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Portland Day One
Aug. 11th, 2016 12:15 pmDay one was the Portland City tour and out to the Columbia Gorge to see the waterfalls with Hub World tour's guide, Seamus who was a lot of fun and very personable. We started the tour mostly with just driving around town hearing little details like the Jamestown Park's water feature which is actually affected by the tidal water flow so even their rivers are greatly affected by the tides. We stopped first at the world famous Voodoo Donuts (and even I have heard of them before even looking up Portland). It had no line at 9 in the morning so we grabbed donuts. I bought a bag full including the mango tango (filled with mango puree and topped with mango cream), lemon chiffon cruller and the omg Maple bacon bar basically a maple covered long john with two slices of crispy brown sugar bacon on it. Dies.
He took us through the Peal district which was once the Portland/industry/shit section of Portland until WWII when the army moves things a bit From there it slowly tracked upwards and about 10 years ago the city to encourage development (and to drive out the heroin users/whores/other undesirables) put through many business incentives like no tax (which was re-voted back in creating current problems). Between this and the influx of Chinese investors, uber wealthy from California and other one percenters able to over well and above asking price Portland in general has a ,2% vacancy rate for apartments, has priced itself out of the market of the locals (as their wages have not come up to meet this inflated value) and has thus created a new wave of homeless. Our guide's fiancée’s house was bought 7 years ago at 170K and is now worth nearly half a million. As for the Peal District when the guide was looking for apartments they wanted 1,600 for one bunk of one bunk bed. Not the room, no house privileges, just half a bunk bed plus utilities. I didn't even like the Pearl District but it all kitzy shops and food joints.
We went then to the Lan Su gardens. I loved it. Oh yes, it was lovely, a gift from their sister city in China. Its done up as a 16th century Chinese garden where everything has a meaning, like the chiwen (the dragon fish) on the roofs that protect the buildings from fire. There were gingko panels depicting the Three Friends of Winter, plum bamboo and pine. There were people doing tai chi in the Hall of Brocade Clouds. There were rocks from Lake Tai in China which is very acidic and eats the rocks into strange and fun formations. had old growth black tea at its tea house and they sweeten it with rock sugar that looked like quartz. I tossed the I Ching in the Scholar's study and my fortune came up as Trust the wisdom of a good friend who will advise something for your good. so there, the burden is on you all. :)
From there we went to Nob Hill so named because some city father thought it looked like the famous Nob Hill. It doesn't. There's no hill and locals call it the 23 avenue neighborhood. However there was the Salt and Straw a very famous ice cream shop in town where the line waits are often in excess of an hour. Seeing it had NO line we screamed for another unscheduled stop and I got a double decker, pear and blue cheese ice-cream, topped with strawberry honey balsamic vinegar with black pepper (I make that dessert often) ice cream. YUM.
We passed McMenamins Ramshead pub, which was the oldest speakeasy in Portland. I would have liked to have gone in. We passed Zupan's market which is like whole foods but cost wise makes whole foods look like sav a lot (yikes but I guess if you want a heritage chicken for dinner…)
We then went to the Pittock Mansion, Pittock was a newspaper baron born in 1834 in London. He came west, lived under the counter at a newspaper as a paperboy and worked his way up, married up the ladder but was a cheap ass most his life until retirement when his wife convinced him to make this house. To bad they didn't live very long afterward. I loved how modern it was especially the plumbing with a multihead shower that even came up from the floor. They used mostly Oregonian and NW materials to build the house, completed in 1914. I used English, French and Turkish designs and is a 16,000 square foot mansion with a gate house and all situated about 1000 feet above downtown Portland so man what a view. Sadly I a) rushed the pictures b) have increasing shakes in my hand so nearly all my pictures were useless inside.
E went then to the international rose test garden started around 1918 by the rose society which was basically a bunch of well to do women who bred and hybridized new species. It was a very beautiful, just so pretty. I love roses. So many colors, types and smells. I did record a few of my favorites with an eye to saving up to buy one or two of them. Twilight zone was one of my favorite colors and firefighter my favorite for scent.
Random facts put here more for story ideas than any other interest: Portlanders search for death via sugar and alcohol. NoPo is the North Park area which is up and coming and very diverse. The veritable quandary was considered the best restaurant for years but it’s historic building is being ripped down in spite of being on the registry and so the owners are shuttering their doors. There are floating homes on the Columbia river. Homes, not house boats. Neat.
From the city we went into the Cascade Mountains to the Columbia River Gorge. It was carved out by massive flooding, the Missoula flood, after a huge ice dam broke way back well. It was in theory more water than all five of the world's biggest rivers combined.
We stopped at the Vista House, there is a windy mountain road going to it which would have been traversed by Model T's back in the 19 teens so they build this way station which went wildly over budget as it has stained glass windows and marble everything including the toilet stalls. It's a million dollar rest stop.
From there we went to Latourell falls which is a 249 foot straight drop waterfall. I loved this one. If I lived here I'd get a walking stick for balance and go down to the water. It's just that pretty and you are allowed to do that.
Next came Multnomah which is the second highest year round fall in the USA. It's the most famous of the falls and includes the picturesque Benson Bridge which crosses the path in front of the falls. The gift shop/rest stop at the bottom came from ones of the Depression era back to work efforts and was pretty. It's a shirt walk to the falls and another quarter mile give or take to the Benson Bridge. It was too much for me people wise. It was very distracting from the beauty.
