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Monday, May 4, 2015

I flew to Portland Oregon for a mini vacation and ate some of the best things that have ever passed my lips.

Last week I flew to Portland, Oregon for the first time on a mini-vacation to visit my friend James Salmonsen, and I thought I'd tell you about the trip. I flew first class, and I don't think I'll ever fly anywhere again that's not first class. Seriously. The service is excellent, the seats are much wider and there's a ton more leg room, and there's even this arm rest between the seats that's wide enough to hold beverages. It also has a plug in to charge my phone. How cool is that? Oh and I got to check three bags for free. I actually didn't have three bags; I had one. However, I've now got that stored in my head as "things to know when traveling."
Portland was REALLY green. I live in Salt Lake City, so I'm used to the desert. Portland has trees everywhere. So many trees in fact, that you think there are people living behind them (as in lots of people) but you can't see any of them. Oh, and everyone is super friendly. I went to the Avengers: Age of Ultron on Thursday night and made like three friends in line. One guy was super excited about Jason Momoa being cast as Aquaman in the up and coming Batman Vs. Superman, another just wanted to chat about the Avengers, and a third told me about this strange video I needed to watch on Netflix. But the friendliness didn't end there. At Pine State Biscuits (a breakfast restaurant) a mixed racial couple totally started talking with me, and I think our topics went from Voodoo Donuts to restaurant recommendations to talking about podcasts to Charles M. Blow (who writes for the New York Times). And then as I was walking around downtown, one couple tried to bum some donuts off of us (we had a box) and another guy just started talking to us about the best steak in town. I have seriously lived in Salt Lake City for seven years people, and no one here ever talks to me. They all just look down their noses at me and whisper to whatever partner they are with. It's so strange and very unfriendly.

The highlight of the trip though was visiting with Stephen Hayes who blogs over at the Chubby Chatterbox. Stephen lives in a fabulous condominium with doors tall enough that Shaquille O'Neal wouldn't have to duck. Inside this nice dwelling, Stephen regaled me with tales of his trip to India, how the streets there are paved in twenty year old trash because no one wants to clean up, and how he saw the most beautiful thing in his life (the Taj Mahal) and the most ugly thing in his life (a beggar with a grotesquely deformed foot). I also took a look at his artwork (Stephen is quite the accomplished artist) and we went to a really nice restaurant called Decarli where I ate the best mussels and the best salmon I've ever had (thank you again, Stephen). Later we went back to his place and had a shot of chocolate tequila, and I also got to meet his very smart wife (as she was back from book club). Portland (by the way) has some people that can do southern cooking living there. I went to the Screen Door on Thursday night and I'm tellin' you...I had the best mac and cheese I've ever had followed up with the best fried chicken I've ever had. Everything was so tasty that my arteries have to be twice as hard as they were before the trip.

Anyway, I had an incredible time in Portland. However, I also looked up land values there and the houses start at probably $100,000 more than they do here in Utah. Here you can spend $350,000 on a three bedroom house, and it's a dump (read fixer upper). Over in Portland, the fixer uppers start at $450,000. That means I'd need to make $140,000 a year to be able to afford one. Wow. That's a lotta money. Looks like I'll be staying put for the near future. :(

18 comments:

  1. Glad you had such a good time in Portland. The weather was really cooperating and you saw our city at its best. i enjoyed meeting you and James, and I look forward to seeing you again on future trips. Take care.

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    1. It was great meeting you and your wife, Stephen. You were a very gracious and entertaining host! We had such a great time!

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  2. That's cool you got to visit with Stephen!
    That area of the country is really green.
    Did you get to eat one of those famous Voodoo Donuts?

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    1. The story behind that is, I put the kibosh on Voodoo from day one. When I first got here, I was sucked in by people not from Portland saying I needed to go to Voodoo. I waited an hour in line, the doughnuts were triple the cost of anywhere else, and they weren't that good. It's a tourist trap. That did not stop Mike from asking everyone we met about Voodoo, trying to get them to counter my argument and thus making me change my mind about going. Everyone we asked though totally agreed with me (including the people in line at Pine State Biscuits). Thus, we went to Blue Star instead. And they were very good.

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  3. Was the Rose Garden and Japanese Garden open yet? I think you would have really liked the latter. If you do get laid off from your job, you should go run for office (though probably not in Salt Lake) since it seems you make friends everywhere you go.

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  4. Maybe...Maaaaaybe you should move here. 350K would buy you a nice house in the cities or an even nicer one a bit out a ways. Just sayin'

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  5. Sounds like you had a blast, Michael. I like a place that has lots of greenery.

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  6. Glad to hear you had a great time. Wow, those prices are high. You could buy a huge house here for that money.

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  7. Sounds like you had a fabulous time. Going to new places is so much fun. Oh, and you could get a really nice house here in Maine for $250,000.

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  8. Sounds like an awesome trip. I'm a big fan of donuts, probably would not have asked a stranger on the street for one though. We're not strangers though, right? I'm sure there are less expensive, but perfectly adorable homes in Portland. My brother lives there comfortably. My daughter just bought a fabulous 3 bd 2ba house for $150k. Her first home, I'm so proud of her.

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  9. Sounds like a great trip. I haven't been to Oregon since my uncle moved back to CA. It was beautiful up there.

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  10. I'm so glad you had a great vacation and that you met people as friendly as you are. My sister moved to Portland a couple years ago and won't stop raving about it. One of these days I'll get up there to visit. Did you know Grimm is filmed there? The producers love the feel and atmosphere of Portland and the rain forests for their stories.

    I've only flown first class once and that's when I was bumped up on an over-crowded flight. I doubt that I'll know such flying comfort ever again.

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  11. HI, Michael,

    Salt Lake people sound like the people here in Chicago. Glad you had such a great time in Portland. I've always wanted to visit there. I heard it's a gorgeous city....

    My new home will be in South Tampa, and the people there are as friendly as the people in Portland. I actually invited to join a lovely young woman and a few friends of hers while I was sitting alone at an outside table at Starbucks. It was such a wonderful change.

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  12. Wow, it is that expensive in Portland. I am glad that you had a good time. It is wonderful that blogger friends meet like this.

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  13. Ohhhh… I've ALWAYS wanted to go to Portland!!! Jealous. Wish I would've road tripped with you! :) And wow with the pricing… ugh…

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  14. My brother lives in Portland. He left his car here in St. Louis. The city has the best public transit system in the country. Cost of living is super high, though. And many of the homeless people leave syringes everywhere, so you have to watch out.

    If you've got a big wallet and love the outdoors, Portland is the place to be.

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  15. I'd love to visit Portland one day. Glad you had such a great trip. On a different note, I'm all caught up with Arrow and I'm not liking it. Not. At. All. :(

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    1. Yeah, Ollie is in a pretty dark place. However, last night's Flash was a "Grodd damned" delight. All year I've been wanting a psychic gorilla. Last night I got myself a talking psychic Gorilla. Flash just surpassed Arrow. Ayep

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