Portland Odds and Ends

We're home - got the last four seats on the flight as a matter of fact.

It was a fun trip.

So here are the odds and ends of the photos - this first one is from the sidewalk:
For once I saw a pair of shoes in the street instead of just one:
With all of the rain, there are many beautiful flowers (not just roses):



We went to the Velveteria - a Velvet Painting Museum. No photos can be taken inside, but these are a few of the items available for viewing in the lobby.

Sublime tackiness.



We stumbled upon Portland Museum's exhibit on tattoos including the man who claims to be the most tattooed person in Portland - Matt Gone. A dubious claim to fame, imho, but there he was. There was also a great Escher exhibit as well as some very good early photography on display.

This is Portlandia, second only to the Statue of Liberty as far as copper repoussé statues go.

It's helping keep Portland weird, I think:
Did I mention there are a lot of homeless people? And people begging on the streets?
And, finally, more artwork from the Ace Hotel. It was a fab hotel - If you ever find yourself in Portland see if you can get a room there. These are from the stairwell, including some details:




Even tho the elevator doesn't work too well.
Btw, we went to Portland at Girl-child's suggestion. She got the idea to go to Portland and specifically to stay at the Ace from this woman's blog.

And since you can never get to everything in a weekend, I believe in making a list for "next time" Here's our list:

The Gorge
Brunch at Salty's
Evergreen Aviation Museum
Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden

It's good to have something to look forward to.

Not So Weird Portland

Going to church didn't work out so well for us this morning:
Just kidding.

And for the record, I always described the climate in Southern Chile as being something like the Pacific Northwest in the U.S. even though I'd never been here before. I was still right.
There are many places in Portland that are weird. And there are a lot of homeless people. A lot of beggars. It's very dirty. But then there are beautiful corners that surprise and delight.

This fountain in downtown Portland is amazing:


The Chinese garden is a wonderful place to get away from it all:



And driving to the coast is always an option:


We had a wonderful Sunday.

Keep Portland Weird

We started this morning at Voodoo Donuts, which is a very weird place; I think it fits in quite well with the Keep Portland Weird motto:
If you find yourself in need of a donut with no cash, there is a colorful cash machine in the store:
And a case with voodoo accoutrements as needed:
There is a porn theater next door - apparently there are very few porn theaters left in the U.S. (I guess no one wants them in the neighborhood) so this is special. I was unaware of the depletion of special theaters, being that I get out so seldom. (According to Boy-child, John Waters complains about there being so few left.) Anyway, if you're interested in porn, they're showing Hentai right now.

Getting back to more mainstream events ... We got here yesterday in the morning, too early to check in. To pass the time we suffered through a first pass in Powell's:
I kind of hate to say it, but it was a bit overwhelming. We went back today though, and it was more manageable given that expectations were more realistic. I'm assuming that the knitting section was sparse because there were 2,000 knitters here last weekend for the Sock Summit.

The Ace Hotel was found by Girl-child through the blogosphere. I must say it did not look too promising from the outside:
Inside, however, it is quite amazing. The artwork is by locals, the nightstands are vintage suitcases, the blankets special issue for the Ace by Pendleton:
There are two little alcoves with beds for the kids:
And it's close to everything. In fact, it's one short block to Powell's. And there's cool art in some of the public areas too. And a photo booth in the lobby.

We hit the Museum of Contemporary Craft yesterday, where they had a glass spinning wheel:
And some very cool stuff, although all of it is priced out of our range:

I was a bit disappointed that there was no knitted stuff, but I suppose you can't have everything.
Everyone is getting along swimmingly, as you can tell from the above photo. Pato and I are feeling rather old though, since there seem to be no people here under the age of 40. I wonder what they did with them?

Additional photos of local sights to be added as possible. Tomorrow we're going to the coast, and possibly to see Howard Hughes' fabulous flying machine, the Spruce Goose.