Portland has been one of our favorite stops on the trip so far. For one thing, we are taking a much-needed break from the van by staying a couple of nights in a hotel (there are no conveniently located RV parks or campgrounds). But we are also just enjoying the weird and wacky vibe and convenient walkability of this city.
Portland is beervana, thanks to a plethora of brewpubs. This is the Crystal Ballroom, one of the many pubs in town owned by the McMenamin brothers, who take historic buildings and give them new life as brewpubs, hotels, and restaurants. Good beer, too. We had the place almost to ourselves for happy hour on Sunday.
Speaking of restaurants, Portland is a great place to grab a bite. It is a food cart mecca, with several hundred of these portable restaurants scattered all over the city. So many choices!
But if you are more inclined toward dessert, there’s always Voodoo Doughnut. They are famous for their imaginative doughnut creations – like the “Captain My Captain” a donut encrusted in Cap’n Crunch cereal, or the Marshall Matters which is liberally sprinkled with M&M’s. The signature doughnut is the Voodoo Doll, a raspberry-filled chocolate bar that comes with a pretzel poking stake. Whenever we passed the shop, there was a line halfway down the block, which our walking tour guide said was actually a pretty short line. We felt obligated to stop in and try them for ourselves – an “Easy Peasy Lemon Kesey” (lemony filled, psychedelically frosted) for me, and a “Dirt Doughnut” (covered in Oreo crumbles) for Kevin. Delicious!
Our walking tour covered some of the city’s more famous landmarks, including the Portland Building, which is topped by the second-largest copper statue in the U.S. – Portlandia. Our tour guide said that a few years back someone attached an enormous yo-yo to the statue’s outstretched finger. Hee.
There’s definitely an offbeat and irreverent sensibility to the place. I don’t think anyone in Portland takes themselves too seriously.
“Keep Portland Weird.” Well, that’s for sure.
Seems like Key West, only colder.
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