City of Roses

Within 10 hours of landing in YVR, MSS and I went on another trip to the US west coast, this time, Portland. Why portland? It was the only city we can think of where it is close enough without flying, but far enough with driving.

Last time I was there, I thought roses grow in the winter, that is why you always see them in fridge inside florists. Actually, roses grow in summer, the fridge is there to inhibit their grow... so... I saw lots of rose stems... not a pretty scene.

First the ride was fun, MSS did not fall asleep 15 min after the road trip, she was actually awake for 6 long driving hours. The hotel on the other hand was not that impressive, it is small and pretty modest, Junipter Hotel, it feels more like a motel than a hotel, the parking lot smells like alcohol, but at least the room was clean and the front desk was very helpful. The lesson? Pictures can be very deceiving, we managed to take a few pictures from the same angle and they turn out to be very nice as well, but if you take the pictures from another side of the room, it sucked.

Still, the room has a comfortable bed, and that is what is important.

Spontaneous as we were, we ran into the gondola that is been built between the mountain that oversees portland and its port. The gondola took us to the medical campus of portland university. It had artistic interior with paintings and designer furniture's and stunning view of the city.

oh, almost forgot to mention, we had a great lunch inside the hospital's cafe, charming attendants, great experience.

Overall the city of portland is a charming, hip town, with some small city feel. It is not as busy, (pubs close at 11pm!!), as Seattle. Plus it has no sales taxes, which makes it a great place to visit in the summer.

Why summer? We saw a sea of flowerless rose stems this time around, still no flowers...