Casa De Morrill

Sean and I are finally on our long overdue vacation. We decided that a visit to the Northwest would be nice since we’d be escaping the heat of the Southwest and we’d get to see a bit of green instead of just brown.

The flight up this morning was quite nice. The flight was on time and the plane wasn’t full so Sean and I got to spread out a bit, which always makes flying more pleasant. Portland airport is nice. What was nicer was getting to use my Hertz Gold membership for something other than work. I love not standing in lines. I also love getting to request exactly what type of rental car I want.

We got into Portland pretty early today. Our flight landed at around 10am, so we had a full day ahead of us. We got to our hotel, which is on the edge of one of Portland’s neighborhoods called the Pearl District. Our room wasn’t ready, but they let us at least drop our car off while we wandered around, which was really nice. Lunch was first on the list and we found a nice restaurant called Manzana. They had a fresh seafood menu, which is a planned theme on this trip of ours. Seafood. We want lots of it and we want it fresh while we’re on the coast. Yum.

After lunch was consumed, we wandered around some of the shops in the Pearl District, stopping off at a beautiful paper and press shop. I had to restrain myself from breaking the bank at my first store. With fresh coffee drinks in hand, we finally made our way to Powell’s City of Books. I’m not kidding. That’s the name of the store. I wouldn’t exactly call this a visit to the store, so much as a pilgrimage. The store takes up a whole city block. It requires a map to figure out where everything is. It’s beautiful. Used and new books stacked practically to the ceiling, but organized enough that you can find something if you want it. I wanted to cry when I stepped into the store. 13 books and 2 hours later, we walked out having only made a small dent in our wanderings of the store. I know that there are sections that I missed, like the cooking section, but I also knew that everything would eventually have to get back home. For all of my book reading friends out there (which, I believe is every person that reads this site), you must visit this store if you ever get to Portland. For that matter, plan a trip strictly around visiting Powell’s City of Books. I swear you will not regret it.

Sean and I stumbled back around the corner to our hotel, where thankfully our room was ready. After making our way upstairs with our luggage, we collapsed on the bed for a little while. That’s where I am now. Collapsed on the bed, typing up this post while contemplating the tastiness that will be dinner tonight. Speaking of, I think an early dinner is in order for this evening and an early bed since we were up at 4am this morning to catch our flight.

I’ll drop off another post later with updates on our continued adventures in the Northwest.