Our ship pulled into Portland a couple days ago after a scenic but damn cold drive up the coast. This weather change isn’t being processed very well by our seasonally-confused bodies. Badger has started and stopped shedding about five times on the trip so far, trying to figure out what season it is and which coat he should be wearing. We, on the other hand, realized that we packed for summer, but not for winter. We’re wearing everything we own, minus the head scarves we donned in Death Valley 
Coastline on stilts
Portland is much like any other port cities, minus the enormous skyscrapers. Downtown has almost a small-town feel to it. For some reason there is a higher-than-normal clustering of white tablecloth restaurants in the downtown area. And almost next door to these, it appears Portland has suffered an inundation of stripper bars. My only conclusion is that many men come here on business – fine dining following by strippers, what a cliche!
Coastal pyramids
The music scene in Portland is… odd. The one place we managed to find was fittingly called Dante’s. Sitting outside were elaborately dressed gothic creatures. Rose-red hair, extensive eyeliner, bright red lips, black bustier, red stockings. If you were a vampire or a gargoyle, you’d be strangely turned on. Needless to say, we weren’t going to pay a 12 dollar cover to hear headache-inducing music surrounded by creatures of the night.
Looking out over the Oregon coastline
The rest of Portland is… nondescript. Downtown is tucked next to the river, and across the river begins sprawling suburbs and strip malls. Not stripper malls, just regular strip malls. Across the river, it looks like any other city in North America. Unless you factor in the air temperature, then you definitely know you’re getting close to Canada.
Oregon beach
Seattle is the second harbour city on our route back north. We’ve both seen to Seattle several times, so it’s nothing new to us. But the skyline took on a new look after seeing so many other big cities – it seemed very black, and very compact. Seattle must have the most compact downtown core of any US city, or atleast any US city we’ve seen. It also tends to look a little bit like Gotham with its dark skyscrapers and ominous clouds lurking above.
Oregonian construction
In any case, we’re heading north, it’s 38 degrees, that’s about 3 Celsius… and we ain’t too thrilled about it. I won’t darken your mood with ours
