

We walked from Lan Su Chinese Garden to Waterfront Park

The waterfront was very active

There was a mix of all kinds of people, but there sure were a lot of homeless people. I don't think I've ever been to a city where there were so many homeless\homeless looking people. They seemed to be in small groups all over the place and, generally, tolerated as part of the fabric of the city. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

It was a little bit after this picture was taken that a punk rocker looking guy (Sex Pistols, skinny jeans, chains), who was walking in the opposite direction, suddenly took a couple steps toward us as he passed and gave us the middle finger with an angry look on his face and then continued walking.

We were kind of shocked and not really sure who he meant it for. Me, Adam, the whole family? Adam got all red in the face because he thought the guy was targeting him. I think it was me, but Adam was right next to me. Maybe it was Adam's Rolling Stones tee shirt or maybe our little lily white suburban looking family offended his desire to "keep Portland weird". A nice looking well dressed young lady in a business suit was walking just behind us. She stopped for a second and said something to us like "what a nice way to welcome you to Portland".

Adam mentioned later that he thought Portland got a lot better later in the day and that he didn't like it much early on. 

Mount Hood always looming in the distance over Portland

Pioneer Courthouse Square

 

Farmers Market

Portland Art Museuem

Oregon Historical Society Museum

 

We walked around looking for the Portlandia statue

We were looking for it on the ground and were about to give up when Helen looked up and saw it across the street.

Bachelor Party Segway Tour

We got a laugh out of this group of guys who seemed to be having a lot of fun. They had their groom in a pink dress with an attached blow up sex doll. There were a couple of people on the tour that didn't look like they were associated with the bachelor party and seemed a little uneasy about the whole thing.

Back to Pioneer Courthouse Square for some TriMet transit passes

We took the streetcar to Powell's City of Books

Our first choice for lunch, Bunk Sandwiches, had just closed for the day

Stepped inside this bank to see the neat old architecture

The Alder Street Food Cart Pod was our fallback for lunch

With so many choices it's overwhelming to have to pick one

Adam went with the Noodle House

Derek chose a gyro, Helen got Number 1 Bento, and I ate what was left

Wish there was some convenient seating but it worked out and the food was really good. We could have eaten at the park across the street, but the homeless guys had kind of taken it over.

Back to the TriMet station

Across town to Washington Park and the Portland Japanese Garden

What a beautiful place

A group of visiting Buddhist monks stood out in their colorful orange robes 

Across the street to the International Rose Test Garden

Adam admiring the statue of Sacajawea

Waiting on the bus

Waiting on the train

On a doughnut mission

Waiting in line at Voodoo Doughnut

A...yeah

We chose to let the server pick our dozen and added a couple of the signature maple bacon bars

The cereal topped donuts were kind of a waste of a good donut to me, but the boys really liked them

Back to Embassy Suites with our Voodoo booty to pickup our car and drive 3 hours north to Seattle

I almost forgot. We don't have any pictures, but before leaving town we still had to swing by Thrifty Rental Car and deal with our deer battered rental car.

Bye Bye Portland