We left early Friday am and got to Portland around 11. Despite the forecast, the weather was decent. We parked by Powells books and went in to shop. What an amazing book store! We saw it last year coming back from Sacramento. This time, we had time to explore it.
I was wandering around history and government books when I saw a sign "Radical Newspapers have been moved to the end of aisle 655. Bingo. I must have a "radical" newspaper. We found the area in politics. One shelf said "Left" one said "Right" They were not discussing the location of the shelves. The newspapers were in a small rack, there were probably 4 of them. The cover of the Freedom Socialist paper featured a story on immigration. Sold.
I found a new? book from Barbara Kingsolver and a local book by a Portland author. I don't recall the names of either book at the moment! doh. The lady in the checkout was thrilled I was buying the local book. She indicated she was friends with the author and belonged to a book club with him. She said it was a great book. Can't wait to read it.
After our Powell book store trip, we walked over to the food trucks. OMG it was an entire city block of food trucks. On the first row along I counted 4 Middle Eastern trucks! What;s that all about? It is nearly impossible to get a Falafel sandwich in Seattle. In Portland there are Falafel everywhere! Many indicated they were Iraqi decendents. How did Portland get so many Iraqi's?
We walked around the entire block, looking at each truck and snapping a few pictures along the way. There were a few more trucks that extended down a different block, so we decided to check them out too. The last truck was a dumpling truck. We decided to get an appetizer. I ordered the Potato Curry and B ordered the Pork dumpling. They had 4 different sauces. B prepared a ramekin of each one.
B loved hers, mine were ok. We only liked one of the sauces, a coconut thing. We didn't finish them, we wanted more food.
We headed back to the main block of food trucks. I was destined to have a Falafel, but which one? I watched to see what truck had the biggest line. It was early and the lines were not too big yet. I chose Baghdad Falafel, I think that was the name. It features "Iraqi Bread" whatever that is.
B headed over to the opposite side to get come Chinese food. We also saw an amazing sushi truck that was quite popular as well as a Grilled Cheese place that was getting a lot of business.
I waited and waited and waited for my Falafel. I have never waited so long for a Falafel before. B came back from a block away with her food before mine ever arrived. When it was ready, it was quite impressive. It was s decent sandwich. the Bread was the best part.
What amazes me is how many food trucks there are. They are everywhere. Every nook and cranny has a food truck. They are all very reasonable too. I suspect all the competition plays a part in the pricing. In Seattle the food trucks are few and the prices are sky high. Dumb business model.
After lunch we parked by the river and walked along the Willamete. We looked at the Maritime museam but passed. We watched the Spirt of Portland do a lunch cruise. After a nice stroll, we headed back into town to find some shopping. We found the Nordstrom Rack and went to shopping. I found a few shirts on sale. B was no where near done. I told her I would get car and come back into neighborhood since we were a ways from the car. Did i mention that it costs $1.60 an hour to park on the street? WOW! beats Seattle at $4.00 an hour!
I found the car after some searching. We walked a lot farther than I thought! I found a place to park a few blocks away. I got out and heard music and drums. I looked around the corner and a protest march against human trafficing was winding it's way down the sidewalk. I took up a good position and armed myself with my iphone on video! I gave them the peace sigh and thumbs up as the marched by me. I am going to attempt to post the video.
When I got to the Rack, B was in line to check out. We got out of there and went to check in to the Hotel. We chose the Embassy Inn because of the free happy hour and free breakfast. I love happy hour and breakfast!
The Hotel is very old. Like many things in Portland. In Seattle we knock em down and build new ones. In Portland they fix up the old stuff.
The room had no real view, except to the Keep Portland Weird sign.
Before happy hour we decided to cehck out the neighborhood. We found Voodoo Doughnuts. It had a line out the door. We found that this is common. We asked the nice doorman at the strip club next door what the hours were for Voodoo. He informed us it was open 24 hours a day! wow! He told us of a few other bars in the area, since he realized we were not going into a strip club.
We found a place to grab a few cold beers and for me to lose some money fast in a Video gambling machine. I'd say video poker machine, but they have advanced. They are all crazy looking games. I just wanted to play poker. I found a poker game with Wild 2's whatever. I won one hand, but it wasn't enough.
By the time happy hour started, I was already happy! But a free beer is a free beer. We had a few free beers and some snacks. I was getting really hungry. According to Yelp, the best Thai was right down the street. We went for a nice Thai dinner. It was pretty busy due to Valentines day, but we got seated in about 10 minutes. The food was excellent.
After dinner we went back to room for a few. then headed back out to have a night cap. We found a funky bar that had some games We played Skee Ball. They had the fancy pacman 4 player table top machine, but people were using it as a table. I wanted to play it, but oh well.
Outside a bunch of people wearing sock puppet costumes were dancing and posing for pictures. It seemed completely normal to see this for some reason. When we left we took some pictures.
Bed came early as it always does for us. The next am I snuck out and went to Voodoo at 7 am. I bought one of those Maple bars with bacon on it for B. and an Apple fritter and two plain doughnuts.
B was awake when I came back and told me she didn't want the bacon maple bar DOH! We went back after breakfast and she got the doughnut she wanted. A glazed doughnut. The fritter was amazing and wayy to big. The plain doughnuts were average. I think Top Pot probably has better doughnuts, but Voodoo has the creativity won hands down.
Breakfast was ok. Same ol same ol. I am getting familiar with the Embassy Suites free menu items!
After breakfast we went and packed and then left the hotel. We parked down the street at TJ Maxx for more shopping! I found some socks and a car charger for Bs new phone. Upstairs was office Depot. I bought a new wireless router (it died 12 hours after use).
We then went back to Powell books! It was absolutely jammed! Hordes of people streaming in. Are the Trailblazers playing here? I have never experienced such crowds in a book store before! It gave me a tiny bit of more hope for humanity! Very tiny.
We then went to our favorite chain that is not in Seattle yet. Noodle Company. Seriously? Why none in Seattle? I bet it would draw Chipotle crowds. They made it across the river to Vancouver now, so maybe someday. Their slogan is "Food for Friends, Family and Foreign Diplomats!"of course, cause they have everything! Italian dishes, Asian dishes, American dishes, Latino and even an Indonesian dish. All good.
The drive out of Portland was hell. It was raining soo hard. An accident was in front of us and we could barely see it. Not sure how I stopped in the rain at 75 mph. Cops had been on the scene for some time. In this visibility, no one thought to deploy some flares a few miles up the road? Wow. this was close to being a major pileup.
Got home Saturday afternoon. Drive down took an 45 min or so due to weather.
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| Protest march |
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| No Standing? |
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| No Bieber is not here. These are book fans! |
1 comment:
Gotta check out those food trucks!
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