PDX

I spent the weekend in Portland, Oregon for a friend's wedding. It's the third time I've been to Portland in 2 years. I'm pretty fond of Portland so far and definitely wouldn't mind spending more time there. The feel is less crowded and more spread out than San Francisco. I sometimes wonder if Portland is similar to how San Francisco was 30 years ago before the big technology boom (even though the actual city layouts are quite different). They have a decent public transportation system around the downtown area, though it seems like Portland has a lot of suburban-type housing areas so I get the feeling that it's really a driver's city. One odd observation I had is that the homeless population seemed very different from the San Francisco homeless - the Portland homeless seemed like they were a younger type of crowd (more like what you'd see around Haight and not around downtown). It also seems like it might be time to widen the freeways a bit.

While we were there, we of course hit my wife's favorite, The Delta Cafe. Being a vegetarian is pretty easy in Portland, and even this southern-style restaurant had vegetarian options. We also had a great lunch at a Lebanese place (when I ordered the Lebanese beer, the waiter was very excited for me, saying it's good I drink it now because in 2 months their restaurant may never be able to get it again with the way things are going over in Lebanon). The other must stop food-related place was another of my wife's favorites, Coffee People. I must admit I found their Black Tiger soy mochas to be quite delicious.

And, to top it all off, the wedding was a great time.