Had a long, but uneventful trip to Portland, OR and arrived at about 4:00 PST. It seems the locals refer to the city with the airport symbol, PDX or anyway that's what a lot of the blog posts and sites like Time Out call it. The hotel is a little more design conscious than most of its ilk. Lovely room and elegant common spaces. The downside though is there are lots of smooth elegant surfaces, but nowhere to put stuff and one of the lounges is filled with beautiful chairs so low they'd need to get a crane to get me up again. No art without suffering I guess.
Last night we entered "Vietnamese restaurant" into Google maps and found Luc Lac a great local spot with $2 small plates. We got to try 5 dishes and the whole meal with wine was $32 for two people and really delicious (we thought of you, Chris). Got to eat a new food - betel leaves- which always pleases me. These were betel leaf wrapped rolls in a tasty sauce. They don't look like much, but the flavor was very complex with sweet, spicy, sour, and umami all in one bite. Good find.
Today we're off to try out the phone app metro pass system they have here. Buy the ticket on your phone and just show it on and bus, light rail, or street car. Pretty cool for a couple of 61year olds. First stop the Pearl District- home of Powell's Books and many other interesting shops and eateries.
