Well what can I say about Portland.  I still love the place. The weather was freaking amazing, the drive down pretty easy (apart from constant traffic till I passed JBLM on the way south but that was to be expected).  I will post a full review of the hotel later this week (as I still have to write it up) but I had a blast of a time either way, and felt like I should share some of the moments from the weekend (and the main photos).

My idea of hitting the streets and having a street food dinner on Saturday night was just an absolute fail.  There wasn’t many places open for dinner and what was open, just didn’t entice at all.  It was all kebabs and burgers but to be honest, I can get that any old place.  So I ended up just getting a bento and eating watching some TV in the room.  But I could not go without some voodoo!  I was there early it seemed as I was only in line like 15 minutes or so.  Last time was a good hour.  But I failed at my doughnut selection.  Not in taste… in size!  Since I had been walking around all evening hunting down street food and since it never ended up i figured, 3 was the appropriate choice.  1 big doughnut, 2 small right?  That equals 2 big doughnuts.  Yep wrong!  Went with a Memphis Mafia as my 3rd doughnut… it was freaking HUGE!!! bigger than the other 2 combined.  Damn tasty though!

The spotting was pretty awesome around the airport with the tip to use the parking structure was spot on.  $3 an hour so a couple of hours wasn’t exactly going to break the bank.  But the one spot that was on the opposite side o the runway, right in front of the touchdown/rotate point… illegal to park in.  But I did anyway.  I didn’t get a ticket but I did get asked to move on.  The guy was really nice about it, he wasn’t a douche or anything so I give him full props for that.

I leave you with a few final thoughts that I had on the way home while driving in the beautiful weather.  As the ram gobbled up the interstate with effortless ease, I was driving past green everywhere, blue sky, mountains around.  I looked in my mirror, I could see Mount St Helens in the rear view mirror or Mt Rainier out the side window.  Snow capped volcanoes dominating my view.  I looked around and thought.. This is my home now?  What the hell!  I don’t want to leave this place.  It just astounds me how amazing the scenery is up here.  Sure the weather can be crazy with cold, rain and grey, but when the weather is good here, the place shines.  Screw it… I don’t want to go home to Aus.  This is my home!

PDX Road Trip