Portland

I had visited Portland twice before but for very short periods of time and always to visit with friends, which was the point.  I have fond memories of spending time together and being treated to nice restaurants.  But there had never been time for a “deep dive” and Susan had never been.  So on the agenda it went.

The city turned out to be both a surprise and a bit of an enigma for us.  We ultimately came to understand that visiting Portland is principally about the outdoors - its parks and day trips/excursions - the Willammette (dammit!) valley, the Oregon Coast, Mount Hood, the Columbia River Gorge (which we saw on the drive to Portland) to name only the higlights.

Known as the City of Roses, Portland is home to many beautiful gardens located within its Washington Park.  

The International Rose Test Garden took hold in the run-up to WWI when a man named Jesse A. Currey, rose hobbyist and Sunday editor of the Oregon Journal, convinced city officials to institute a rose test garden to serve as a safe haven during World War I for hybrid roses grown in Europe. Rose lovers feared that these unique plants would be destroyed in the bombings.  

According to the City of Portland’s web site, more than 10,000 individual rose bushes bloom in the International Rose Test Garden (IRTG) from late May through October, representing over 610 different rose varieties. They say that the majority of roses in the Garden are commercially available and that about 10 to 20 varieties are replaced each year with some of the best new roses released onto the market.

The primary purpose of the Garden is to serve as a testing ground for new rose varieties. In the beginning, while World War I was raging, hybridists sent roses from around the world to Portland’s garden for testing.

We wandered the rose garden on a perfectly beautiful day, amidst other rose lovers and a large colony of very busy bees, taking note of the wildly different colors and shapes of roses as well as the different scents - who knew?  It was no easy task to refrain from picking some of our favorites!  (Verboten!)

The rose garden is lush and verdant, colorful and a perfectly splendid place to wander around as well as rest on one of the many benches.

In sharp contrast, only blocks away, lies the The Japanese Garden.  An oasis of calm, simplicity, and clean lines, it sits at the top of a rather steep hill. An enclave of Japanese botanical design and beauty, peace and stillness, the garden makes you feel as if you have been transported to Japan.  It is easy to while away a day or an afternoon but either way, but you’ll come away renewed and refreshed, as we did.

The Hoyt Arboretum is defined by the city as a museum of living trees. Founded in 1928 to conserve endangered species and educate the community, Hoyt Arboretum encompasses 190 ridge-top acres and 12 miles of hiking trails not far from downtown Portland.  We spent a an afternoon hiking the trails on a beautiful day.

The Pittock Mansion, situated high on a hill (isn’t everything in Portland?) was built in 1914 as a home for Harry Pittock and his family. He worked at the Oregonian newspaper and over time became the owner. The newspaper is still printed today. Their home is now a historic house museum. The house is perfectly lovely and the grounds and views utterly splendid. We were able to see a current exhibit called “Vanport: A surge of social change” which was, in fact, the closest we came to seeing anything about the history of African or Asian Americans in Portland.

In terms of culinary experiences, we noticed that food carts were in abundance in Portland serving an array of international cuisines.  This is very different from the East Coast.  They can be found in every neighborhood, tucked away in corners, and open for business from dawn to dusk.  Not to be outdone are the local breweries in every neighborhood and for reasons I never figured out, donuts are a “thing” in Portland.  I tried one at the Voodoo Donut Store, an institution, and it was truly magically delicious!  But Susan left empty handed - gluten free was not an option.

There were many restaurants in Portland with good food, although we did not particularly find any with food that seemed to be representative of the area.

Having chosen to stay in Vancouver, Washington, north of Portland and across the river, for a variety of reasons we drove down Interestate 5 each day to reach Portland.   We were quite struck by the industrial nature of the waterfront.  There were active industrial plants all along both sides of the river, smoke billowing from the smoke stacks, and in the background numerous residential and business skyscrapers,  This is a very active port city and surprisingly, not one where river tours were easily found. I have to admit, the riverfront was not terribly enticing, I am sorry to say.

Anecdotal Stories and Observations

I am genuinely sorry to report that Portland, like many cities, has a significant homeless problem.  My first reaction is always, “there but for the grace of God…”, but then comes something more.  Here, for the first time, we were met with homeless tents as we drove down the interstate along the retaining walls providing a barrier between the residential neighborhoods and the Interstate.  And cascading down the hill - for Portland is very hilly - were avalances of garbage some of which invariably made their way down to the roadway.  Mile after mile - so very sad.

Portland has a reputation as a progressive or liberal city. I have always heard this and when I polled friends and family they substantiated this perception. Yet, we seldom saw African Americans or Latinos and few Asian Americans. Surprising in particular that there is so little “Mexican” food in a state that borders California.

In spite of the beautiful gardens, we both found Portland rather disappointing - we found it dirty, neglected and full of trash in the streets, all complicated by the homeless situation. It pulls at the heartstrings and is a complicated situation, but it becomes troublesome to duck and dodge people who clearly have mental health issues (screaming and cursing, fists up, while they wander the streets). It is truly heart wrenching.

Consequently we found we did not didn't take many photos. The following photos are of the only area of town we did not experience homeless everywhere - the richest area of town of course. After that I sort of stopped taking photos. Portland clearly has more problems than I can adequately even talk about.

While we were there, there was a demonstration in the downtown area - “Proud Boys” or similar and BLM which the police made no effort to oversee. We did see many pick-up trucks with bumper stickers and other paraphernalia related to the Proud Boys and white supremacy everywhere we went in Oregon, including Portland We stayed away from the downtown that day. It was odd.