Left Portland today to get a slight jump on our big journey back to San Francisco. Having only spent two days in the city, I can nevertheless say that we got a clear feel for the place, and the reaction was very much positive.
Not a bad meal the whole time we were there. Managed to stumble upon a coffee tasting, in which the proprietor offered an amazing amount of knowledge about the process of selecting as well as trading and auctioning coffee worldwide. Got to see a film at the Living Room theatre, which is a nice place to have a drink, some light dinner, and some indie film.
Powell’s book store, of course, is a must see. Absolutely overwhelming in its size. The rain let up for a bit this afternoon, too, which was a nice break.
Would I recommend Portland for a weekend trip? Sure. Not sure there’s enough to make me want to live there, though.
Right now, we’ve stopped for the night in an amazing little bed and breakfast in Eugene. Cuts our road time tomorrow down by about two hours or so, and gives us a very quiet and dark place to rest.
Unfortunately, as I feared, it looks like the mountain pass along the 5 is going to be too snowy the rest of the week, so no Ashland, Crater Lake, Shasta, or Lassen for us this trip. We’ll have to do all that in the spring or summer.
So it’s back to the coast tomorrow through Crescent City, Eureka, etc. Still debating whether or not to stay in Healdsburg New Year’s Eve.
Connectivity hasn’t been too much of a problem on this trip. Lots of free WiFi in Oregon. And decent 3G AT&T signal in the cities, at least. And the iPad/iPhone haven’t left me wishing I had a laptop at all. Though I’m going out of my way to avoid doing any serious work on this trip.
