Just arrived in Portland today. A few thoughts:

  • Portland is AWESOME. Really. I just love it. Beautiful, beautiful city – not touristy at all like San Francisco. Far more my speed.
  • My hotel room is NOT awesome. I appear to be in the epicentre of the Portland Slums.
  • Powell’s Books is terrific – a whole city block & they put the old and new books beside eachother, which is extremely rational of them. However, they did NOT have Improving Goat Production in the Tropics by Christie Peacock and they did NOT have any books on how to take care of Apple Snails. I came very close to buying a book on Cockroaches, so I could learn more about the other inhabitants of my hotel room, but vouched for the classic (which I’ve never found elsewhere) Animal Liberation by Peter Singer.
  • I had a pint of Oregonian beer and I Saw That It Was Good. I plan on having more. What I especially liked was the waitress didn’t look down her nose at me when I ordered beer before 12pm; instead she enthusiastically remarked that the beer I chose was an excellent way to start the day. Amen sister.