The Final Portland Hurrah

This weekend, one of my favorite people in the world came for a visit.  She's one of my Baltimore people (but, lest you wonder, she now lives in California, so it actually did make sense for her to visit me before I move back to the east coast).  It was perfect timing for a mini-vacation and re-connection with a good friend.  I'm sleep-deprived (somehow talking took priority over sleeping), but my soul is refreshed.

We did many lovely Portland-y things.  There were the staples: Powell's, the waterfront, Multnomah Falls, the rose garden, Stumptown coffee, general wandering through the Saturday Market and farmers market.  We watched beavers and herons at the rhododendron gardens and had pastries at the charming little St. Jack Patisserie (where I happen to know the pastry chef...highly recommended).  

We did two things, however, which I—as a born and bred native—had never done, and they were awesome.  All of you Portland people out there should go do them.  

The first was the Kennedy School, which is an old NE Portland elementary school which was repurposed by McMenamins (another Portland fixture, of course).  They have transformed into a restaurant/pub/gathering place/movie-theater-pub, filled with appropriately quirky artwork and lots of outdoor space.  The movie theater is $3(!) for an evening show and the seats are all comfy, mismatched couches and armchairs.  I have been to many McMenamins locations and one or two of their other theater pubs, but this was a particularly fun one.

(I didn't have my camera, so photo is courtesy of  http://www.bva.org/spr09bulletin/reminders.html.)

The other was The Grotto, which is, well, a grotto.  Our highschool choir sang there every year during their Christmas festival, but I had never actually seen it in daylight.  Nor did I realize there was an elevator which would take you a hundred feet up into a lovely, peaceful arrangement of paths and gardens, with a view overlooking the city and river.  You would never know you were less than ten minutes from an international airport.  

I am excited and ready to move, but I am going to miss this city.  Somehow, seeing all my favorite, familiar places with someone who had never seen them before made me realize afresh how much I love them.  So, appreciate where you live, all you Portlanders.  It will help to know that my city is being properly enjoyed in my absence.