Portland travels

Until I get back into the full swing of things...I wanted to share photos from our trip to Portland, 4th of July weekend. I have always wanted to go and A did not need convincing since it is the home of Powells bookstore! We had a wonderful time. It was beautiful and sunny. And we went everywhere on public transit and walked A LOT

We walked throught the park blocks, saw all of Halprin's fountains. It was so great to see people come there--adults and kids alike, in their swimsuits, ready to splash around. The Keller was popular, the Lovejoy not so much. We didn't have time to also go the newly revitalized Pearl district. That will have to be another trip.

Looking on, originally uploaded by barnali.

We did go to the Saturday market, which was interesting. The weird thing though was that they had a performance stage there with a couple of kids performing--singing and dancing. And I thought, oh how nice, local programming for the market. Except, it turns out that it was sponsored by Disney radio and all the songs were from Disney movies and sung like Disney characters. It felt really commercial and cheap and exploitative. There was no escape from it and the sounds pervaded the whole atmosphere of the market.

But to end on a high note, one of the best things we did was meet up with one of A's friends who had just moved back to Portland. It's true the locals know the best places! My favorite was this wonderful street intersection he took us to. This was a thing I am sure you would appreciate even if you are not one of us landscape architects.

And there is more--see photos of this wonderful street instersection, the topography of a beaver, plants growing in a toaster, an old fashioned barbershop after hours, a Rumi bike rack.....