More Portland Greetings

So as I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself, we kept on driving until we came across a shipwreck.  I don't think I've ever seen a shipwreck before, so of course we had to go and have a poke around.

The Peter Iredale was built in 1894 and came to grief while sailing (it was indeed a sailing ship) in 1906 while trying to avoid a storm.  I know this because I looked it up, in case you're wondering.  They had hoped to tow it to sea, but by the time the weather cleared the sand had taken hold. Now she gently rots (is a ship named after a man still a "she"?) on the beach, and provides interesting photo opportunities for tourists like us.  For example...

We must have been on the leeward side of things, I think, because my ears were never in any danger of freezing off.

On Monday, after  lazing around for a bit, we took a walk and visited Powells Bookstore.  We went because it's an independent bookstore, which unfortunately are few and far between these days, and because it lays claim to being amongst the largest bookstores in the world.  Given that it covers an entire city block three storeys tall, and has an annex across the street, I think the owners might have a point.  They apparently have several other stores in Portland, too.


There were endless, endless stacks of books on shelves more than twice as tall as me, on any subject you'd care to mention.  They have secondhand books mixed in with the new, which is how Daniel came across a fly-fishing book from the 1960s that he brought home.  Much to my surprise, there were several copies of the same book for sale!


As you might imagine, even for a book lover it was a bit overwhelming; thank heavens they have maps available so you can find your way around.  I am a little surprised to report that I left with only two books, one on knitting and one on small batch preserves.


Monday night was spent at the reason we went to Portland in the first place: The Black Keys concert.  I enjoyed it, but I think live music is something you have to see for yourself.  It's not really something that can be explained.


Tuesday was the day we headed back to Boise, but not before a visit to Portland's famed Japanese gardens.  They have five separate styles of garden on a little over five acres, and all are absolutely amazing in their own ways.  I was surprised by the relatively limited palette of plants and colours they used, but they certainly put them to good use.  I believe the garden has been there since the 1960's, so even now it's really just coming into its own.


I think it was a lovely last stop, but I'll let you judge for yourself.


Cheers!

 

Greetings from Portland!

Well, not actually FROM Portland since we've been back for about a week now, but since this is a postcard, the title seemed appropriate.

A few details before we get started with the photos.  Portland is about a seven hour drive westish from Boise, and about 90 minutes from the coast.  It's a port city (imagine that) on the Willamette River, and I believe the population is somewhere around the 600,000 mark.  Add in the population in the surrounding area, and you're looking at about two million.  So quite a big bigger than Boise.


Also quite a bit wetter.  It's on the rainy side of the Cascade mountain range, and they get a LOT of rain, which means it's very green and lush.  Fortunately for us, our entire stay was sunny, if a little chilly on the first day, and dry.


We traveled with our friend Chris, and had a lovely few days.  I'd quite happily go back again. So on to some photos.  We took lots, so I'll try and keep it to the highlights.


Our first stop, on the way to Portland, was Multnomah Falls.  It's just off the highway and fabulously touristy, but for good reason:

 

It was windy, damp, and crowded, but still worth stopping for. After that, we dropped by the Full Sail brewery, which was a little further down the road, and took a free tour.  Portland has the most breweries of any city in the US (and possibly the world, I can't quite remember), so beer was unavoidable much to my dismay (not).

On Sunday, we visited a town called Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast.  Another very touristy place, but we went for a walk along the Pacific Ocean and took in some very spectacular scenery.  I must say it was BLOODY cold and windy.  We turned back to town just before our ears froze and fell off.

Cannon Beach itself was an awful lot like every other seaside tourist town I've been to, but it did have some nifty architecture:

Steidel's Art was just lovely, the building and the artwork it contained.  The artist, who must be at least a thousand years old, works mostly in watercolours and is a fantasy artist.  He's developed his own characters and stories, and I could have very easily walked out with all of his work.  His website really doesn't do him justice, but here it is if you're interested: http://www.steidelsart.com/index.htm

We drove further up the coast to a town called Astoria, which is a working port town on the mouth of the Columbia River.  I preferred it to Cannon Beach, especially the way the houses were all piled up on some really steep hillsides.  We found our way to something called the Astoria Monument, if memory serves, where we got some spectacular views over the river:

We took a drive around the river mouth for a bit, where we discovered a shipwreck, but you're going to have to wait for that.  I thought I could get this all done in one evening, but I'm afraid I've run out of time for now.   I'll leave you with a photo of Chris, and one of Daniel and I...