Portland, Oct. 2008

Of all the cities I visited this year, Portland is the one place that I would pick up and run to if given the chance. It has this great rugged, Old West vibe that blends well with the hipster, eco-friendly, make-a-differnece mentality and makes Portland a unique and lovely place to be.

Downtown Portland

Just a few of my favorite things about the city:

1. It’s a small big city, and very pedestrian and bicycle friendly.
2. Brew pubs galore, many of which exist in transformed old buildings, such as McMenamin’s and Widmer Brothers.
3. Doughnuts, in all sorts of flavors at Voodoo Doughnut.

4. The laid-back atmosphere. The official uniform of choice is a black North Face jacket. If that’s dressing up, I can live with that.
5. Stumptown Coffee, delicious local coffee.

obligatory obama post

On Saturday I visited the Manifest Hope gallery in Georgetown, celebrating works of art featuring Barak Obama.  The artwork itself was interesting, but I enjoyed the people watching even more.  There were several families with small children, taking pictures, and patiently explaining the significance of the upcoming inauguration.  Watching them, I experienced a sappy moment when I thought about how the America these kids will grow up  in will be just a little bit different than the America I grew up in.  Ah, patriotism.

I also attended the We Are One concert at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday.  The best part of the event was Gene Robinson’s invocation just before the program began.  He said a number of nice things, including a reminder to us all that our president is a human being and not a messiah.  It seemed particularly important given the rock star status he seems to have gained.  I expect that most of the fuss over Obama will die down rather quickly, but I may be wrong.  I am curious to see if Obama’s attempts to reach out to the masses via social media will further support his celebrity status.  

lame

Looking back over the past year I realized that I had some really great opportunities to travel in 2008,  yet I blogged about only 1 or 2 of these adventures.  Shame on me.  I even took notes so that I could.  I feel some wrap-up posts coming on.

In better news, according to WordPress one of the top search terms that brings viewers to this blog is “Denver sluts.”

Kites

I have finally posted a few of our Guatemala pictures on Flickr. Happy New Year.