Trip to Portland Oregon

I went to Portland this past Wednesday for some meetings with our parent company, DYCOM Industries. This was my first trip to Portland and I was very impressed with the city. It's located at the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers about an hour inland from the coast. It's a lot like Seattle, narrow streets, tall buildings and a Starbucks on every corner. The weather was very nice with warm clear days and cool nights. We stayed downtown in the Benson Hotel which was built in 1912. While it's a older hotel is has been updated without loosing it's charm. I walked along the Willamette river through a pleasant park with one of my colleagues on Wednesday evening.

We had meetings on Thursday morning and the afternoon was reserved for "activities". I had the choice of golf or a wine tour and since I'm not very good at golf or drinking wine I decided to spend the day by myself wandering the streets of Portland. Many of the streets in the downtown area are narrow but the city has left room form lots of trees which has resulted in a park-like urban area.

There are many young adults living on the streets in Portland. I was surprised and somewhat shocked to see many people sleeping on the sidewalks and in doorways. I saw a young girl going through the garbage to find discarded food. I wasn't quit sure what to think of what I saw. I thought it was a bit of a paradox that in a city like Portland which has a reputation of being socially conscious and liberal in their thoughts and politics there was a your girl without any apparent support.

I ate lunch at a Lebanese cafe which had excellent pita bread. I also visited the "Oldest Bookstore in Portland" which was basically an old magazine store with a bunch of books that had been used in some previous era as coverings for Portland's coffee tables; pretty lame.

I returned home on Friday evening to home and hearth and to the pleasant surroundings created by Louise. Travel is great but home is better.