Friday, September 21, 2012

We arrived in Troutdale, Oregon on Wednesday for a 3 day stay at Sandy Riverfront RV Resort. Troutdale is a small town just east of Portland. Barbara's never been to Portland so I thought I'd show her some of the sights downtown.
The Portland area has a robust public transit system called TriMet, a combination of bus and train service. We left Friday morning at the bus stop across from the RV park. We got off the bus in Gresham where we caught the train. An hour later, we got off in the middle of downtown for a day of exploring. I definitely recommend using public transportation if visiting here. We bought 1 day passes for only $5 each. Just to park downtown would have set us back over $20 bucks, not to mention fuel cost and the aggravation of driving.
Portland is a wonderful place to explore on foot. If you like to walk, it's entirely possible to walk all over the city center. We started out by visiting the largest bookstore in the world, Powell's Books. This place takes up 3 stories of an entire city block. They have over 3.5 million new & used books. They will also buy your used books. We spent over 2 hours and only covered a tiny fraction of the store. The geography & travel section alone was larger than most bookstores I've ever visited, and they had over 30 different sections.

 
 
We had lunch at Jake's Famous Crayfish...great place to eat (and rest). I had the Crayfish Penne and Barbara had Pecan Crusted Catfish....mumm good! Both dishes for less than $20...not bad.
 
 

 
 
Most of the major retail chains are located downtown. They are interspersed with unique small shops cafes, and coffee bars.
 
 
 
 
 
Portland has some nice old neighborhoods with many homes built during the Victorian era. It's been a good day! We leave tomorrow on our way back to KC. We plan to drive to Baker City, Oregon for a one night stay.
If you like our blog, why don't you let me know by posting a comment...I'd like to know there are folks out there looking at it. If you have any suggestions as to how to make improvements, let me know those as well.
 
 
 

 


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