PORTLAND WAY ON A CLEAR SUNDAY: WHAT DID YOUR TOWN LOOK LIKE

The Portland way means something different to everyone who crosses the city line.

But the Portland way is the same thing for everyone who lived here and left.

People miss Portland more than they thought they would. Why is that?

Please proceed.

Leave Portland and you’ll miss the Test Gardens in Washington Park. Okay, the test roses are all pruned back, but take a closer look. Why not copy and paste one of these pics for the best close-up.

Go ahead, you have may permission.

What are you looking for? The proper way to prune a rose. Yes, you know how, but do you know the pro way? With as much attention at Portland roses draw, no one is screwing up the pruning season.

With reputations and jobs on the line, these roses have to be done right. At your house, at my house, not so much. If we screw up, we count on them coming back, because we’re not going anywhere.

The roses may not be so rosy, but you are. Once you get out and around, Portland has so many choices to make you look good, and feel good.

Portland Rose Queens

My group walked down the path behind me earlier and started reading the list of Rose Queens imbedded in the brick.

The fun part was reading the names of the Queens for the year we graduated from high school. Why? Because we’re the same age as that particular queen.

Reviewing annual Rose Queens is a feel good moment in the Rose City. You want to feel rosy? Now you know where to go.

Either start at the river, or end at the river, but get some river time in on the Portland way. Our river walk started with the Saturday Market on Sunday.

The Syringe Drop Box was a reminder that we all share the city. This is one way of not over-sharing.

Walking around the SW property was a reminder too, of how close we all are to each other.

Dividing Portland

Below is the Burnside Bridge with the famous White Stag sign that has turned into a Portland icon. Burnside is the division street of the city with one side north, the other south. The Willamette River is the other coordinate; one side is east, the other west.

The real Division Street doesn’t have as much work do to. If Portland had a real division, a historical division, that street is Stark Street. That was the street the surveyors used to map the region.

News this morning reported a robbery at the local donut shop. The robbers used a hatchet to get what they wanted, and were found nearby with a box of donuts. And that’s the power of Voodoo Donuts.

There’s a special joy in drinking a good Portland beer outside on a nice afternoon; the wine testing table set up by the Skidmore Fountain didn’t move my special rating.

Wine Traffic, Or Beer

I know it’s there for the traffic, but the traffic also includes people with addiction problems (see needle drop box.) Alcohol may not be the star in a hard drug neighborhood, but wine might be more tempting than beer.

It’s no surprise that I found a beer garden; I’ve got a beer radar that’s finely tuned. It’s also tuned to beer prices. Seven dollars for a glass of beer? What am I, at a ballgame? A concert? No, then it would be fifteen bucks.

I wanted a five dollar beer, but paid seven. Twice. After fourteen dollars worth of beer, I felt the Portland way. Looking around, I saw the way. It was bitter-sweet. But tradition is tradition, and on such a nice day with good company, I wasn’t about to complain.

I took this selfie to send to a couple of my favorite Portland people who moved. They are on the road and need a Portland reminder of why they should come back sooner than later.

You’ve met people who drop right into the things that matter?

Try and figure them out and do something similar. That’s the Portland way.