Thoughts on Portland
Best thing about Portland: FOOD! The place is chalk full of interesting, unique, locally owned, eco-conscious, yummy eating establishments. Ken’s Artisan Bakery was hands-down my favorite spot, it was yummy after delicious after tummy-rubbing goodness. We sampled the morning bun, brioche cinnamon roll, eclair and chocolate croissant. We partook in many other tasty meals, including the best falafel sandwich Jamie or I have ever tasted at Karam. Deciding where to eat each day was a practice in fun.
The next best thing about Portland: Bishops Barbershop. We happened by the barber shop this morning and I felt compelled to cut my hair. I’ve never in my life gotten my haircut on the fly, just cause, but I guess greatness can inspire rash action. Imagine a big, open space with ceilings at least 20 feet tall. The walls are covered with posters and pictures, the floors are cement, and a couple of long, wood benches adorn the middle of the floor. Old-fashioned barber chairs sit in front of 8 or 9 stations and the stage for cool is set. The barbers are all young, hip, friendly and tattooed or pierced. Jamie sat down for a quick buzz while I enjoyed a more leisurely wash, cut and blow-dry. Bishops is to a haircut place what the Kennedy School is to a hotel, sheer genius.
Other highlights included a pretty cool children’s museum, an independent bookstore that occupies a full city block on multiple levels, beautiful Japanese gardens and having our friends, Kent, Maril, Simon and Caroline around for a few days. We are on the move now, heading down the coast toward San Francisco. We stay in Eugene, Oregon tonight and then tomorrow Redwood Forest here we come!
A rare day of foot-loose and fancy-free
A few days ago Maril and I had 12 hours of kid-free, unstructured time on our hands. I’m here to report that it’s pretty easy, fun and relaxing to spend 12 hours of kid-free, unstructured time, even if there is no plan in place. An idle stroll though the Pearl District with a leisurely lunch, snack and dinner, a park dedication for a park that’s a sidewalk (i know, go figure), a play at the Platinum LEED certified remodeled historic Armory building, and a late night trip to Powell’s Books and Whole Foods Market. I didn’t spend much money or come home with a bunch of trinkets, but I enjoyed my time away immensely. A shout out to Kent and Jamie for hanging out with the kids all day!
Omnivore's Dilemma
Omnivore’s Dilemma is one of my favorite books that I’ve read in the recent past. I heard a couple of talks on the radio with the author Michael Pollan and the subject sounded interesting. I bought the book and I distinctly remember reading it in the parking lots of various big-box retailers in the New Jersey wasteland, where we lived for three weeks during the summer of ‘06, while Mazie napped in the backseat due to regular nap failure.
The book helped shape and change some of my ideas about the production of food, but what I most enjoyed about the book was the simple pleasure of reading it. The book is divided into four sections. Section I is a short history of corn (which I found to be really mind-blowing), Section II is a look at big organic and what that means and entails, Section III is all about one small farm in Virginia called Polyface and the move toward beyond organic or sustainable food-raising and Section IV is an interesting look at building a meal from things grown, foraged or killed by the author.
If you haven’t read it yet, I highly suggest a read. If you have read it, let me know what you think!
A Homeless Lady
Today we were at the Portland Saturday Market eating lunch and there was a woman sitting next to us who was eating some leftover food that other people had left behind. She was in her 40’s or 50’s, seemed to be lacking most of her teeth, and maybe had some type of mild mental illness. Shortly after we sat down, one of the security people for the market came up and began to give her a hard time. The employee accused her of getting the food out of the trash, which she didn’t, then when she said that she had asked people for it, told her that wasn’t acceptable either. They came to an arrangement where she continued to sit and eat her food without disruption, but she was asked to never return.
I felt bad for the woman, but understood the security guard’s position. And I have to admit that sitting next to her for 20 minutes made me uncomfortable. I paid her much more attention than I would any other person, not because I was scared of her, but because I couldn’t help wondering how she came to be this person. Normally I pass homeless people on the street, but I’m never confronted with their situation for more than a minute or two. This woman was clearly on the streets and she didn’t seem like she had it together enough to do anything other than live on the streets.
