Portland...

Our vacation journey also took us to Portland, Oregon. This was my first trip to both the city and state. My wife has a friend that just moved to Portland last year so we hooked up with him and his girlfriend. It was very nice having a guide to show us around. Especially since parking is extremely challenging there. I did like how the streets are laid out. It was nice having them alphabetical one way and numbered the other which made finding your way around a lot easier. Quirky shops, cool restaurants and very good breweries make it a must stop if you are out that way. I was surprised that they let you smoke inside public building still though. Our stop to Rogue was made a little less fun by all the people smoking. Throw in how crowded it was with only one bartender made it not my favorite stop. Deschutes Brewing though was fantastic. They just opened up a place in Portland and we loved it enough to stop twice. Excellent beer! BridgePort Brewing was another fun place. We also stopped at Amnesia Brewing was is nothing to look at but the beers we tried were good. People smoking on the patio there kind of lowered my fun factor though. We also made a trip to a Japanese garden that was very cool. All in all it was two very fun days in Portland...