When you travel you can’t stay huddled in your comfort zone, you are continuously tested and stretched and by stepping out of your comfortable routine you get to know yourself better. If you don’t throw yourself into life you miss out on experiences and for better or worse interesting is always better than boring. That’s how I found myself in a sea of strangers freestyle dancing for two hours. I am always nagging at Dylan to go dancing, so when our Airbnb host SaraHope invited me to Ecstatic Dance I couldn’t really refused although my mind was repelled like a magnet from jumping into the unknown without the safety net of my boyfriend’s company.

The Tiffany Centre was a grand old building, all ceiling frescoes of kings and saints, sweeping marble staircases and timber paneling. Not the small community hall I hd expected for a new agey “dance journey”, the room was huge. I cut my strings to SaraHope and waded into open space. There were people swaying and stretching to the relaxing rhythmic beats, I took shelter to stretch on the floor, time to observe. One woman with a swooshing robe and shaved head was beautiful watch, weaving like tendrils of seaweed through the waves of people. Another man in a trance like shuffle snailed past, a gorgeously graceful girl who must be a ballet dancer, impossibly flexible legs pointing north and south. Then there was a woman with an off duty service dog on the floor and amongst the crowds of dreaded up, descended yoga panted enlightened ones were neon top big earring ravers. Then a whole heaps of mums and kids dressed for the gym and a fairy party respectively.

Dylan had a surprised for me when I returned home, tickets for the Seattle Orchestra Downtown, but we had to go now! We bundled up and jumped on bikes into town. In the gorgeous concert hall the audience hummed around us, then that wave of tuning that gets the heart pumping in anticipation. And the theme for the concert? Soundscapes and the sea, how the world plays in unison! Luther Adams: Become Ocean, painted vivid images of the barren planes of Alaska that is his home, soft and so sweet that it almost lulled us to sleep, which is a compliment. The Varèse was polar opposite, full of unexpected cracks and claps, a composer who in the 50s dreamed of electronic music that technology was not yet capable of producing. A small number of the elderly portion of audience, left the room in disgust to our mischievous delight! And of course the Debussy: La mer was very fine, bows of strings moving like the legs of a Japanese wind sculpture, we settled in to watch the interactions between the orchestra members, deference here, a look there, one particularly impassioned jerky viola player, another with an epic beard down to his waist. The music done, lights up we emerged into late afternoon shadow. we wandered a while before finding dinner, around a square while a homeless man in a bright yellow workman’s vest sang in a deep baritone about a “good loookin’ girl”.

Portland Guide

Ecstatic dance

Some people say that the Sunday dance session is their way of going to church.

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

Ornate building in the centre of the city, right next to that ever present pink skyscraper.

Portland Guide

Tasty N Sons

Organic meat from local farmers, I’m told the secret to their tasty meals is bacon. I recommend the French Toast for a non bacon experience, or at least I hope it was!

everybody’s bike rentals

$186 for a week including helmets, locks and lights.

Petunia’s

Gluten free, but definitely not sugar free. The passionfruit coconut cake was delicious.

Radish Underground

Local designer clothes and jewellery, plus fairtrade items from around the world. Fell in love with a dress, but couldn’t afford it. Owner was a total doll and gave us a list of other boutiques with an ethical vibe.

Parallel

Sophisticated clothes made in the USA, the owner was super lovely and helpful, she even gave us directions to a place to get cakes!

Velocult

Quirky mix of beer and bike building, perhaps even Brazilian bands.

Portland Guide

Smut Vintage, Rad Summer and Wunderlust

A nice little pocket of vintage stores. Rad Summer is all vintage clothes, Smut more oddities and furniture and Wunderlust girlish vintage and some locally made trinkets.

Crema Coffee + Bakery

The most amazing tart I have ever had, raspberry mousse with meringue on top! An absolute delight, coffee enjoyed by Dylan.

Coalition Brewing co

Enjoy a great conversation with the Irish bartender who will let you taste the beers and throw in a list of his favourite haunts for free!

Ken’s Artisan Pizza

Margherita and Nettle & ricotta pizzas were amazing. For the meat eaters we saw the proscuitto sliced fresh in front of us and everything is super fresh and delicious.

Bishops Barber

A cut and a beer, walk ins only.

Laurel Thirst

Relax and enjoy some American roots music.

