Day One - Monday

Ladies this is the life! Today is a first for this mama. Griffy came bursting into my room this morning at 5:30am "What are you doing still asleep? Get up or we are going to miss the plane". And thus another chapter in the Simon Family has begun.

How time flies. It seems like just yesterday that I was the one "in charge" dragging the kiddies outa bed and yelling "brush your teeth...Daddy is waiting in the car and even though it's 3 hours before the flight leaves he's hollering we're going to miss it!!!!"


Over the summer Griffy has been employed (that's right employed, as in earning a paycheck) at William E. Simon & Sons. Bill has kept him running from here to there doing stock research, having business lunches (one in Pasadena with
our high finance friend Suzanne Trepp), reading everything that's out there
on Warren Buffett and "value investing", and now taking his first business trip. Since the young man is only 17 and thus can't register for a hotel room on his own, I was permitted to join him on this excursion. And so here we are up in sunny Portland, Oregon. We met up with Christine Jenkins from our NJ office at the beautiful, light-filled, full of shops, cheery Portland airport where a musician entertains the passengers on his electric piano inside the terminal. After dropping me off at the Portland Downtown Marriott, the worker bees set off to check out some condos the company apparently own. I on the other hand, tossed my suitcase in the hotel room (which Griffy arranged to be on the concierge floor, natch) and headed directly to the front desk and asked "I've got the whole day ahead of me - what should I do?"


I boarded the nearby streetcar that makes a loop around the downtown area of the city. The streetcar is free, since each stop is "sponsored" by a local business, as in "The upcoming stop is NW 23rd and Lovejoy, sponsored by Whole Foods, open from 7am - 10pm".

Not a bad idea, as you can hop on & off at whim. Another idea that's not bad at all is the fact that Oregon is one of 5 states with NO SALES TAX. When the price tag says $5.00, it's $5.00!! During my short walk to find the streetcar, I passed by an adorable trio of pig statues, one of many displays of outdoor public art. Did I happen to say adorable??


Since it was a beautiful day with clear skies and a nice breeze, I brought along my camera (did you ever doubt I wouldn't?). First stop - Powell's Books, at 77,000 square feet "the largest independent used and new bookstore in the world!"

The store is organized by color: The children's books are in The Rose Room, and since I love beautifully illustrated children's books that was my first stop.



Incredibly as I was perusing through the "vintage books section" I came across one that I remembered from MY childhood. I immediately took a snapshot of the cover and emailed my brother & sister, and they emailed right back saying they too remember our mother reading this book to us, called "Scat Scat". It's about a little white kitty (oh Ellen, did your mom used to read this to you? Perhaps this is the key to unlock - ok never mind!) who no one wants but then finds a happy home in the end. Oh the memories it brought back - wonderful ones.




I hopped back on the streetcar (free!) and continued around the loop and jumped off at the beginning of 23rd Street Northwest,which is the Montana Blvd of Portland. Well, kinda...

It's very granola here and lots of Birkenstock folks, but there are also lots of cute boutiques, garden shops, and restaurants that go on for about 10 blocks until it ends in a collection of big stores like Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma and Anthropologie. One store had a beautiful collection of dishes that I marveled at.



There was also a year-round Christmas store called "Christmas at the Zoo" which sells stuffed animals, and the most exquisite and special handmade ornaments by artisian Patricia Breen. This woman used to live in Portland, took a trip to Poland (that's right) and loved Poland so much that she and her husband moved there fulltime! A small ornament can cost around $150, so I don't know how the shop stays in business, but maybe it's because of the wonderful lady behind the counter who was nice enough to call me a cab to take me back to the Marriott as the day was getting hotter by the second. As an aside, remind me to tell you about the little boy on the streetcar whose mother rushed him off yelling for all to hear "He's gotta go...He's gotta go! Run over here Charlie - aim for the wall not the people!!!"



For dinner we went to Veritable Quandary (known locally as VQ) and it was delicious. I had a salad of organic lettuces sprinkled with little purple flowers, and delicious grilled scallops. There were about 10 fabulous deserts that I easily could have ordered, but Griffy was like "No dessert please" so I demured and said "me too". grrrrr...

God was on my side though, as upon our return to the Marriott, what was the concierge floor serving but fresh out of the oven chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and cream cheese pie. Of course I had none of them and went direcly to the Fitness Center. Well, part of that is true - I did go to the Fitness Center, but then afterwards.... Good night!!

Day Two - Tuesday

Hello again! We are blessed with another beautiful day in Portland, Oregon.

Up early at 6am, I hung out in the lobby and read the local newspaper and watched
all these fit people rushing out the door for a run along the bikepath that borders the Willamette River. Why so many people I thought? Am I the laziest person in this whole hotel? Turns out there is a NIKE convention group here - that explains it. I learned that NIKE world headquarters is located in Beaverton, Oregon.

Griffy, Christine and I met for breakfast in the concierge lounge where we enjoyed scrambled eggs & bacon and discussed the day. Well it was a short discussion because "Mom we have work to do" and they were off.


