usa: oregon: portland

I will admit that two of the main reasons I came to Portland had nothing to do with traveling. One, there is no sales tax in the state of Oregon, so I intended to make some bigger purchases without getting snagged with more money on the bill. Second, there was a medical procedure I wanted to have done.

It was definitely an added benefit that Portland is a cool city, and I have at least one friend living there. I drove down from Seattle, discovering (yet again,) that road construction is no fun, and a time suck.

I knocked off my first goal that afternoon, buying a new mobile phone. Based on a recommendation from a friend, I decided to go from iPhone to Android, I bought a new Samsung phone. The camera in the new phone was better than what I'd had before, though I knew the whole thing was going to take me a while to figure out. In addition to the phone itself I got a phone cover, SIM card, and monthly prepaid plan with AT&T.

I ended up arriving at the home of my host late afternoon, only getting lost once on the way there.

This was the second time (out of two,) that I was able to stay with a friend from my days in Garmisch. Carrie was part of my first group of friends in GaP, we've stayed in touch ever since. I got to her flat, and we spent a couple hours catching up before walking to a Thai restaurant for dinner. Portland is a foodie town, there are heaps of restaurants with really good food.

I slept well that night, even though I hadn't been very active. I enjoy road trips and driving and catching up with friends, but it's also tiring, if that makes sense.

The next morning we got up early, the plan was to take care of my medical stuff, then go for a hike. The medical stuff did not work out at all the way I imagined, so the idea of hiking was abandoned. Instead we went to Blue Moon donuts, a well known gourmet donut place in Portland. It's the type of place with 'weird' flavours like maple bacon, I felt like I should try it because it is local to Portland. All in all, I don't think I'm a huge fan, as the prices were fairly high for what were still just donuts.

We also stopped at the grocery store, to get food for dinner that night. Carrie has been eating healthy and working out for a while now, it was nice to explore the healthier food in a grocery store instead of just the processed junk that I love so much.

When we got home I took a nap while Carrie went to her gym, it worked out well for both of us. I would've preferred to hike, but the medical stuff ruled that out. Argh.

After eating dinner we went for a walk, it was nice. Portland is full of fun neighborhoods with quirky decorations, I got to see some of those with Carried. Why not carve faces into trees, and paint a mural into the middle of an intersection?

The next morning I packed up and we said our goodbyes. I'll definitely be back to Portland, and I hope it isn't another bunch of years before I see Carrie again.