In Portland

Sam was offered a chance to take part in a field school training thing in Long Beach, WA.  Nearest airport?  PDX.  Did I want to go?  Sure, I can find something useful to do for a few days, then she could join me for the last 48 hours.  Cool beans.



Portland has this curiously Canadian feel to it.  You have economic disparity [witnessed first-hand on the LRT ride in from the airport], old houses with trees [like most cities in the East or on the West coast] and lots of pubs and bars in the older parts of town.  Right now, the trees [of a type I'm not 100% familiar with - cherry?] are in bloom.  The street I'm staying on is lined with the vibrant pink of spring.  It is lovely.  Think of a Thunderchild crab, but 3 stories high.  That's another thing - the weather is like Victoria's.  It was sunny and cool when we arrived, rained hard and cleared, repeated that condition and cleared up to a nice bit of late-day sun.  As I said, it's very Canadian - Victoria's weather, Halifax's pubs, Calgary's disparity on the LRT, pink trees as in my imagined Montreal or Ottawa.  I haven't been much farther afield in Canada than that, so I can't make further comparisons.  It's not quite like other US cities, at least the ones I've been to.  Beats the shit out of Pinedale.