After a quick freshening up, I jumped in a taxi and went to the Lan Su Chinese Garden, located about 10 minutes away in "Old Town/ChinaTown District". Completed in 2000, Lan Su is considered the most authentic Chinese garden outside of China. All of the materials used to build the structures, including more than 500 tons of rock, came directly from China. There was a Chinese Folk Art exhibit there, and I had to buy a bunch of cards with their images...50% of the proceeds goes back to the artists who live in a very rural part of China. Unfortunately there wasn't anything else worth seeing in Chinatown - it's quite dreary and has seen better days.




Next stop (by streetcar this time) was The Portland Museum. This art museum's gift shop is one of the best I've been to for a medium size museum (it doesn't compare to the gift shop at Chicago's Art Institute but then no place can!





I always remember my mother saying "When I go to the Art Institute, I never leave the gift shop!!!" ) Anyway there was a lovely exhibit on "Snuff Bottles and Ceramic Jarlets". These teeny tiny glass and pottery containers were collected and then donated to the museum by two Portland socialites - really each item is no taller than a finger. The museum also had an extensive Native American collection, and a whole floor of modern art including a gigantic red glass Chihuly "tree". Here to the right is one of the many works of art in the outdoor sculpture garden





I was working up an appetite so I jumped back on the streetcar and figured I'd just jump off when I see a good restaurant. Just a few blocks later I saw all these food trucks lined up for blocks on end with tables & chairs in front off the sidewalk. I jumped off and ordered a soup & salad from one of the vendors. Every type of food was available - Indian, Chinese, Sushi, Sausage, Ice Cream, Burgers...you name it. I asked the vendor if the nearby restaurants were mad about these outdoor trucks/carts taking business away from them, and he said since it's legal and they get reviewed all the time by the health department, there's nothing the restaurants can do about it. Judging by the large crowd of people who obviously eat their lunch here, I'd say downtown LA should take notice! It was quite festive with musicians strumming away on their guitars...


Across the street was a fabric store, a needlepoint store, and a yarn shop. I was hoping to buy some fabric squares for the dollie dresses, but none were to my liking. I did buy a Portland Needlepoint ornament for memory's sake (a Christmas gift for Griffy!!!)


On the streetcar ride back to the Marriott, I passed by at least 3 of the 5 city water parks...by this I mean in an urban park with a wide expanse of grassy lawns & trees, the city has built very natural water fountains/features where little kids could splash about in the resulting ponds and rivers. There is also colorful public art pieces and sometimes playground equipment nearby. One of the parks "Jamison Square Fountain", built in 2000, had large stacked square boulders where water spilled over them ending in a shallow pool - all very natural looking not like a theme park or anything. It was great for the parents, as they could either join their kids or (as most did!) lay out a beach towel and flip through a magazine, chat, or have lunch. This park was named for William Jamison who was a young restaurateur and an important force in the Portland art scene, who died at age 49. "Tanner Springs Park" is a Zen-like natural park that is also a bird sanctuary (no dogs allowed!) featuring native plants and grasses. Another park (as seen here) is the "Ira Keller Fountain", which has a over 13,000 gallons of recycled water per minute cascading over terraces & platforms. Lots of children and teens were playing and splashing under these waterfalls. Really great for a hot day like today.


I found the people in Portland to be quite friendly and very helpful when I asked for directions or whatever. I did notice a homeless population, and sometimes came across gathering of rather sketchy teens. It seems to me that the downtown is trying its hardest to stay relevant - for example a popular section of the city known as "The Pearl District" is a Soho type area where many of the brick factories & warehouses have been turned into condos and then alongside them have gone up very contemporary apartment buildings. It's all very hip as evidenced by the many young families who have gravitated there. Its design has won awards for being the "gold standard of live, work, and play mixed-use space where a vibrant community can emerge from urban decay." Many art galleries, cafes, and coffee shops. As an aside, a clerk at a high end baby shop told me that across the river are "more reasonably priced stores offering a lot of local art & crafts ..." I will have to make it a point to include visiting these places on my next trip up here!



Once back at the hotel I joined Christine & Griffy to review our day. There were several things we could have done after dinner (compliments of the concierge floor!). We could have walked a couple of blocks over to the original "Voodoo Doughnut Shop", made famous by "Man vs Food" TV show. Their signature doughnut is a "gingerbread man with a pretzel stick stabbed through its abdomen and red jelly "blood" filling." If you google this shop you will see all the many other varieties available, including a maple sugar one topped with bacon. Ewww.... I'm told the shop is open 24 hours a day and you can find it by seeing the lines of people formed outside the door.



Other things we could have done was take a ride on the Portland Tram up the mountain for an expansive view of the city, or take a tour of the Japanese Rose Gardens, or be really brave and visit the mysterious Underground Tunnels.


But we all decided we prefered some R&R so some of us went to the Fitness Center, some caught up on work, and some did needlepoint. Can you guess who did what? Anyway, Portland is a fun city - you can really do a lot in 2 days and then it's time to go out of the city and into the surrounding countryside to hike, bike, or ski the beautiful snow capped mountains. Enjoy!