We begin our third year on the road here in Portland, Oregon, in the shadow of Mt. Hood. We have been to Portland a few times before, but only for a day or two. So we decided to stay 11 days this time and see what it is like. They call it "The City Of Roses" or "The City of Bridges" which we were able to see when we celebrated our third year in the Winnebago by taking The Spirit of Portland Dinner Cruise. We passed under 11 of the 13 bridges that cross the Willamette River, which runs through the middle of the city. As you can see from the pictures below, Portland is quite scenic from the river. We loved looking at the many houseboats moored along the river and seeing the historic Portland Oregon Old Town sign. The evening before we visited the Portland Audubon Society's Swift watch site at Chapman Elementary School in Northwest Portland. Every evening for the month of September thousands of Vaux's Swifts roost in the schools old chimney preparing for their migration south. It is quite a spectacle to see them swirling and then diving into the chimney. Hundreds of folks show up with a picnic dinner each evening to enjoy the hour long show.
It is also easy to see why Portland is also called the City of Roses. They grow everywhere and they even have a neon rose on the waterfront. We visited the International Rose Test Garden and the Japanese Garden in Washington Park and even though most of the roses are now past their prime blooming time there were still many to see and smell. We even found a Ketchup and Mustard Rose like the ones we saw in Karin Bybee's garden in Idaho Falls. One afternoon we drove to the nearby town of Forest Grove to see the worlds tallest barbers pole. On the way we passed many farmers markets, so we stopped and bought corn, peaches and tomatoes. To our surprise we also passed a cannabis farm. It is legal to sell pot in Oregon. Needless to say it was very well fenced off with razor wire and electric fencing. I was able to take the picture below through the gap in the fence gate. There was not a farmers market there.
We also hit a few of the dining hot spots in the Portland area. We found Pork Shanks at the Deschutes Brewery, that were not as good nor meaty as the ones our friend BJ Bybee makes but they were tasty. We had out of this world donuts at Voodoo Doughnuts. Josie tried the Portland Cream Filled and I had the Voodoo doughnut shaped like a voodoo doll, chocolate covered with raspberry filling and a pretzel sticking out of its heart. We also took home a few for the next day including the Maple Bacon ( thinking of you Eli) and Giant Peach doughnut. I went to a Hillsboro Hops baseball game one evening and was surprised at the size of their foot long hotdog that they sold for only 5 dollars. We also discovered a local hamburger chain call Burgerville that had a very good Blue Cheese, Mushroom and Bacon Burger. ( Again Josie is thinking of Eli) Of course we also bought a lot of Tillamook Cheese and I discovered they make great Smoked Pepperoni Sticks too. Josie disagreed with me on that one. Tomorrow we drive over the mountains into the central part of the state and spend a week in Bend, Oregon.
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