Portland, Oregon—Days 320/321

I have spent the past few days in Portland figuring out just when in my life I am going to be able to live here. It feels a lot like Minneapolis and St. Paul (where I went to Macalester) in its small town/big city set up. Plus there are loads of things to do and great little shops and restaurants to check out. Plus while it feels a bit like Minneapolis, there is no snow!

I spent most of one morning driving to Mount Hood which was just great. I drove along the Historical Highway and stopped at every waterfall along the way to take a picture. There were several people doing the same thing and we obviously kept running into each other at every stop. Two guys had their cameras with them as well and one enthusiastically told me “If you do it to me I’ll do it to you!”

I laughed and what he meant was that if I took their picture, he would take mine.

The drive was really beautiful and I drove to Mount Hood on a sort of back road that had multiple signs warning me that I needed chains. I ignored them.

The dense fog that covered the road and everything around me didn’t deter me. Nor did the snow. I was preparing myself for some full on snow but it never came. Instead I came around a bend and the fog literally disappeared into bright blue sky and BAM! There was Mount Hood.

It was truly a fantastic sight—the snow covered mountain set against the brilliant blue sky.

I made my way back to Portland and spent the rest of the afternoon riding the trolley and walking around the downtown area. The next day I spent again in Portland, this time going over to the 21st and 23rd streets for some great window shopping.

Tomorrow I fly to Eugene and then will drive down to Winston, Oregon to go to the safari park there.