Comments | crankyisgood: Planning for PDX

crankyisgood

Planning for PDX

Jan 09, 2006 09:13

Well, I'll be going down to Portland at least by July 15 (Seth is going to do the 1-day STP; I'll do another long ride but not that again/in one day), and probably sooner, just for a cheap mini-vacation since my sister has generously offered up her guest bedroom. I've been e-mailing my gmail account whenever I come across new places to see there, ( Read more... )

lists, portland, stp, vacation, pdx

Comments 25

kent January 9 2006, 19:23:50 UTC

Somewhere around here I have a copy of the Zinester's Guide to Portland, which has a lot of info on what the cool neighborhoods are, healthy/vegetarian/vegan restaurants, bike shops and biking routes, etc. They have a Web site that doesn't have any information, however. I found this site while searching for the guide, and we've had two great breakfasts at the Bijou Cafe, the last one in October.

crankyisgood January 9 2006, 19:34:20 UTC

Thanks! I'll look out for the zine and check out the Dirt Cheap page. We randomly found the Bijou a few trips back and it's now my reliable Portland brunch place--the place suits me and perhaps most importantly, I can find it every time I go to PDX. I am directionally challenged by that city.

wikkywikky January 9 2006, 19:57:07 UTC

Dude, it wasn't random. I took you there! Don't call me random!

But mostly, I suck at knowing places to go, so I am just very proud of that one.

crankyisgood January 9 2006, 20:14:13 UTC

D'oh! I couldn't remember if we randomly found it but I guess not. Thanks, Leah! Good job, because you know I'm in love with that place now.

Thread 7

vellumblue January 9 2006, 19:31:51 UTC

Well, you know there's this great bookstore, Powder, Ploughman, or Howell's, or something like that.

Okay, more seriously - the one place I love to go for breakfast is Tin Shed in the Alberta neighborhood. Usually a long wait, but so worth it. Sadly, I don't know of any good crafty stores. I remember walking by a promising yarn/fabric store in the Pearl District with my brother and friends and my request to check it out was summarily vetoed. (Granted we were late for dinner, but still!)

crankyisgood January 9 2006, 19:37:58 UTC

Books? What, you want me to carry books back to Seattle??? Oh Martine, I can't tell you how many times I've had to lug around bags suddenly 50 lbs heavier on my way back from Portland.

I know! Why are shops so hard to find? Luckily the bloggers listed in this post link to interesting shops and now that I have a centralized post, I'll link them here. Last time (not last summer but the time before I think) I did visit several yarn shops--most of them were new since 2003 or so--and Leah and Seth were crazy with boredom by the time we got to Lint. The Pearl district is all so shiney and new: it totally didn't exist when I first visited Portland.

swinehund January 9 2006, 20:20:42 UTC

Is it Powells? I think that's the big one there.

crankyisgood January 9 2006, 20:38:44 UTC

yes. and she was being funny. so funny we forgot to laugh!

Thread 12

swinehund January 9 2006, 20:34:56 UTC

I love the 24-hour grocery stores they haver there. It's a chain (I forget the name), but full of snooty though impressive stuff. I first got tofurky bratwurst there, so I think that endeared me.

We ate at a thai place called Thaiphoon, which we both liked very much, but the place seems to be full of good thai food, so I don't know how much it stands out. It was to the west of downtown.

The Paradox was a decent almost all vegetarian restaurant (but they serve a beef burger that's why the name's paradox hurr hurrrrr), but it did not stand out all that much in my mind. Except for how this nutty guy was complaining to us about Castillians and we had to go to the bank across the street to avoid having him sit with us. It's just down the block from this place, which was fun for dorks like us. You pay $5 or $3 or something to get in, then you use nickels instead of quarters for the games.

crankyisgood January 9 2006, 20:40:59 UTC

hah! that is exactly what I expect from Paradox (other than the beef patty) which is why we haven't tried it yet. but I like your reviews/recommendations. I have heard of Thaiphoon but can't remember if we've eaten there. We do have lots of good Thai here too.

jealous kissyourelbow January 10 2006, 01:03:48 UTC

So I recently sent someone a bunch of my portland links but I'm guessing that wasn't you. OK ( ... )

Re: jealous crankyisgood January 11 2006, 19:04:33 UTC

thanks, yo! I've been to some of these places. I'll have to update the entry with some comments.

anonymous January 10 2006, 07:30:13 UTC

No Portland tips from me, but I'll have you know that I took a Learn to Knit class today and am most excited about getting something finished (not started and pulled apart and started again and thrown back into the cabinet in frustration).

Remember to vote for http://waveofmodulation.typepad.com/ - Wave of Modulation for http://www.thebestofblogs.com/ - The Best of Blogs - Blog as Art starting January 10!

~mrtl

crankyisgood January 11 2006, 19:04:45 UTC

Yay! Yay! YAY!