Peter and I took two days off, made a super long weekend for ourselves and headed down to Portland, OR. We took the train, because trains are so civilized and relaxing. Slow, but civilized and relaxing.Portland is such a neat town. It's so similiar to vancouver in values and attitude but so different in execution/results. It's wonderful to spend time there and see another way things can be done. It's very comparable to Vancouver in population but so different in feel. We don't have the same affinity for Seattle - it doesn't seem to match us in the same way that Portland does. Portland feels like an alternate universe version of Vancouver, that's the best way to explain it.
The thing I love about Portland most is that their streets are quiet. You can stroll along vibrant shopping streets on their VERY wide sidewalks and there's so little traffic, you can actually carry on a conversation. In Vancouver, all our shopping streets are also our main thoroughfares (the downside of not having highways - all our traffic is on our shopping streets), and they are LOUD. What I would give for a quiet shopping street in Vancouver. (We have lots of quiet streets - they're just all residential.)Portland, being more affordable generally, has loads of independent businesses - interesting little niche shops (an entire store selling nothing but spices, for example). In Vancouver, if you aren't a chain, you can't afford the rents, so start-up businesses are less common, especially in the core. That's sad.
We had a lovely time. Visited a small distillery, walked around a lot. Peter had a lot of microbrew beers. (BC/Vancouver could use some relaxed liquor/distilling laws.) We went to a cuban salsa club! We loaded up on books at the insane Powells Books - an enormous bookstore that sells a mix of new and used books. And we met some school chums of mine in a neat Thai place for dinner. It's very good to get away every now and then, and it's very handy to have an alternate universe version of your hometown to go to.
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It sounds like a great long weekend. yay! And you've made me want to go to Portland.
Portland is a fantastic getaway - if you can swing it!