Portland

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July 23d-

Ahh Portland. Driving up highway 101 with the twists, curves and coastal climbs was Generalissimo's dream come true. But if you had to drive a windy road, you'd want a member of Team Rambo/Generalissimo at the wheel. Texas Red and J. Karankawa felt like they were kidnapped by Speed Racer. Only Speed Racer's I-pod was full of Iron and Wine, Pixies, M. Ward, Patsy Cline, George Jones and Neutral Milk Hotel.

Portland is a town that believes in yielding to pedestrians and bicycles--a big city that believes in keeping it small town. Restaurants had veggie friendly options, many boasted local produce, free-range meat for the carnivores, and organic veggies for the veggie. Portland is the mecca for microbreweries and one favorite of the trio was the all-organic Roots. Mmmm...beer. There was even a Beer Craft festival going on in honor of our visit.

We of course, checked out some local dives, among them, the Sandy Hut, a cross between old Cecil's and Big Star (10 years from now). Texas Red and Generalissimo nerded out over jukeboxes and local beers while Karankawa philosophized it up.

We loved the Panini's at J Cafe, the coffee at Stumptown (and the blue-eyed cutie-pie barista), and rocked out on the dance floor at the Crystal Ballroom. 80's Video Dance Attack on the springy floating floor, was as J. Karankawa put it, "Like a high school prom done right." The glorious tunes from the 80's that particularly rocked our socks included Depeche Mode, The Cure, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Soft Cell, Cindi Lauper, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Human League, Bizarre Love Triangle, Prince, Violent Femmes and Dead or Alive. Oh Houston's Numbers, if you could only be as cool on a Friday night...

We loved the Portland Contemporary Crafts Center, and the Portland Art Museum had a neato Escher exhibit as well as a comprehensive Native American Artifact collection. The Saturday market was our favorite place to buy soft, clever tee's.

All in all, the people were super-friendly, the duds adorable, the local suds delicious and it was a green dream city. Watch out Portland, Generalissimo wants to live there.

Jenny Karankawa's Quote of the day: "It's like a high school prom done right."

Generalissimo's Quote of the Day: "Did you know that there are 30, 000 more single men than women in this town? Too bad I'm not a vegan."

Texas Red's Quote of the Day: "It's a big city that wants to be a small town."

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Photos

Photo 1
Generalissimo loves the Imperial XXX Stout at Roots.

JK & Brew at Roots
Allegedly made with wormwood ... tasted sweet, sort of mothy whatever that would really taste like.

Stumptown down time
Generalissimo swears it's the best coffee ever.

Stumptown
Worth a stop if you're ever on the west coast

Photo 2
Fuller's Coffee Shop Diner

Photo 3
This place smelled like Georgepa's buttered toast and hotcakes wafting down the hallway to the bed where we'd all be piled for coffee break. A serious wave of homesick and nostalgia went down with this diner coffee.

Comments

[Papa']

"duds and suds"??
Uh.......