Portland decided to turn on its hottest weather for us so on our first day we stuck to mainly air conditioned retail therapy…. the US seems to have soooo many pet shops with a dazzling array of never seen in Australia merchandise!
Luckily our house was well air conditioned and provided a welcome respite at the end of days which topped 99F (over 37C.)
Wandering aimlessly we encountered a few of the local critters …
and more disturbingly, plenty of evidence of the city’s homeless.
Portland is actually quite a small city with a population of around 640,000 at last census. It is known for its craft beer scene, food truck square, Voodoo doughnuts and of course Powell’s Bookstore, purported to be the largest independent bookstore in the world, taking up a whole city block. We did spend most of one morning in Powell’s, it is a readers paradise!
The day that Bonnie and Sam were due to arrive we found ourselves shopping quite close to the Japanese Gardens ( as per Google maps) and decided that they might be a cool place to escape the oppressive heat. Of course what Google didn’t tell us was that the shortish walk (1.4 miles) was all uphill and we were both ready to expire when we finally reached the entrance gate.
We recovered enough to appreciate the gardens along with many other visitors also no doubt seeking the shade.
Suitably recovered, we dismissed the tempting thought of an Uber back and walked the mostly downhill path back to our house to await Bonnie and Sam’s arrival. It has been 18 months since we’ve seen them and when they arrived slightly ahead of schedule at about 8.30 pm there was every reason to pop the champagne!
A predictably late night ensued and it was obvious the next day was not going to be an early start! 😊