Disclaimer: This post is one of those that ended up being written years after the experience was had. Sadly, there were no notes taken so whatever is shared here must be extracted from the images and what memories they may have lent us. Fortunately, there was an itinerary still in my directory of travel plans, so that will help with some details. As to why this wasn’t noted or blogged about, I was in the throes of writing/editing my book, Stay In The Magic, and felt that any other deep writing would derail that fragile effort.

So here we are in Portland, Oregon, our 11th stop in this state in only nine years. The pattern was already firmly established that we were in love with at least the western half of Oregon. If I’m not mistaken, we planned this visit with some emphasis on Portland, well, for a day anyway, as maybe it had been neglected. On to the impressions.

This was our introduction to the funky and hip street known as Mississippi Avenue. The purpose of our first visit was to Gravy Restaurant, where I’d read about the oatmeal brulee and knew that we had to try it. A year after this visit, just 400 feet south of Gravy, a shop called Control Voltage would open. Subsequent visits to Portland had me totally forgetting about that restaurant as my focus lasered in on this temple to Eurorack synthesizers.

Our itinerary only listed Gravy and a bike tour, with the ride starting at 11:00, and so with some time on our hands, Caroline found the Willamette Stone State Heritage Site. Just west of Portland, this marker, known as the Willamette Meridian, is one of 37 Principal Meridians across America that are referenced by surveys and property descriptions. Nerdy enough for us to pay a visit.

Ten years after snapping this photo my best guess as to why I took such an image is because it may have been the first time Caroline and I had seen a car that was using both gas and electricity. All these years later, hybrids and purely electric vehicles are now being sold around the earth.

Our PDX Bridge Tour on bicycles started on Everett Street just down from the Steel Bridge crossing the Willamette River, pictured here.

This was our first-ever bike tour of a place in America, and what better city than the incredibly bike-friendly Portland to do just that?

This was about as far south as our tour took us. We are on the Portland Aerial Tram heading from Marquam Hill down to the South Waterfront tram stop, where we’ll start pedaling back into the downtown area.

You knew we had to finally go there. No, not the most graffitied bathroom in Portland, but an icon all the same.

We are at the world-famous Voodoo Doughnuts.

Caroline is threatening to take a bite of maple bacon doughnut even though she’s a vegetarian. That, or she’s a little crazy. Okay, maybe it’s both.

Nerds do not go to Portland without paying homage to Powell’s City of Books.

With a yummy breakfast, a bit of history, a bike ride, some donuts, and new reading material out of the way, it was time to avoid getting bored and head into nature to round out our day.

We were driving up to Mt. Hood and, along the way, stopped at the very crowded Timberline Lodge. I wasn’t able to get a great photo of this famous building, whose exterior was used in The Shining, yep, that movie, but I did get this image with a smidge of sunlight on the peak of Mt. Hood.

I distinctly remember that we’d bought enough donuts that it’s possible that these smiles are not only about the fact that we’re together in a beautiful place but that we’re ripping along on sugar highs.

With so much adventure and shared experiences in terrific places, we certainly didn’t need luxurious accommodations, and according to the itinerary, we stayed at a $50-a-night Motel 6.