August 6, 2013: Portland, Oregon
We arrived in Columbia City, a northern suburb of Portland in the afternoon of August 5th to be greeted by Kit and Chip Gardes, two friends I had met while living in Hungary. They introduced us to their house situated with a spectacular view of the river and overlooking their immense garden that contained a great variety of vegetables as well as several kinds of beautiful flowers in full bloom. (Sorry for the overexposed picture of their backyard and view.)
 

Chip and Kit's view from their house.

Kit and Chip had prepared a wonderful meal consisting of fresh vegetables from their garden as well as delicious lamb kebabs that Chip grilled on rosemary stalks picked from his garden. Their lamb dish was far more delicious than the rack of lamb I had had the previous evening at Crater Lake Inn! 

On August 6th, the four of us drove to St. Helen's, a small city just next to Columbia City. We visited a quaint square on the river:

St. Helen's City Hall

St. Helen's pier

 In a nearby park was a pathway made of stone tablets describing the trip of Lewis and Clarke:

Entry from the journal of Lewis and Clarke

From St. Helen's, we drove to downtown Portland to visit 23rd Street where there are all sorts of interesting shops and quaint restaurants. One of the shops we visited was an Oriental carpet store where Ruth fell in love with a runner hand made in Turkey that was for sale. We ended up buying the rug to add to our Oriental carpet collection at home.

After a nice lunch in a trendy restaurant (I had a wonderful Cuban sandwich of pulled pork, pickels, and ham), we drove to one of Portland's landmarks, Powell's Bookstore, without a doubt the largest bookstore I've ever visited. The store took up an entire block of the city and was five floors tall. They sold new and used books and there was a separate building that housed technical books nearby. 

 

Powell's Bookstore (one small section of one of five floors!)

After Powell's we drove to another Portland landmark, Voodoo Donuts. This shop is located in the bar area of the city where customers would leave the bars at closing hour craving something to eat. They went to the then small donut shop called Voodoo Donuts and the shop eventually realized the great demand for their donuts during the day so they are open round the clock. When we arrived, there was a line that wound down the street from the shop (sort of like Pink's Hotdogs in LA). There were many unusual flavors of donuts (e.g., maple frosted donut with bacon strips on it, donuts covered in Fruit Loops, etc.)

Voodoo Donuts (line outside donut shop)

While we waited in line, there were three musicians entertaining us with great dixieland music.

Musicians entertaining the line waiting to get into Voodoo Donuts

Inside the shop, there was a large donut on display (not real -- it was used as a mascot of the shop) that legend has it was stolen one night by a drunken customer. The other customers in the shop at the time were incensed that anyone would steal this donut and ran after the thief to retrieve the donut.

Wooden donut in Voodoo Donut shop

We bought a dozen donuts and walked down the riverside as we ate one of the donuts. 

Park near river

Later, we drove to the house of Kent and Susan Spring for dinner. Kent and I used to travel together when we both lived in Hungary. They are also avid gardeners and had prepared a delicious dinner of salmon with a side dish of quinoa, a very filling seed that is grown in the mountains of South America. This dish was fantastic and inspired me to cook the recipe after I returned home in LA (along with the lamb kebabs that Chip and Kit had prepared). The six of us had a great time sharing memories of our time living in Hungary. It's funny how we all seemed to experience the same administrative nightmares living in Hungary (e.g., opening a bank account, obtaining a work permit, shopping, renting our apartments, etc.)

Another great day of our vacation experiencing the bustling city of Portland!