Day 3: Portland in the sticks and in the city

So these are going to be some quick, backwards looking posts since we have gotten a bit behind.

On Saturday, we drove with Chris, Siobhan and the baby to the Columbia River Gorge. It's a canyon and was a really important water connection between Oregon and the rest of the country. In just under a half hour drive, we were surrounded by mountains, waterfalls, hiking trails and had gorgeous views of the Oregon and Washington state...and some trains. We visited a few different falls, and Joel and I took a really quick walk up one mountainside. It was really steep and really pretty. Connecting the sites we were seeing was a road (the Columbia River Gorge highway I believe), with a railway parallel to it (and still active with Union Pacific freight travel today). At one of our stops, Multonomah Falls, I stayed close to the outdoor stalls and snack bar, while Joel climbed up to a bridge with a view. I was pretty lucky that there was a railroad society table there that I got to check out and find out more about the trains. We also stopped at a few more spots along the way--including a really cool and crazy Deco, kind of octagonal building on a hilltop which had a view of mountains as far as the eye could see and up and down the Columbia River. Joel loved this spot and attempted to take a series of panoramic shots, and then ended up finding a gift shop downstairs and simply buying one. Ah, commerce.

On our way back, we stopped to pick up some really good Vietnamese food at a place called Pho Jasmine on Killingsworth Ave near the house. We ate. It was really good. The food was frankly worthy of long and lurid blog posting of its own. But I will show some restraint and save the craziness for what's next.

After we ate, Chris and Siobhan were kind enough to lend us their car and we went downtown for the main event: Powell's books. But before we got there, we sort of tooled around for a bit and drove past Portland State University where I once spent some time at for a USSA conference. We also drove by the main branch of Portland Public which was unfortunately closed. But it looked cool from the outside. Along the way, it was impossible (and possibly sinful) to ignore the trolley tracks all over the places.

Ok, so: Powell's. Powell's is called the City of Books, and it certainly puts the Strand in NYC to shame. It's huge--organized into rooms, by colors (like the "Purple Rooom") based on genre and has a mix of new and used books. I dropped Joel off in the Sci-Fi section and looked around on my own. It took us about two hours to get through the store, including a coffee/tea break. The place was packed with people (it seems Portlanders like to read) and it was a relaxed and fun place to be. And the books!

Not everything under the sun was to be found, but at least we had the moon...Joel and I both did pretty well. We decided to ship home whatever we bought rather than try to cram purchases into our already too heavy luggage. Suffice to say this opened the flood gates perhaps a bit too much, but with free shipping and a well-documented love of books, who cares? Joel was a bit sad that we left the store with only three books (2 of his and 1 of mine) on hand, but when we get home, and a box of books is delivered to our door, I am sure he'll rally.

After Powell's we drove around downtown some more to look at lofts and apartments that reminded us both of Amsterdam some and we found the place that the streetcars sleep at night. And stalked them. Then we drove back to North Portland and met up with Siobhan and Chris and James at a park. The neighborhood association was screening "Notorious" and we managed to catch the last quarter of it. Then back home.