Sep 19: Portland

The trip began with me packing early on the morning. Then, Di Yin and I took the Caltrain to the bus to San Jose airport. I'd never made it to SJC via public transit before, but it turned out to be smooth sailing all the way.

We flew out of San Jose Airport's brand new terminal B, which was pretty nice and had the wonderful amenity that most seats in the waiting area have power outlets.

We flew Horizon. Perhaps a reflection of Portland's brewing traditions, Horizon served as one of the drink options a complimentary microbrew. It was okay.

We landed, picked up our luggage and our rental car, drove downtown, and started exploring. At this point I began taking pictures.

One place we visited was the Saturday Market. (Yes, I know it was Sunday, but it's also open on Sundays.) In addition to the standard market stuff of clothes, hats (lots of stalls selling these, all rather nice), handbags, accessories (wallets, belts, ...), jewelry, candles, glassware, pottery, woodcarving (even pretty woodwind instruments), metalwork, paintings (some surprisingly good and priced accordingly), photography, etc., there were some novelties too, such as custom-made clay face masks and a stand that would put your face on a garden gnome. See the pictures for the rest. We also found some stages with live music. Finally, as for food, there was the usual market food (philly cheesesteaks, pizza) plus Tibetan, Hawaiian, BBQ, Salvadorian (pupusas), Ethiopian, and Polish (pirogis).

After the market, we wandered around downtown Portland. Di Yin led. We had no grand plan of places to see, but our wandering did (I realize in retrospect) cover most of that section of town. It was perfect weather, a nice temperature to wear long sleeves, a slight breeze, and gentle sunlight.

Right when we decided to stop exploring, it started drizzling. (good timing!) We stopped by REI to prep for our camping trip, and then headed to dinner on the other side of the river. On the way, we drove down Hawthorne, a hip street filled with boutiques and restaurants, including a Mexican school bus food joint (hipper than a taco truck in my opinion) and more. We made plans to walk around the area sometime (though these plans never came to fruition).

We ate at Apizza Scholls, a place I learned about via Anthony Bourdain. We had a great pie. For details, see the lengthy comments by the pictures.

Finally, we checked into our night's hotel, Park Lane Suites & Inn. Complete with hardwood floors, it was perfectly nice.