Portland, downtown sky scape
Enough of nature already. On Day #10, it was time to leave the Columbia River Gorge area, which was full of spectacular scenery, and head west to the big city of Portland.
We made only one stop, in Troutdale. Just a small nondescript town, with a most excellent Italian restaurant! Pompello Ristorante. Best Italian food I’ve had in a long time.
If you go there, don’t be put off by the slightly grumpy owner. Maybe we annoyed him because we changed tables three times before we ordered. Well, there were problems with each of the tables!! duh!
We got to Portland around 2:00 pm, and headed directly into the downtown area. Portland is full of many cool little urban neighborhoods. Lots of energy, artsy-ness, lots of cafes, galleries, and shops. I really dug the place!
Hangin’ out @ a downtown coffee shop
Trixie, diggin’ the Portland coffee house scene!
Fish gate on a downtown store front
We’d been warned by friends about bike theft in Portland, and so we made a stop at a local bike shop and bought another kryptonite cable lock to lock the bikes up to each other and to the bike rack on the back of the RV.
I was craving veggies (yes, I love veggies, and hadn’t been getting enough of them on the road), and was thrilled to spot a tiny little juice stand right near the bike shop. Got me some super-duper-veggie charged drink, and immediately felt healthier!
Juice & smoothie stand.
The day was getting on, so we headed about 7 miles out of the city, to the Jantzen Beach RV Park. We got ourselves a nice little spot, wedged in tight between the other RV’s, and right smack dab underneath a huge security light. You know the kind of lights that are installed on big poles in big parking lots to keep crime down? Yep…right under one of those suckers!
And so, the day came to an end…or didn’t come to an end….perpetual daylight was upon us!! Very disorienting when I woke up at 1:00 am, and thought it must have been 10:00 am ‘cause it was so bright!! Oh well. There are much worse problems to have in life than a little too much daylight during the night!
Airstream Moho-A-Go-Go 