So we were as good as we said and did just go out for dinner and a couple of drinks on Sunday night. We went to a place 1 block down (Rockbottom) and stuffed our faces!
Back in the room by 9pm and we did try to get Line of Duty but not allowed outside of the UK (GUTTED!) so watched whatever was on TV and crashed out.
Up and at it for a good time feeling fresh and healthy again yesterday! We set off for breakfast and found Jack Rabbit's. Bit 'posher' than we were looking for - we like our cafe's and diners as it feels more authentic!!
We had a giggle at another language mix up as Dan asked for Rye toast which they didn't have. So he asked for 'Brown'. The waitress's face was a picture. 'BROWN???' She said.. BROWN?? I stepped in and said 'sorry, Wheat' we mean Wheat'.. She laughed then and said that she had though Dan was asking for her to burn his toast so that it was Brown!! Hahaha.
After brekkers, we headed to the river and walked along there. The boat tours weren't running at that time - no surprise as it was still pre 11am on a Monday.
We just wandered then really to get a good feel of the place and see what there is. I really like it here. I did say that I prefer it to Seattle tbh but we're holding reservations on that thought as I was a bit dazed & jet lagged when in Seattle!
We went up to the ChinaTown gates and along to Powell's City of Books. It is amazing in there. It is just so huge with pretty much every book you can think of. I found the cooking book aisle and stayed there! Dan found the beer and then the music books so everyone was happy! Despite the size of it, I felt it still had a feel of a local bookstore. Probably because it isn't a corporation (well I don't think it is!) so it can keep that feel. Time for Beer now (which is the whole reason Dan wanted to come to Portland becuase of the breweries here). We headed to Rogue and had a couple in there and then decided to go on this underground tour I had heard about. Booked it and off we headed.
The tour wasn't quite what I expected as it was 'Underground' literally and figuratively. So in other words it was about the darker underbelly of Portland over the years as well as actually going underground to the tunnels.
I can't even begin to start repeating everything we were told but I was fascinated and absorbed from the off. It's a really interesting history and very surprising too..
I have made notes for myself so that I can always remember as I cannot trust my actual memory! Well that's why I do this blog so I know where we went, what we did and who we met!!
After the tour we went to 'Old Town' pizza and brewing. Shared a small pizza and of course had beers!! It was OK in there...pizzas were fantastic though!
So we are right 'uptown' now and head properly back to the Brewery blocks. Straight to Deschutes Brewery for a couple - where we discovered that there had been riots in downtown Portland that day! We knew nothing about it but it turns out it was a planned protest that had got a bit troublesome. As we UK folks know it, it wasn't really a riot but I guess it had the potential to get out of hand.
Anyway after reassuring my mum who had heard it on the news, that we were actually fine, we moved on to Fat Head's.
I got some wings in here as I do have a thing about making sure there are certain foods I have whilst in the USA becuase its believed they do them better.. and they invariably do! Wings are one of those things. And they were some of the best I have ever had and were also huge!! We had a couple more beers in here and were then starting to flag again - and were a bit tipsy :-).
So, we slightly sadly brought our final night in Portland to a close and headed back to our lovely hotel (staying at the Hotel Rose).
We have, whilst here, decided on our next place to head to and that is going to be Depoe Bay - so back on the coast. It looks to be a lovely drive there too and I should be able to 'tick off' a few of the places I really want to see along the coast. They also do Whale Watching from there and have their own pod of Grey Whales that return every year! I have found what looks to be a lovely little hotel too so we are all set!
Also means we're only about an hour away from the lighthouse which we are staying in on Wednesday :-) :-)...
So, once I have finished this, its pack up time again and I will wander off to get our next car and then we're hitting the road again... Weather is a bit grey and drizzly today sadly but hey, what's a bit of rain to a Mancunian?!!!
They banned Japanese people?
ReplyDeleteLove that you were unaware of the riot!
And I get the feeling the lighthouse is the highlight for you ;)
Yeah, after the Japanese bombed the US there was an order that all people of Japanese ancestry had to liquidate all of their assets like overnight and get out of town. They were taken to internment camps amongst other places if not simply just arrested and removed. Not just in Portland but as there was a massive Japanese community there it was particularly prevalent and really awful as you can imagine. I had read about this a while back funnily enough so had a bit of awareness on it when we heard more on the tour.
ReplyDeleteWhen they were finally allowed back after the war, all of their homes had been taken and any belongings that the government had said they would 'look after' were gone. They had nothing at all and had to try and start again... Awful...