So the theme of of this week is going to be Dylan and Jo go crazy eating food and looking at beautiful things after weeks eating beans and rice and not being able to wash their hair wigs. The second we set foot in downtown we knew we were in trouble, gourmet donut shops, handcrafted leather goods, vintage shops on any other corner… it was all the best of Melbourne with a much stronger handmade and local movement. So for those who prefer my more permaculture or wilderness posts I’ll see you in a weeks time, for those who love the shiny below is a list of our favourite spots from Day 1!It’s funny though, with such a packed day the thing that stands out the most is when we were waiting for a bus outside the Portland Museum on Salmon Street. Across the road there is s bar with a golden salmon bursting through the bricks and next to us at the bus stop were two women with brightly could beanies that I would have photographed had the light not already faded. While we were chatting one came up behind me and asked if she could ask us a question, I said of course turning to fund she had a digital recorder, oh well too late. She asked us “What is a Museum?” and it brought to mind ideas of equality and quality in art, the value of old versus new and the process of trying to trap objects and places in time when everything must eventually age and change. I was reminded of an article I read about America’s National Parks, with climates shifting we must accept some sort of evolution, as a Park Ranger said, one day Joshua Tree National Park might not have any Joshua Trees in it, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be worth protecting. In a more reflective mood we hopped on the bus.

Portland Guide

Blue Star Donuts

On the corner of Washington and 13th, these aren’t your average Homer Simpson style donuts, with fillings like blueberry compote and toppings of chocolate almond ganache they’re something special. We were directed to Voodoo donuts by the folks we met at the earthships, but from people we spoke to on the ground that had just become a sticky tourist trap, who wants to wait in a line in the rain for a donut shaped like a cock and balls? Well lots of people I guess as everytime we passed the line was out the door and down the street! Blue star is way more chill, organic flour and cage-free eggs. We highly recommend if you’re in the mood for a treat.

Cacao

Around the corner from Bluestar is Cacao and perhaps it isn’t wise to as we do walk out one door and in the other as we were so filled with sugar after that we could barely think. Thick delicious creamy hot chocolate that looks and tastes amazing, I recommend the cinnamon flavoured one. They come in a standard and shot size, take my advice order the shot, it is really rich!

Tanner Goods, Imogene & Willie and Poler

Made in Portland clothing and leather goods. Poler featured some hilarious onesies with prints like pizza slices, Imogene and Willie is a pretty little shop and the shopgirl was ridiculously nice and tanner goods filled with beautiful leather wallets and bags, another one of those stores that sends girls like me in rages of envy at the nice things made for men.

Powell’s bookstore

Only three blocks away it’s the largest independent bookstore in the WORLD! We didn’t stay long as physical books are a luxury that our backs can’t carry at the moment, but there were a lot of amazing books in there.

Winn Perry

I didn’t stay long at Winn Perry because their things were too beautiful and stubbornly in men’s sizes. The salesdude assured me that he regularly had women coming into store and wishing the shoes came in lady sizes. At least my bank account won’t be suffering.

Courier Coffee

We’re not done sucking down food & drink yet, coffee here is served in glass jars, true hipster style. On display are hand crocheted coffee cup covers. Dylan reports the coffee to be good! It had begun raining by now a theme that was likely to continue for the week, we were told this is Portland, a city wrapped in an overcast blanket.

Living Room Theaters

Out of the drizzle we dropped into a screening of the film Her, which was a dreamy little film sci-fi meets hipster shirts, we’re glad we didn’t read the synopsis because it would have sounded mad, but somehow they made it believable and beautiful. Watch out for the scene where he is lying on the quilt, the colour styling of his shirt the quilt, eyes and wrinkles on his brow are just stunning, maybe I’m a little intense for noticing that tiny detail, but the director is an artist. The cinema itself is mostly a bar, you can actually make orders and they’ll deliver it to you during the film, classy!

Food Carts

We wandered passed the food carts on Alder Street between 9th and 11th, but didn’t buy, we were so stuffed full from our overconsumptuous day. We’re told by locals that some of the street food is the most delicious in Portland.

Accanto

At the end of the day we splurged at Accanto, the first Italian food we’d eaten in America (pizza aside). It was delicious, the risotto had a nettle pesto, that has spawned my love affair with nettles! Who would have thought something so prickly could be so subtle and delicious? It’s not cheap but after four courses it was pretty reasonable.

Ok so tomorrow perhaps we’ll try a little self-control?