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August 7, 2004
Riding Around America: Arrival in Portland
I arrived in Portland last night a few hours later than scheduled but that was no surprise. The sun was setting as I checked into my hotel downtown so I didn't go out except to get a late night salad from McDonald's down the street.
This morning I went to the Oregon Historical Society and saw their excellent exhibit of the history of Oregon. Unfortunately, that was really the only thing of interest on display right now in the museum. A Lewis & Clark exhibit opens in September. The interesting fact I learned about Oregon is that it was attacked by the Japanese during World War II. The coast was shelled by a submarine and, more strangely, the forest was firebombed by a Japanese balloon contraption that was launched from a submarine. It's one of the few times in history that America has been attacked from the air.
The museum only took about an hour to walk through and now I am sitting in a Starbucks in Pioneer Square, a public area which seems to be the focal point of the city. Starbucks of course has a wireless internet service which is provided, for a fee, by T-Mobile. However, since the Starbucks is located right in the Square, I'm connected to the free network which is provided by the city.
I think I'm really going to like this city. It seems very midwestern in style and mannerisms of the people. Everything is very clean and the area I'm in right now is a somewhat trendy, but not overly. The light rail trains are running along the street right next to me. Public transportation here in the downtown area is free and there is no sales tax in the entire state. It's going to take more exploring of course but I think I could see myself living here.
Speaking of exploring, there aren't many touristy type things to see here in the city that I'm really interested in, so for the rest of the day I'll just be wandering around. I plan to hit Powell's Books, the esplanade that runs along the other side of the river and the Saturday Market. The city has at least half a dozen bridges that go across the Willamette River so I'll be checking those out as well.
Depending on how late this place is open, I'm going to try and stop in here again later tonight to write more and maybe post some pictures as well. I'll write more about my impressions of the city then.
Posted on August 7, 2004 at 12:15 PM