I understand that there are many different reasons why people are homeless, but I was struck that this woman was homeless because at some point she fell through a crack and at this point the crack has turned into a huge hole and there’s no getting back. I’m not sure what responsibility we as a society have to someone like her or why I’m even writing this post, but I came away with the feeling that even though having her around was unpleasant and made me uncomfortable it was a good thing. And whatever she may or may not be, she’s still a person.
Quotes from the Road...2nd Installment
Yesterday at breakfast Mazie commented that she was cold and I replied that I was too. She looked at Jamie and asked him if he was cold; he shook his head no. Mazie then pointed to Jamie’s forearms and asked in all seriousness, “Cause of that white fur?”. Classic stuff, but she does have a point. He’s one hairy guy.
Litter and it will hurt
We came across this sign a couple of days ago on the way to the zoo in Seattle. I had to take a picture and offer up a quick post. I’ve never seen a sign like this, so please forgive my ignorance if these are posted all over the Pacific Northwest. I love this sign! It’s so vaguely threatening. I wonder after reading the sign what exactly will happen to me if I litter? Will I just feel bad and therefore it will hurt or will someone come out of the bushes and beat me or will some big brother figure render a nasty fine that hurts my pocket-book or something worse? It’s just so ambiguous and I think that’s where the genius lies. If you knew exactly what was going to happen you would be able to calculate the risk and decide if it was worth it. But, with the sign as it is you have no idea if you are meant to suffer a hurt conscience, a broken bone or a life in prison. It really does make a person like me curious and I’m no litter bug!
My Favorite Hotel Ever!!!!
Lots of favorites lately and another to add to the list. We stayed for one night at the Kennedy School just outside of Portland, Oregon. The Kennedy School hotel used to be a school and the evidence is still all other the place. The McMenamins brothers carefully restored the place, added lots of interesting art, turned the auditorium into a movie theater free for guest with comfy couches, added a couple of wacky bars, a outdoor hot tub soaking pool, a restaurant and lots of swanky charm. All of the rooms are refurbished classrooms. Our room was huge with an awesome closet that had three fold-up type garage doors that contain chalkboards. The place is funky with capital “F” and I loved every minute of our time there. Mazie loved that they had drinking fountains all over the place that were kid-height, perfect for catching a drink or two or ten. It’s hard to describe the place and do it justice, but if you ever need a place to stay in Portland, I highly recommend the Kennedy School. They have a few other properties around Washington and Oregon and I’m sure they are all worth checking out. Did I mention that you get all this coolness for $99/night. That’s what we paid to stay a night in the crappy-de-crappy hotel in Glendive, MT. Oh, and I almost forgot, our room had a recycling bin - a happy first for me.
These are a few of my favorite things...Seattle
I’d never been to Seattle before; now I have. We, me and the family had lots of fun traversing the city, mainly on foot. We checked out Folklife, Seattle Center, The Seattle Aquarium, Woodland Park Zoo, The Children’s Museum, The Space Needle, Pike Place Market, the flagship REI store and lots of cool restaurants and shops littered throughout downtown. I’ve come away with a few favorites that I’m dying to share.
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The 5 Spot was hands-down my favorite restaurant we’ve eaten at so far on our trip and one of my favorite restaurants of all time. The place itself was cool, hip without trying, filled with interesting people and great servers. The menu was inventive without being too foodie (I can be a little under-adventurous sometimes). The food was great, tasty and fresh and the prices reasonable. They use grass-fed beef of which I’m a big proponent and that’s something hard to find in a restaurant. To sum it up: The 5 Spot rocked!
