(August 11th, 2013) I've long known that Portland was affectionately referred to as the Rose City, but even after having run past their rose garden on my first visit, I never really understood why until now. On our last day in Portland, Kim and I took in a few more sites, chief among them, the international rose test garden. Forget everything that you think you know about rose gardens, Portland's redefines all expectations. The garden itself is the size of four football fields, or so, and is filled with hundreds and hundreds of varieties of roses, a few of which are below.
Just running past the rose garden early that morning, my senses were overcome by the bouquet of roses that filled the air; and I'm not well known for my sense of smell. It's pretty gosh darn impressive in other words.
I'll admit that part of this tour of roses felt a bit like the madness of Dumas' Black Tulip had spilled out of the pages and into the very earth of this corner of Portland as rose after rose seemed to be an afront to all of the flowers that came before it. And, true to the spirit of Dumas' little known masterpiece, there was even a black rose or two.
Apart from the spectacles of the rose garden, Kim and I also made our way over to the Lan Su Chinese Garden. Nestled into the middle of the Pearl District, this garden offered a serene retreat from the hustle and bustle that flowed past just outside of its walls. Kim and I visited it on a dreary day, which seemed to only add to the peacefulness and calm.
Last, but far from least, Powell's. A trip to Powell's is a bit like a trip to Costco: you go in expecting to spend no more than $X, and by the end of your trip you've bought $10*X worth of books. Frankly, I'm amazed every time I'm able to leave the store without having bought over $100 worth of books. To put things in perspective, it's a fantastic, local bookstore that takes up an entire city block and is about 4 stories tall. And that's not enough, they've expanded to the the block across the street to have an entire annex dedicated to more technical subjects. No trip to Portland is complete without a trip to Powell's and a sufficiently satisfying consumption of local beer. More on that in the next post.
Just running past the rose garden early that morning, my senses were overcome by the bouquet of roses that filled the air; and I'm not well known for my sense of smell. It's pretty gosh darn impressive in other words.
I'll admit that part of this tour of roses felt a bit like the madness of Dumas' Black Tulip had spilled out of the pages and into the very earth of this corner of Portland as rose after rose seemed to be an afront to all of the flowers that came before it. And, true to the spirit of Dumas' little known masterpiece, there was even a black rose or two.
Apart from the spectacles of the rose garden, Kim and I also made our way over to the Lan Su Chinese Garden. Nestled into the middle of the Pearl District, this garden offered a serene retreat from the hustle and bustle that flowed past just outside of its walls. Kim and I visited it on a dreary day, which seemed to only add to the peacefulness and calm.
Last, but far from least, Powell's. A trip to Powell's is a bit like a trip to Costco: you go in expecting to spend no more than $X, and by the end of your trip you've bought $10*X worth of books. Frankly, I'm amazed every time I'm able to leave the store without having bought over $100 worth of books. To put things in perspective, it's a fantastic, local bookstore that takes up an entire city block and is about 4 stories tall. And that's not enough, they've expanded to the the block across the street to have an entire annex dedicated to more technical subjects. No trip to Portland is complete without a trip to Powell's and a sufficiently satisfying consumption of local beer. More on that in the next post.
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