Voodoo & Sausages

Today Marshall and I went downtown and did some of that touristy Portland stuff . . .

We wandered around the Saturday Market (Dogs! Kids! Art!)

We ate some Polish food (Cheers to Wisconsin!)

We went to Powell's (Pop-up Books!)

We braved the line for Voodoo Doughnuts (Maple and Bacon together forever!)

It's going to take a long time to get to know this place. I knew Madison so well. It's strange to feel so unfamiliar with the city in which I am living. People are very friendly, though. They say hello, they strike up conversations. There is no stand-offish attitude. This makes things easier.

Photos From The Road

The mountains, the river, the cat. Photos from the trip west.

Yuck.

I hate unpacking. I hate it so bad.
(It's kind of like this.)

OCAC

The Oregon College of Art and Craft is what drew me to Portland. (Ha. No pun intended.) I attended orientation on August 24th & 25th. Mornings mainly consisted of getting to know the campus, the faculty, and the students. Afternoons were for adventures.

On Tuesday, we were taken downtown for a gallery walk. We stopped into about 8 galleries in the Pearl District. We saw a diverse array of art and were able to speak with some of the gallery directors/owners. We stopped into Boyd's Coffee. The ceramics people got all fired up (no pun intended?) about creating "the perfect mug". We were able to wander around in Powell's City of Books for a little while as well.

On Wednesday, we had our choice of outings: an official tour of Powell's, happy hour downtown, or kayaking the Willamette River. I went for the kayaking trip. I'd never kayaked before, and I was surprised to find that it wasn't as difficult as I had anticipated. The sun was out and there was a light breeze. We paddled down, crossed the river, and paddled back. We saw an Osprey nest (complete with Osprey) and explored barges, beaches, and houseboats. I already want to get back in the water.

The Big Move.

I arrived in Portland via Nissan Versa. 2,000 miles, or 30 hours in the car. With a cat.

It actually wasn't as awful as it might sound. The drive was gorgeous and the cat slept on the cooler in the back for nearly the entire trip. A few memorable sights from the road:

Early morning thunderstorms in Minnesota, North Dakota sunflower fields, Painted Canyons in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the moon setting in the Montana mountains, the sun rising in the Montana mountains, the Yellowstone River, the vast nothingness of eastern Washington, and my first view of Mount Hood.

Portland is gorgeous. It smells like pine. There are so many things I want to do and see. So far, I love it here.

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I've moved from Madison, WI to Portland, OR. You can read about my adventures here. I will try to update regularly. Really . . .  I will.

Really.