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The first half of the Woodland Park Zoo was amazing. I’ve never been to a zoo that didn’t make me feel at least a little sorry for the animals, but these guys are living it up at a 5 star hotel. The experience for the visitor was stunning as well. The whole place was heavily wooded with a trickle of a path running through. The path wound round and round and brought you to viewing spots where you had to think for a moment how it was that the animals were staying in their environment while you stayed in yours. The boundaries were non-conventional and effective in making you feeling like you happened upon the animals in the wild. They had a giraffe feeding experience that was top notch. Mazie and a bunch of other kids got to feed a giraffe a bunch of branches, leaves and lettuce. It was natural and unstructured and a big hit. Also, whereas most zoos have crap all about, the first half of the Woodland Park Zoo had no beverage carts, food stands, vending machines or souvenirs for sale. It was all cool zoo, all of the time. And if that’s not enough, their newest building is Gold LEED Certified; not an easy task. The second half of the zoo lost the magic and turned into a regular zoo. It was still nice, but nothing like the first half.
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My third favorite spot was Top Pot Doughnuts. The building had amazing architecture, with a mix of classic modern and deco. The facade was all windows and very unique. It had a metal structure jutting out which made me think vintage airport for some reason. The interior was great too. The ceiling was high, high, high with a loft up top for grand sitting and viewing of the downstairs. The sides of the place were bookcases, climbing all the way to the top. There were tons of old books lining all of the shelves. And the doughnuts…the doughnuts were top-notch!
Would you like some plastic with that?
I think plastic is evil, but wondrous. It doesn’t break, it’s cheap, light-weight and can be fashioned into most anything. Think what you may of the stuff, if you have yourself a look around this America, it’s everywhere. I’ve spent the better part of a year trying to rid myself of the stuff, but everywhere I look, there it is again. Until I decided to do battle with plastic, I never noticed just how pervasive it had become. The marketing tag “Plastic makes it possible” has been taken to the extreme and it seems that plastic is the only material that makes anything possible…my last car was made of plastic. All this from a material that never completely breaks down, is difficult to recycle and cites petroleum and natural gas as the primary sources of its key ingredients. Obviously, the great benefits of using plastic outweigh the downside to most people. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve done the best that I can as a consumer and now it’s up to the manufacturers to stop using petroleum plastic. For example, when I shop at my local co-op and I buy a loaf of the yummiest sourdough bread ever, it comes in a plastic bag. The co-op is a locally owned, eco-conscious type of business and even they package a lot of their product in plastic. I expect soon to see businesses like this begin to take on the plastics challenge. While in Seattle, I’ve noticed two occasions where companies are beginning to adopt a greener plastic. Teva flip-flops hang on plastic hangers wherever they are sold. The plastic they use for this is now a plastic made from starch. We were at a folk festival yesterday and Brown Cow yogurt was handing out samples using plastic spoons made from starch. Hopefully in a few years time this will be the norm instead of the exception.
Aqua
Here’s the deal: I’m a water snob. If bottled water wasn’t bad for you, me and the planet, I’d happily sip, sip, sip bottles of the stuff any time I was away from home. But, being that it is bad for you, me and the planet, I’ve been trying to mend my ways and avoid bottled water at all costs. I used to buy the occasional bottle of water at the movies or if I was out and about and really thirsty and I’ve done a good job of breaking that habit. The harder habit for me to break is buying water while on vacation. I always have good intentions and I start out well every time. I bring my Sigg bottle and fill it from whatever tap is available. What inevitably happens after a short period of time is that I’m scared of the water, it tastes funny, and I’m at the store buying gallon jugs of bottled water. I’ve been bound and determined this trip to once and for all rid myself of this stupid habit. I’m doing pretty well so far. I’m drinking far less water than I normally do at home, but no bottles of Dasani or Crystal Springs or whatever has passed my lips. The kind people at Glacier National Park have water that is impeccable and so far Seattle isn’t too bad either. There have been a couple of rough patches, Glendive isn’t going to win any water awards, but I’m really hoping to ditch my snobbery and turn over a new leaf.
So, I know this is a long, relatively boring post, but I just have to add one more thing about water before I finish. A few years ago, Jamie and I went on a kayaking trip in the Apostle Islands just outside of Bayfield, Wisconsin. We kayaked and camped for three nights on various islands and retrieved our water from the islands where we beached. The water was visibly brown with little bits of this and that floating in it. Gross! I drank enough to stay alive, but not one drop more. Me: water snob.