Last up was Horsetail falls 176 feet tall with a V shaped channel hence the 'horse tail'. I loved this one beset because it was such a short walk to the falls and the ease of getting into the water should we want to. Because these are all glacier melt water falls they're warmer in the winter when rain water joins the party. I would be here often if I lived in town. There were many many more falls but that's all we had time for.
The sign says it all:
( And what you're really here to see, the pictures )
And if you see duplicates of the pictures just refresh the browser. For some reason the copy function wasn't working right and I was rushing and didn't notice. It's fixed now!
He took us through the Peal district which was once the Portland/industry/shit section of Portland until WWII when the army moves things a bit From there it slowly tracked upwards and about 10 years ago the city to encourage development (and to drive out the heroin users/whores/other undesirables) put through many business incentives like no tax (which was re-voted back in creating current problems). Between this and the influx of Chinese investors, uber wealthy from California and other one percenters able to over well and above asking price Portland in general has a ,2% vacancy rate for apartments, has priced itself out of the market of the locals (as their wages have not come up to meet this inflated value) and has thus created a new wave of homeless. Our guide's fiancée’s house was bought 7 years ago at 170K and is now worth nearly half a million. As for the Peal District when the guide was looking for apartments they wanted 1,600 for one bunk of one bunk bed. Not the room, no house privileges, just half a bunk bed plus utilities. I didn't even like the Pearl District but it all kitzy shops and food joints.
We went then to the Lan Su gardens. I loved it. Oh yes, it was lovely, a gift from their sister city in China. Its done up as a 16th century Chinese garden where everything has a meaning, like the chiwen (the dragon fish) on the roofs that protect the buildings from fire. There were gingko panels depicting the Three Friends of Winter, plum bamboo and pine. There were people doing tai chi in the Hall of Brocade Clouds. There were rocks from Lake Tai in China which is very acidic and eats the rocks into strange and fun formations. had old growth black tea at its tea house and they sweeten it with rock sugar that looked like quartz. I tossed the I Ching in the Scholar's study and my fortune came up as Trust the wisdom of a good friend who will advise something for your good. so there, the burden is on you all. :)
From there we went to Nob Hill so named because some city father thought it looked like the famous Nob Hill. It doesn't. There's no hill and locals call it the 23 avenue neighborhood. However there was the Salt and Straw a very famous ice cream shop in town where the line waits are often in excess of an hour. Seeing it had NO line we screamed for another unscheduled stop and I got a double decker, pear and blue cheese ice-cream, topped with strawberry honey balsamic vinegar with black pepper (I make that dessert often) ice cream. YUM.
We passed McMenamins Ramshead pub, which was the oldest speakeasy in Portland. I would have liked to have gone in. We passed Zupan's market which is like whole foods but cost wise makes whole foods look like sav a lot (yikes but I guess if you want a heritage chicken for dinner…)
We then went to the Pittock Mansion, Pittock was a newspaper baron born in 1834 in London. He came west, lived under the counter at a newspaper as a paperboy and worked his way up, married up the ladder but was a cheap ass most his life until retirement when his wife convinced him to make this house. To bad they didn't live very long afterward. I loved how modern it was especially the plumbing with a multihead shower that even came up from the floor. They used mostly Oregonian and NW materials to build the house, completed in 1914. I used English, French and Turkish designs and is a 16,000 square foot mansion with a gate house and all situated about 1000 feet above downtown Portland so man what a view. Sadly I a) rushed the pictures b) have increasing shakes in my hand so nearly all my pictures were useless inside.
E went then to the international rose test garden started around 1918 by the rose society which was basically a bunch of well to do women who bred and hybridized new species. It was a very beautiful, just so pretty. I love roses. So many colors, types and smells. I did record a few of my favorites with an eye to saving up to buy one or two of them. Twilight zone was one of my favorite colors and firefighter my favorite for scent.
Random facts put here more for story ideas than any other interest: Portlanders search for death via sugar and alcohol. NoPo is the North Park area which is up and coming and very diverse. The veritable quandary was considered the best restaurant for years but it’s historic building is being ripped down in spite of being on the registry and so the owners are shuttering their doors. There are floating homes on the Columbia river. Homes, not house boats. Neat.
From the city we went into the Cascade Mountains to the Columbia River Gorge. It was carved out by massive flooding, the Missoula flood, after a huge ice dam broke way back well. It was in theory more water than all five of the world's biggest rivers combined.
We stopped at the Vista House, there is a windy mountain road going to it which would have been traversed by Model T's back in the 19 teens so they build this way station which went wildly over budget as it has stained glass windows and marble everything including the toilet stalls. It's a million dollar rest stop.
From there we went to Latourell falls which is a 249 foot straight drop waterfall. I loved this one. If I lived here I'd get a walking stick for balance and go down to the water. It's just that pretty and you are allowed to do that.
Next came Multnomah which is the second highest year round fall in the USA. It's the most famous of the falls and includes the picturesque Benson Bridge which crosses the path in front of the falls. The gift shop/rest stop at the bottom came from ones of the Depression era back to work efforts and was pretty. It's a shirt walk to the falls and another quarter mile give or take to the Benson Bridge. It was too much for me people wise. It was very distracting from the beauty.
Last up was Horsetail falls 176 feet tall with a V shaped channel hence the 'horse tail'. I loved this one beset because it was such a short walk to the falls and the ease of getting into the water should we want to. Because these are all glacier melt water falls they're warmer in the winter when rain water joins the party. I would be here often if I lived in town. There were many many more falls but that's all we had time for.
The sign says it all:
( And what you're really here to see, the pictures )
And if you see duplicates of the pictures just refresh the browser. For some reason the copy function wasn't working right and I was rushing and didn't notice. It's fixed now!
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