Portland...Oregon

My friends Anne, Susie, and I went to Portland, Maine a few years ago and decided it would be funny to visit the “other” Portland together. Also, airfare was super cheap ($200!) and we had a free place to stay, so there really was no reason to not go. Plus, I’ve always wanted to check out the Pacific Northwest.

It was my first time flying Southwest airlines, so when our tickets read CMH-PDX, I assumed it was a direct flight. Wrong! We wound up pit stopping in Chicago to pick up more passengers; however, the flight attendant sang “You Are My Sunshine” as we pulled into Midway, which somewhat made up for the unexpected detour. Also, I had new music on my iPod (which included Sleepyhead), so I was pretty content. (seriously, how can you listen to that song and not be happy??)

When we finally got to Portland, Anne’s friend Shawn, who was letting us crash with him, met us on Couch Street. We were all making Billy Madison jokes (c-o-r…are you going to the mall later?) until Shawn pointed out that the word “Couch” is actually pronounced like something dirty and not like furniture. Ha.

Clearly we were punchy and jet lagged, so Shawn sent us off to find Bridgeport, one of the many microbreweries in the Pearl District. And what goes better with jet lag than a sampler platter of…beer. We each ordered a cafeteria tray containing nine good-sized shots of beer arranged in a spectrum from light to dark. Beneath each shot was a story about the beer, which we took turns reading until we couldn’t anymore.



Since it was only 3 pm, we decided baked goods might help us sober up before dinner. Portland has several bakeries that specialize in just cupcakes, so we wandered into Cupcake Jones and ordered a dozen little treats to help us through the rest of the afternoon.

We spent the next few hours passed out, occasionally waking up to see if it was still raining (it was). However, Powell’s Books was just around the corner and it’s one of the many places we wanted to see on our trip…so we had to get off the couch (furniture) eventually.

Powell’s was huge – rooms, floors, shelves, tables, all covered in books. The place was so big that the four of us got separated and had to use our cell phones to find each other. I could have easily killed a few hours in there, but it was getting late and we were thirsty again.

Brewpub #2 was Deschutes and of course we ordered more sampler platters. It was here I discovered that I like beers with lower IBUs (50 or less).

Around 9 pm Anne, Susie and I started falling asleep at the table. We had vowed to stay up at least until 9 to help get over the time change but I think we actually made it to 10 pm…