Beer, Beards and Berets

Fact No. 1 - Portland has the highest number of breweries ( 53 ) per capita of any city in the world.
Fact No. 2 - Portland revels in the beard : the funkier, the better.
Fact No. 3 - The beret, well it's a sort of beret meets cap thing, is an essential part of the attire of male Portlandionians ( I made that word up ).

And I was not going to disappoint - 1 and 2 were a given - and I had bought the requisite headwear in SF.



We spent 2 nights at the Portland Guesthouse. An innocuous name really, however the Librarian associates the word 'guesthouse' with 'youth hostel'. It was not until we got in the front door that she realised I had booked a gem. It's run by 2 gays guys so it was beautifully presented and in the perfect part of town. First night we had Japanese and it was the best meal I've had since leaving Australia - both for quality and value for money. Day 2 comprised of another journey on the hop on/hop off bus ( we've decided it's the best way to see a place if you don't have a car and are limited in time ). Portland is known as the Rose City and their Rose Garden is the most extensive I've ever seen. Powell's bookstore covers a city block and it holds more than 1.5 million books. And of course there's the beer. Where to start ? At a pub brewery of course with a tasting tray of 6 beers ( and an extra one thrown in because we were nice people ). We then settled on the one we each liked best and settled in . When we got the bill, we weren't charged for the tasting - the $8.50 cost was waived under the heading of  'super aussies'.

 

Before


After - call me a porter

And finally to what I hoped would be one of the dining highlights of our trip. Dinner at Roe - voted one of the Top 5 new restaurants in the U.S. in 2013. A 4 course degustation ( all seafood - except for dessert  ) for $75. With 2 choices in each course, we got to try all dishes. All I'm gong to say is we drank 2 bottles of wine and the Librarian used up all the aspirin that night. Another good night's sleep and onto the train for the 4 hour trip to Seattle, Washington. Lucky we loaded up with provisions in case one of the active volcanoes in our path exploded.