PDX!

Sorry for my very much overdue post for the city of Portland...nothing against Portland....i just dont know where my head has been in the last two week. Wrapping up my west coast adventures, I headed north of Cali and trained it up to Oregon State which btw was one of the most beautiful legs of landscape I saw on my journey. Coming up on the coast and passing through the dense thicket of evergreen trees that just seem to be infinite in numbers is incredibly grounding and makes anyone feel like so small.
I was nervous and excited to finally make it up to Portland. For it being the sort of prodigy child of planning, sustainability, and a "we sure know how to do everything right" attitude, it was intimidating to see it first hand. The city itself if actually not very big and you can traverse it fairly easily so I felt like I got to see a good part of it. I was impressed at how clean and perfect it was and maybe even a little chocked that there was hardly and dirt and grind to it which to me are a big part of a city too. Everyone out there that I spoke to on my daily explorations was friendly and willing to share their stories. The man pictured here was a super cute old Mexican man who claimed to have the best tamales in the world. Look at that thing, ITS HUGE!! It had all these different meats and veggies inside it and it looked really good but Im sad I didnt get ot actually taste it.
During my stay there, I crashed at Ms. Nishiel Patel's swanky portland apartment and we took a personal day to explore outside of the city. She rented a zip-car aka a car-to-go and off we were to Multnomah! She was like a walking adveristement for the rental cars jajajaj. So for those that dont know, Multnomah is gorge outside of portland that you can hike in for mile and mile on end through various waterfalls and neat little paradises as you hike up this steep mountain. Nishiel and I did about a mile and a half hike up and then doubled it on our trip down hill. The views were incredible and the water was FREEEZING but Im sure I speak for both of us when I say that it was an amazing experience to walk barefoot through the rocks at the bottom of the waterfall. Later that day, we met with Alixis and Pete for celebrate Pete's big 30 something birthday jajaja. Im sure he probably doesnt remember much from that night but I was happy to see those to boys one last time. For a long time I had a strong desire to visit that city, and Im really glad I did. I cant say that it was love at first sight but I seeing the reality of it in person made me realize how different an experience can be from that of a perceived reality from afar. I may be making a premature judgment in saying that it wasn't what I expected but I think I got enough of the city to know what it has to offer and why it makes that people that live there happy, but I dont know that I would live there myself. Maybe it was too perfect, too clean or maybe it just wasnt Austin, jajaja. Who knows...I had an amazing time thanks to my lovely host and I hope one day I can return and see more of what I missed.

The next day I packed my bags, and off I was to undergo a 3 day train ride across the country to Pittsburgh.....