Portland

Tuesday May 26, 2015

I think this was the best I had in Portland.  I found this mobile restaurant on yelp.com.  It sound interesting – a savory breakfast crepe popular in Beijing.  It looked delicious and I finally discovered the booth right after I had lunch on Saturday and there was a long line.  I returned out Sunday to find out they were closed and knew I wouldn’t be back in time to have one before they closed on Monday.  I made it a point to get up early and try it out before leaving Portland.  I am glad I did.

How did I miss this on my trip to China?  I was discovering this in Portland?  There is no doubt in my mind that if I go back, I am going to go back.

What is it?  In Beijing, it is a breakfast dish called Jiang Bing – a savory crepe with an egg cooked on  it with chili oil, plum sauce (hoisin), green onions and cilantro.  A cracker is placed on it and it is rolled up.  Sausage, an extra egg and cracker could be added as well.  I loved every bite!

May 25, 2015

After lunch at a seafood restaurant, it was off to Astoria. Astoria dates back to the early 1800’s.  Lewis and Clark stayed just south of Astoria on the expedition in 1805 and 1806.  During my trip, I had noticed a lot of references to Lewis and Clark and there were a lot of signs indicting the sites of the original Lewis and Clark trail.  I realized that my knowledge of Lewis and Clark was from my grade school history lessons.

My tour guide was quick to fill in the gaps, the expedition was commissioned by Thomas Jefferson and was both scientific and economic.  We were trying to establish a route to the west to settle it before any of the Europeans could lay claim.  I don’t think my grade school lessons talked about the economic reasons but rather focused on the documentation of plants and animals.

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May 25, 2015

I booked a tour with America’s Hub Tours to the Oregon coast.  I couldn’t have been more pleased with the tour and tour guide.  Our tour from Portland to the Oregon coast and back would take the better part of the day.  We would stop at several beaches, have a nice lunch and then move on to Astoria where we saw where the Colombia River meets the Pacific Ocean.

The countryside was stunning and as we approached the coastline, we went through an area that seemed to glow bright green.  It wasn’t a sunny day but I wasn’t sure that would have made it any prettier.   Continue reading →

May 24, 2015

It was up early and off to Pioneer Courthouse Square to take a tour of the countryside outside of Portland.  I booked a Gray Line tour and I regret it.  Gray Line had oversold the tour and there weren’t enough seats on the bus for the number of tickets sold.  This was not a van but a bus.  Most of the day was spent waiting to get off of the bus and waiting to get on the bus.  Waiting for people who thought they deserved an extra five minutes.  I wish I had booked a smaller or private tour.

That said, what we saw was beautiful. Although it was overcast, the views were stunning.  Coming from Los Angeles (in the midst of a severe drought), I couldn’t get over how green everything is. I think moss grows on top of moss.  It was a welcome change!

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May 23, 2015

Sophon and I flew up to Portland last night.  Today, we have a hop on and hop off tour.  After wandering around a bit, we stopped for coffee before going on the hop-on hop-off bus tour.  We did a lot but I didn’t take any pictures, it was pretty overcast.

What I learned on our 90 minute circle around Portland was that people from Portland love their pets and you see a lot of signs that say “Dogs Welcome”, Portland is a foodie destination with over 750 mobile restaurants.  Note, I did not use the words “Food Trucks”, many of these are trailers sitting on open lots so they technically aren’t food trucks.  We found several of these “lots” with within a few blocks of our hotel.

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