City Life

Another exhausting day...whew, I am tired!

Today we ventured into the big city of Portland, Oregon. We've spent the majority of our trip out west in the mountains/forests/coastline, and decided that it was time for some city life. (I also wanted to do a practice-run of the routine I'll need to start on Monday morning!) We drove to Hillsboro, boarded the Max, and were on our way.

After about a 10 minute drive to the transit center in Hillsboro, an hour Max ride, and a 10 minute bus ride that crossed the Burnside Bridge, we made it to Lloyd's Center Pharmacy. Everything was very easy, and I feel very confident in my ability to take public transportation into work. My pharmacy site looks very neat, and I've heard it's a super rotation! I can't wait to start :) If you're interested, you can check out it's website at: http://www.lcrx.com/

Getting back to the city center, on the other hand, was a bit more difficult. We boarded the wrong bus (my fault) and ended up taking about an hour trip out of town. Oops! Don't worry, we did make it back into Portland safely :)

Once back at the city center (smack in the center of downtown Portland), we headed to the Visitor's Center. A chatty older fellow gave us a city map and told us all of the sights to see in Portland. He also gave me a magazine of scenic routes with many waterfalls and hiking trails...I'm pretty excited to check those out! After gathering maps and tourist info brochures, we stopped at a Starbucks for some coffee (I found a giftcard that I hadn't used yet from Christmas, so two mochas only cost me a dollar...thanks, Michelle!) and decided on our plan of attack for touring Portland.

First stop - Chinatown/Old Town. There were some neat sculptures and such...fun area to walk around. At this point, it was about lunch time (thanks to our super-long, unexpected bus ride) so we decided to grab a bite to eat. There is a pizzeria in this district that is supposedly haunted that we had read about, and that sounded like an interesting place. Here is what our brochure says, "Old Town Pizza: Legend has it ghosts haunt this award-winning turn-of-the-century pizzeria. During the early 1900s, hundreds were kidnapped and enslaved through trap doors from the Shanghai Tunnels below. Visitors include Rachel Ray's Tasty Travels and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. An icon, a must see, something to check off your 'To Experience Before You Die' List." It lived up to our expectations...except we didn't see any ghosts. I would definitely recommend this pizzeria to any visitors of Portland!

Then we walked one block north and found ourselves at the gates of the Portland Classical Chinese Garden. Indescribable...absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful. During July and August on Tuesday nights, concerts are held here during their "Tuesdays by Twilight" midsummer music performances - I might need to check one of those out :)




Walking south, we were able to find VooDoo Doughnuts. This famous doughnut shop was recommended to both Allison and myself by others who had been to Portland. One word to describe this place = unique. I ordered a Dirt Doughnut (vanilla frosting with crushed oreos), and Allison chose the No Name Doughnut (chocolate frosting with rice crispies and peanut butter). We weren't hungry yet...and ended up saving them for dessert after supper. Check them out at: http://voodoodoughnut.com/

After getting scared by a barking, shirtless homeless man (don't worry...we chatted with him and he was harmless!), we boarded the Max and went west. We deboarded at Washington Square, home to the Portland Zoo, Japanese Gardens, and the International Rose Test Gardens. We decided to head to the free attraction - the International Rose Test Gardens. I have never been anywhere more fragrantly beautiful before! Roses grew as tall bushes and short bushes, on trellises and arbors, and up around lightposts. We saw roses in almost every color. Parts of the garden overlook the city of Portland, which made it even more delightful. Mom would love it there...we'd probably have to drag her out to get her to leave.

Our busy day in the city was truly terrific, but it was time to head back to the suburbs...we needed to get to the post office before they closed! We made it in time, and Allison now has her license again and will be able to fly back to MN on Wednesday. Since it was still only early evening, and we didn't want to go all the way back into the city, we decided to go on a quest for another set of scrubs for me. I had found a place online that is located in McMinnville (about 25 miles away) that sold scrubs, and so we headed in that general direction. On the edge of McMinnville, we came across something neither one of us had seen for quite some time...WalMart. Weirdly enough, WalMarts are not common out here in Oregon. Luckily, they had scrubs. For cheap. Some even on clearance. I found two outfits. Yay!

Then we came home, got lost in Forest Grove and ended up exploring the town (it's much larger than I originally thought, and I'm super excited to check out the downtown!). Then I cooked supper - spaghetti with alfredo sauce, surprisingly delicious...try it! - had VooDoo Doughnuts for dessert, and spent time doing random things that needed to get done (i.e. blogging).

Another fabulous, busy day...I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow!