As I mentioned last week, my husband and I recently took a short trip to Portland.<\/p>\n
When I told people where we were going almost everyone had the same reaction “Are you sure you want to go there? Isn’t is dangerous?”.\u00a0 \u00a0 A couple folks were worried about travelling in general, but most people were only worried about us going THERE.<\/p>\n
So, was it dangerous?\u00a0 In a word, no.\u00a0 Portland is beautiful.\u00a0 It a way it reminded me of Duluth MN, which if you know me at all, know that is a HUGE compliment!\u00a0 It’s built into the hills and valleys where the Williamette and Columbia rivers converge, which provides some gorgeous scenery including a variety of interesting bridges.\u00a0 A billion trees (approximately), some of them frighteningly close to the road, but very pretty nevertheless,\u00a0 \u00a0And so clean- I saw almost no litter, even along major highways.\u00a0 Tons of great places to eat and tons of craft brewers and distillers.\u00a0 If you are in to hiking, kayaking, or other outdoor activities Portland has tons of those.\u00a0 If you are into the arts, Portland has a thriving art community.<\/p>\n
One thing I did notice right away coming from Iowa is that Portland- and Oregon overall- takes COVID very seriously.\u00a0 There were no morons claiming “breathing problems”, even with plenty of smoke from the nearby forest fires still in the air.\u00a0 Everyone- and I do mean EVERYONE -was wearing a mask.\u00a0 I forgot to put mine on when going to the restroom in one restaurant and I didn’t get 2 steps from my table before I was (politely) reminded by the staff to go get it.\u00a0 \u00a0Even when we were outdoors folks were wearing them, and in some places they were required even then. And yet I didn’t hear one person complain about it.\u00a0 I wish Iowa could be like that!<\/p>\n
Did we see any evidence of the rioting?\u00a0 Very little.\u00a0 We saw a couple buildings downtown that appeared to have been recently repaired and a couple that looked like they needed repair, but I can’t say for 100% sure that either were because of riots.\u00a0 We saw a lot of Black Lives Matter signs, but you can find those just about anywhere.\u00a0 We ate downtown on Saturday night outdoors and it was quiet.\u00a0 No sirens.\u00a0 No violence.\u00a0 Just people out enjoying the perfect weather with friends and family.\u00a0 The locals told us to avoid one specific 2 block area at night, but more as a precaution in case something might happen.<\/p>\n
All in all it was a great, relaxing trip.\u00a0 I got to meet some amazing people, eat great food, and see beautiful sights.\u00a0 \u00a0I will note that some attractions are closed, or operating on very limited hours right now due to COVID, but there is still plenty to see and do in the Portland area and I would recommend it to anyone.<\/p>\n
And on a personal note, Portland was just what I needed.\u00a0 Could I have gotten the same mental health boost going somewhere else?\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 But I’m glad Portland is where I went to recharge.<\/p>\n
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As I mentioned last week, my husband and I recently took a short trip to Portland. When I told people where we were going almost everyone had the same reaction “Are you sure you want to go there? Isn’t is dangerous?”.\u00a0 \u00a0 A couple folks were worried about travelling in general, but most people were only worried about us going… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25,19,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bright-shiny-objects","category-myself","category-warm-fuzzies"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t