24 Hours in Stumptown (USA Day 102)

The false artist is a dull and stagnant pool

Look! My shirt matches this random book!

We’d craved a city break since New York. Over the last few years, we’ve explored a bunch of European cities over long weekends, staying in AirBnB rooms and hiring bikes to pootle around, sample delicacies, sit in parks, browse quiet shops. That was the intention as we cycled into Portland after a blissfully slow and horizontal morning, and that’s exactly what we got.

1. We visited Powell’s, the iconic book store, and made sure they had copies of The Floor is Lava front and centre.

2. We bought ourselves a couple of Voodoo Doughnuts. The rotating rack of glazed/filled/sprinkled goods triggered within me the most excitement I’ve felt in a decade. Also…how so cheap?!

3. We sipped Stumptown coffee with old paperbacks in a trendy room filled with people much cooler than us.

4. We bought new bib shorts in REI after my ones ripped in a really unlikely place and Amy’s rubbed in a really likely place.

5. We wandered into a dozen open galleries in Pearl district as part of their monthly First Thursday event (want to guess when that happens?), pausing extra-long for some reason in one particular gallery offering free IPA and peanut-butter-filled-pretzels.

6. We mingled in a bubbling street party filled with the young and hip of Portland, complete with surprisingly good covers band and the first game of the new NFL season on a big screen. Amy was pretty taken with the covers; I the football.

7. We cycled home on darkened, empty streets, marvelling at how easy cycling feels without panniers, wondering if we’d ever be able to cycle across a continent.

8. We have three more days of this bliss.