Eight Things (Among Many) That I Love About Portland, Ore.

Last week, I was lucky enough to make my first (and, hopefully, not last) trip out to Portland, Ore. for a very, very fun work trip of a somewhat secret-ish nature. In preparation for the adventure, I took a lot of suggestions from friends and colleagues as to what I should do with my free time in what has become somewhat of a mecca of general coolness, and while I couldn't work it all in (next time, Voodoo Doughnut), here are eight things (among many) that I now love about Portland.

The Ace Hotel
If you're looking for a really unfussy, enjoyable and affordable place to stay in the Pearl District, Ace is most definitely the place. A Stumptown Coffee (see below) connects to one end of its lobby; Clyde Common, an allegedly great local place that I didn't get the chance to check out but that smelled delicious every night, connects to the other end. My room was somehow both utilitarian and completely welcoming, and though the bed wasn't as comfortable as the couches in the lobby (seriously-- most coziest couches in the whole history of couchdom) I still kinda wanted to move in.

Stumptown Coffee
I've historically gotten pretty excited about even the crappiest of continental breakfasts at chain hotels, but waking up the first morning at the Ace and being able to skip downstairs (yeah, I skipped) for a coffee and a chocolate orange scone completely spoiled me for life. FOR LIFE. Spotty bananas and five-day-old bagels, it's not me, it's you.

Powell's
Dude. It's a city block. Full of books. A CITY BLOCK FULL OF BOOKS. I thought I knew, but I had no idea. Was suffering from a pretty serious case of plane brain when I made my visit, and was afraid of getting lost in the stacks forever and/or forgetting to actually purchase my purchases, so I wandered a bit, paid for a gift and some postcards, and quickly stumbled away in a daze. I will probably dream about it for years.

The TriMet light rail system
When I first stepped on to the train heading from the airport to downtown, I felt like I must have mistakenly boarded some kind of awesome airport carnival ride. (Those must exist... somewhere... right?) Purple seats! Yellow handrails! Noticeable absence of bodily fluids and weird smells! Admittedly, Atlanta's MARTA had set my expectations pretty low for what a public transit system should be, but TriMet was pretty awesome in its own right. I had a 100% perfect experience with the light rail trains; was less successful with my bus trip, which resulted in me getting incredibly lost, but that was at least 75% my own fault.

That labradoodle that stared at me with such baleful empathy as I wandered my lost ass around Irvington, 12 blocks shy of my destination, at 8 PM, in the dark, with my life and career flashing before my eyes, on Wednesday night
Yeah. Thanks for all the help, buddy.

Radio Cab
Because they are real nice. And take Visa. And because that labradoodle sure wasn't gonna give me a ride anywhere.

Kenny & Zuke's
Grabbed a chicken salad sandwich there on my last night in town. Was kind of too exhausted to eat it all (long day doing secret-ish fun things) but the half I did manage to scarf down before passing out was delicious! A little peppery, too. I liked that.

The "U Can't Touch This"-spoofing Oak Furniture Outlet commercial
I love watching local TV in new cities, and this commercial may be the best for a local business I've seen anywhere I've ever been or lived. Sadly-- and I do mean sadly-- it's not on YouTube. Any Portlander that can find and post the video on the Internet, I will give you, um... oh! I will give you the gift of speaking kindly of your fair city to anyone who asks. (Psst, rest of the country: Don't tell Portland, but I was gonna do this anyway.)