So here's an itty bitty blog of what we've done & will do here in Portland:
Monday, June 2, 2008 (food & drink):
We got in around 4pm after a marathon drive up from SF, stopping briefly to sleep in a really shady no tell motel somewhere in Medford, OR (also known as the crystal meth capitol of Oregon). We were really creeped out by this place, and chose to barely sleep on top of the sheets fully clothed. The second we walked into the room, Amman turned to me & said,"I wonder how many drugs have been done in this room." I wondered to myself how many people had been murdered in this room. Midway between the Bates Motel & Portland we stopped for some grub in a little town called Cresswell (I think), where there was a Mexican restaurant on every corner. So, we stopped in & had huge bathtub sized bowls of tortilla soup & fish tacos there were pretty mediocre. And then hopped back in the car. By the time we pulled into the parking lot of the Jupiter Hotel
http://www.jupiterhotel.com/ we were rightfully exhausted. We showered, took a mini power nap & watched an episode of the Simpsons & decided to explore the neighborhood. We walked over the Burnside bridge & Amman dorked out & took a bunch of photos of the "Made in Oregon" sign.
We wandered round Chinatown & were disappointed to say the least.. I was born & raised in Flushing, Queens & live in San Francisco, so anything short of Hong Kong would be a disappointment. We went to pop by the Satyricon
http://beta.satyriconpdx.com/ to see who was playing but were turned off by the throng of teenagers & kept on walking on over to Voodoo Doughnut
http://voodoodoughnut.com/menu.html and split the BEST donut ever!!!! If you're ever in town, get the Portland creme.. it's like a Boston creme, only 100 times better!!!! With our bellies full of sweet delicious Voodoo goodness we wandered back over to the Doug Fir
http://www.dougfirlounge.com/, conveniently located at our hotel, ostensibly to see the Los Campesinos show
http://www.loscampesinos.com/ but decided against it. Instead we met up with Lizzie & Max at the Doug Fir bar & drank cocktails, caught up, & had some of the yummiest salmon chowder ever & split some ooey gooey cheesy fries.. all while relaxing by the fire surrounded by deer heads & crystal moose heads & wood wood WOOD galore. We climbed into our bed in our tiny little hotel room after probably one IPA too many and slept like babies. All in all, it was a pretty good day...
Tues. /Weds. June 3rd & 4th, 2008 (Kidd, kids, kitsch):
While Amman napped before his job interview, I sauntered on over to the Kidd Toy Museum (no website, but easy to locate if you google it). I half expected the place to be completely filled with annoying children, but was pleasantly surprised to found myself the only person there. Then a little creeped out. The place is just room after room of old toys behind glass.
Entire rooms dedicated to Lionel trains, old mechanical banks (my favorite), porcelain dolls (scary!), Disneyana, & an unusual amount Mammy dolls & Coon Chicken merchandise. Apparently, Mr. Kidd has been collecting toys and banks for 35 years, and it shows. The museum on the whole is ok, and you can't beat the admission price (free!) but it has nothing on House on the Rock in Wisconsin
http://www.thehouseontherock.com/HOTR_AttractionMain.htm. In terms of collecting weird toys and just about everything else, Alex Jordan was a force to be reckoned with.
Amman & I met up afterwards & we decide to do the Hawthorne strip. For those of you who don't know, the Hawthorne district, & Hawthorne Blvd specifically, is a 10 block stretch/hipster neighborhood filled with cute little bungalow houses, vintage clothing stores, kitschy little shops, an annex to Powell's (aka the GREATEST BOOKSTORE EVER!!!) & home to the Bagdad Theater. Apparently, Hawthorne Boulevard was named after Dr. J.C. Hawthorne, the cofounder of Oregon's first mental hospital. The road was originally named Asylum Avenue. We window shopped ( I almost picked up an awesome clown painting for Dottie but balked at the $50 price tag) & essentially hit every store up & down the strip, then had really good veggie burgers at the Bagdad
http://www.myspace.com/bagdadtheater. It's such a rad place, part pub/part movie theater, it's been around for almost 40 years & bills itself "Your 5th, 8th, and 10th chance to see that one movie that didn't look too bad!" Pretty funny!