After exploring Seattle and witnessing where Boeing planes are made, Airat and I hopped over to Portland, Oregon to see what it has to offer.
I'd like to thank Olivia for suggesting places to visit while I was planning for the trip, although we didn't have the chance to visit every single one of them. I usually rely on Google to plan out my trips, but having a local point me in the right directions saved me a whole lot of researching. Thank you, roomie!
- 19 February 2017 -
Woke up to a gloomy morning in Portland, the rain had just stopped. Free breakfast at the hotel (University Place Hotel and Conference Center) means I get to gradually ease into the day instead of getting up and running to hunt for breakfast. The free breakfast reminded me and Airat of how it felt like to have free food again (we missed Fairhaven dining hall). Ah, such bliss.
Places and attractions in Portland is quite spaced out. Walkable, but very time consuming. Nevertheless, we tried to visit as many places as possible.
Although we didn't explore much of the city, I get the vibe that Portland is kind of quirky. I see where Olivia got her quirkiness from.
A building of the Oregon Historical Society
Theodore Roosevelt, Rough Rider on South Park Blocks
South Park Blocks, a city park in downtown Portland.
Abraham Lincoln on South Park Blocks
Shemanski Fountain (my face tho...)
First stop was Powell's City of Books, the world's largest independent chain bookstore. Not sure what 'independent chain bookstore' mean, but I would see why it's the world's largest - it occupies an entire block! Imagine a public library, but a bookstore! They have nine colour-labeled sections, based on book genres.
Soooo many people were in there, bustling around looking at books and all sorts of things. It gave me quite a headache at the beginning as I was just a visitor, wasn't particularly looking for any books...the walking around with no destination in mind got my brain in knots.
Just a warning, seeing shelves of books in every direction you look at can get a bit overwhelming. I'm actually surprised we spent two hours in there (not lost in the maze of bookshelves) just looking and goofing around.
Next stop was the famous local doughnut store, Voodoo Doughnuts! Airat was not impressed by the long queue that was moving very slowly. To make matters worse, it started raining *face palm*. That means that although there's some tables outside the store, we couldn't sit and eat. The store is small, so you'd have to wait for customers to exit before you enter...to keep the peace in the store.
Approximately 45 minutes later, we got in. You know how they say we shouldn't wait till we're super hungry to eat as you're bound to over-order? Yup, we got ourselves three doughnuts each. These doughnuts weren't the soft, light and fluffy kind of Krispy Kreme or J.CO Donuts...these were the thick, dense and very sugary kind. I honestly don't know what got into me as I'm not a fan of sweet food, especially ones that obviously has a lot of sugar. Perhaps it's the voodoo in the air.
The doughnuts I got were the Old Dirty Bastard (chocolate frosting, Oreo cookies, and peanut butter), Lemon Powdered Sugar (filled with lemon jelly, dusted with powdered sugar), and Portland Cream (filled with Bavarian cream, topped with chocolate). My favourite was the Portland Cream, as it wasn't toooooo sweet and I liked the Bavarian cream. Speaking of which, I should've gotten the Cock-N-Balls doughnut instead because it's practically the same thing, except in the shape of the male genitalia ;)
We proceeded to Starbucks to have some caffeine to go with our doughnuts, in true teatime fashion. Plus, our legs needed a rest.
Indeed.
Glitter bricks
Old Dirty Bastard, Lemon Powdered Sugar, Portland Cream
Teatime snacks for lunch
The Oregon Museum of Science and Indusry (OMSI) was next in our itinerary. We took a bus to the museum as it was way too far to walk, and again, it was raining. Upon arrival, it was surprising to see so many people queuing up to buy tickets...I mean, it was a rainy evening. Quite disheartening looking at the line, but we had to make the submarine tour at least.
Each batch of the tour is limited to only 16 people due to the cramp spaces on the submarine. I recall several staffs telling those in line that tickets were running out and we should just come back another day. A few left, but not us. We don't have another day, and we will not give up so easily having walked in the rain to get there. Thankfully, we manage to get tickets for the next slot and waited for around 40 minutes...thank God there was a seating area for us to sit and wait #oldpeople.
The tour was on the USS Blueback submarine, formerly used in the United States Navy. It was conducted by a veteran who brought us around the submarine, explained some technicalities and gave out some fun facts. Oh, we also got a view above water through the periscope!
The deer whisperer
Squeeze through this door and you're on your way to the tour!
Tilikum Crossing, Bridge of the People across the Willamette River.
By the end of the tour, the sun was almost setting. I was feeling tired and demotivated to head over to the International Rose Test Garden which was an hour bus ride away. Seriously, the public bus system has to be more efficient around the US...as in more routes (It's the same way in LA, rant for another post).
To be considerate, I asked Airat if he still wanted to go to the garden...I didn't really want to say I don't want to make the trip (because...Asian). Not only was it gloomy, the setting sun and long bus ride wouldn't give us nice views or photos anyway. I don't remember exactly, but I think he was willing to make the trip although not entirely strong-willed about it. Well, guess what? We ended up taking another bus to go back to the hotel instead. THANK YOU JESUS, HALLELUJAH!
There's not many restaurants around our hotel, but there were plenty of food carts! Unfortunately, they were mostly closed due to the long weekend. One thing I'll never understand - the way businesses are run in the US. It was a Sunday night, wouldn't they be flocked by customers?
We rested for a bit and dragged our feet to walk over to the food carts nearby to avoid being left with no dinner at all, or having to travel far for it. There were only two available, both selling Middle Eastern food. We settled for the one with fewer customers out of sympathy.
I saw carts selling Malaysian and Thai food, but they were closed! Such disappointment. At least our dinner was delicious despite the cook being rather out of focus.
- 20 February 2017 -
It was one of those days where I wished I could sleep in, but that wasn't a luxury we had. Had our breakfast, packed up and checked out.
We spent the last couple of hours in Portland by hunting down souvenir stores, which was quite a task. No Walgreens nearby, barely any souvenir stores too. We managed to find Hello from Portland, which was still closed at the time we arrived at its doorstep. Raining again, we found shelter and coffee in Deadstock Coffee, a small chill cafe with basketball and sneakers decor.
Got our souvenirs (and free postcards) shopping done, it was time to head to the Greyhound bus station for our 6-hour ride back to Bellingham.
***
The trip turned out better than I expected and I'm glad we got along pretty well. Because we're both reasonably accommodating, it was fairly easy to make decisions and spontaneously delegate tasks (he'll carry my bag, I'll navigate). I was actually surprised that he's quite cincai (casual - okay with anything/suí biàn), so I didn't have to stress about what if we wanted to do different activities, or see different things...what or where to eat...what if we have significantly distinct budgets... Nada. Easy peasy.
And for that, thanks for being a good travel partner, Airat!
To more adventures ahead!
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