Life in the Northwest

I had the pretty cool opportunity to be in Portland this week for a tournament.  I have never been to Oregon, but it is truly a beautiful state.  It reminded me a lot of my visits to Seattle -- mountains in the background, pretty green trees, and lots of interesting characters.

I've also been lucky this week because the weather has been beautiful so work hasn't been too stressful, and my parents got to come up for two days to see me!  I have had some long days at the course, but they got to see quite a bit of things around the area while I was at work...and we even got to eat dinner with our good family friends that live up here.

Driving from the airport to the west side of the city you have a beautiful city view:

 

Very true to the phrase "appearances can be deceiving" -- downtown Portland is nothing like the beautiful exterior.  We (thank God I was not alone) - went downtown yesterday evening to check off a huge task of visiting Voodoo Doughnuts - featured on the Travel channel, Food network, etc.  The doughnuts themselves did not disappoint - nor did the line wrapping around the corner to get into this 24/7 doughnut amazingness.

outside of the store (the building had glittery bricks)

famous pink box

                                                   

I got the orange one; my mom got the voodoo doll & my dad got the maple bacon bar

What they fail to mention about inner-Portland is the insane amount of homeless, prostitution, and druggies.  I don't think being threatened is an issue, but it is a very uncomfortable feeling to say the least.  I expected it to be a liberal west coast city with drifters, but it was way more than my little conservative self thought (and could handle).  I expected it to be similar to Austin, but instead it was like Austin on steroids...x 1,000,000.  So needless to say, I will never go back downtown at dusk -- and definitely I'll never go alone.

sign across from Voodoo donuts - they sure aren't kidding!

My parents got to come watch some of the tournament on Friday - and the officials even let us sit up in the Champions box on 18 to have lunch.  It was a really awesome time, and so nice to not be alone for a few days!

Champions box on hole 18

one day I'll learn how to not make people shadowy

 I'm going to try and drive out to the coast tonight because I've heard it's beautiful...but even though I'll miss highs in the 80s I'm sure looking forward to getting back to the Lone Star state!

Recap: Portland is beautiful.  Come in August: the month it doesn't rain.  Don't go downtown alone.  Doughnuts are awesome.