Portland Jam
September 28th, 2011 by chocko
Chocko recently landed the spaceship in the North West corner of the United States finding himself in Portland, Oregon…a city with great coffee, fun shopping, yummy food, and friendly people that love to ride bikes. Here are some places that you should check out especially if you’re on a budget! (The White Stag Sign pictured above is located at the White Stag Building, at 70 NW Couch Street)
About 80 miles west of Portland is Cannon Beach featuring the 235 foot Haystack Rock. It’s an amazing sight to see…you might recognize the beach from the Goonies movie. The drive to Cannon Beach is beautiful. There are mountains and forests for miles and miles. Sadly you can also see a ton of deforestation in the mountains.
Powell’s Books is an independent bookstore located at 1005 W Burnside and takes up a whole city block. If you’re a fan of books, this place will keep you busy. You’ll need a map to navigate all 4 floors of the Godzilla of indie bookstores. Open 365 days a year!
For snacks, try Voodoo Doughnut located at 22 SW 3rd Ave. and open 7 days a week and they’re open 24 hours. They got all kinds of doughnuts-vegan, ones with breakfast cereal as toppings and bacon too. I waited an hour one night for them suckers. If people in the Portland area see you carrying one of those pink voodoo boxes filled with doughnuts, good luck. You might as well be walking with a spotlight on you. Walk fast or you can kiss those doughnuts goodbye.
The gentle, cascading Wahkeena Falls is not too far of a drive from Portland. There’s a small bridge about a half mile hike from the base where you can get a closer look at the 242 ft. waterfall. The much more majestic 620 ft. Multnomah Falls is also in the vicinity and the Benson Bridge also offers a view that will knock your socks off, but be careful of the slippery trails and poison oak.
There are are hundreds of food carts in Portland. You can find a whole fleet of them parked around the perimeter of a parking lot on 10th Ave and Washington. All the food Chocko tried was delicious, but the favorite meal was the chicken pesto sandwich from Rotissol & Greens who specialize in healthy home cooking and for dessert, the banana pudding from A Little Bit of Smoke-a bbq joint right next door. So much food (inexpensive too!), so little time…gotta go back soon!
There are a ton of record stores in Portland, but the ones I went to were Everyday Music (1313 W. Burnside). They have a massive amount of stuff from vinyl (new and used), CDs and DVDs. I found some pretty good used CDs along the Sale wall. EM is a local chain and have several locations. Another store I enjoyed was Music Millennium (3158 E. Burnside) which has been around since 1969. They have a second floor devoted to vinyl and huge CD sections of every genre including hip hop, folk and classical. They host a lot of in-store events and their window decorations are the best! Another great Portland record store is Jackpot Records (203 SW 9th Ave). They have a great inventory that includes new and used records, CDs and collectibles. Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips was in the house to promote the Strobo Trip Light & Audio Phase Illusions Toy which included a 6 hour song. The line wrapped around the block and the dude only brought 11 Strobo toys with him. C’mon now…
The Hoyt Arboretum in Washington Park was a highlight of the trip. There are 12 miles of trails to explore and plenty of trees, plants and flowers to see and smell. My favorite place was the Redwood Deck surrounded by huge redwoods and sequoias. I wanted to hug every tree there!
Another attraction in Washington Park is the International Rose Test Garden. Both the Arboretum and Rose Garden are free…no need to take the wallet out. There are 8000 rose bushes to check out and there is a really nice view of Mt. Hood from the Garden.
For $4 (roundtrip) you can ride the Portland Aerial Tram and get a spectacular bird’s eye view of the Lair Hill neighborhood and a bunch of highways and mountains. The tram travels back and forth between the South Waterfront Terminal and the OHSU (Oregon Health & Science University).
Food Fight! Vegan Grocery Store (1217 SE Stark St) is a great place to buy vegan mock meats and junk food. They also sell shirts, DVDs and stickers too. Herbivore Store (1211 SE Stark St) is located next door and sells vegan products, clothes, books, art and jewelry. Sweetpea Bakery (1205 SE Stark St) on the corner, sells vegan baked goods. I tried a pumpkin muffin. Damn good muffin! The Microcosm Store (636 SE 11th Ave) is located a couple blocks away and they sell zines and shirts. If you love zines then you must go there! They sell other things as well including shirts, movies and books. Microcosm Publishing puts out some of the best zines and books around. If you are planning a trip to Portland, I recommend picking up “The Zinester’s Guide to Portland” for info on cool, free, cheap and weird things to do in the Rose City.
(photos by chocko)
Tags: cannon beach, flaming lips, food fight!, haystack rock, herbivore store, hoyt arboretum, jackpot records, music millennium, oregon, review, sweetpea bakery, vegan, voodoo doughnuts, wayne coyne
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