Portland

Whelp, I already managed to neglect this blog.  Ironically my last post all on books was the day before I went to Portland and added a million things to my literary list after visiting the mecca that is Powell's Books.  Surprisingly I didn't take any pictures, but believe me when I say that place is amazing and a must-see stop for any trip to Portlandia.  I was only in the city for the day. Mason had meetings in the area, and I had nothing better to do, so I literally just had him drop me at the foot of the Broadway Bridge at 8am and I meandered all over the city until he picked me up at dusk.

We had the option of moving to Portland, along with San Francisco and Vancouver, when we choose to move to Seattle.  Often when I tell people this they are shocked we picked Seattle so I was slightly nervous that I was going to fall in love with Portland (it was the only city we didn't visit before making our decision) and regret our choice.  I think part of what has always drawn us to Seattle more than Portland is the "underdog" reputation of Seattle.  People always seem to put Portland on a pedestal as the best of all things awesome: beer, sustainability, transportation/biking, hipsters... and I've always felt like it has become the new "Colorado" in the sense that in college it seemed like everyone (myself included) talked about moving to Denver, Boulder, or Telluride and eventually the idea just didn't seem that unique anymore.  So what was my overall one-day perception of Portland?  I really liked it- but not more than Seattle.  I loved the city and the street cars of Portland, but the people and scenery of Seattle still take the cake.  Portland seems to value the existing built environment more than Seattle (also evident in the # of preservation jobs available in each city), and the downtown has a smaller feel than Seattle but the population does seem right out of Portlandia.  Overall though, I excited to visit again for a longer period of time and I wouldn't be opposed to living there for a while. 

So what did I do for an entire day by myself?  I tried to hit all the spots I knew of which included 

• the original Stumptown Coffee: although I went to Stumptown under the false impression that they only existed in Portland-later that week I saw 2 in Seattle and felt kind of duped
• Voodoo Donuts: which was my main mission for the day and kind of not nearly as exciting as I was expecting.  They tasted great, don't get me wrong, but I was also weirdly looking forward to waiting in a line around the corner with a bunch of Portland hipsters to people-watch and ample time to mull over what donuts I wanted to try.  Instead, there were only 2 people in line, a million donut choices, and I got flustered and felt pressured to decide quickly and ended up picking something I wasn't really into.  I tried the Mexican Chili Chocolate which honestly wasn't very good at all and was kind of dry, and the Loop, which was AWESOME and super light and fluffy and covered in fruit loops.  So I recommend trying them out and I'm excited to go back and take my time ordering something covered in sprinkles, but I will stay away from the cake donuts which was really no one's fault but my own.
• Powell's Books: hands down my favorite place in Portland.  My mom was the one who told me to check it out, promising an entire city block of used books.  I love browsing cheap used books and this was the perfect place to escape the cold for a little bit.  There are actually two Powell's because it's THAT big and they are arranged by section which makes browsing even more fun.  The new and used books are all in the same spot which is both convenient and annoying.  Convenient because if you are looking for a specific book, you may have the option of buying it new or a cheaper used copy.  Annoying because if you're like me and have decided that buying physical books is a waste of money and space except in the cases of gifts, art or reference, then you don't have the option of browsing through cheap used books only.  I love used bookstores for the really good, cheap deals.  I stopped buying paper books unless they were less than $4 years ago because I never re-read books but I also have trouble giving them away.  So instead I move 20lb boxes of already or never read books from apartment to apartment when I can get everything I want or need from the library.  It pains me to pass up a $7 paper book, but I just can't justify it anymore and Powell's didn't seem to carry any used books for less than $5.95.  So I spent most of my time browsing the "local" and "staff picks" section where of course the Kinfolk book was featured, because Portland wouldn't really have been that hipster if it wasn't.

After spending way too much time in Powell's I moseyed around the city to do some light Christmas shopping which included finding this awesome vest for Mason's company Christmas party which made the entire trip worthwhile.

Funny story, last year was Mason's first year with his company and someone he worked with sarcastically said "Make sure you wear your tackiest Christmas sweater to the company party!" in passing.  Mason has no ability to read sarcasm so he took this for fact and showed up to a formal company party in a small women's sweater covered in snowflakes and beads.  He was obviously the only one.  So now it's a running joke in the company and this year the party actually encouraged wearing a tacky sweater.  So naturally we stepped it up this year by getting him a vest.