Portland, Maine? No, Oregon!

Sir Yes Sir, we made it to Portland, OR, after having another great day, but then we already knew that as we always keep a close eye on the weather on TV, and the forecast for the weekend, and all of next week is supposed to be great.

This morning we browsed around the Pendleton Wool Mills factory store, but didn’t get the chance to visit the factory itself as we were worried we were going to miss our scheduled guided tour (11.30AM) of “Underground Pendleton”.

We had a blast down there, and I guess part of the reason why the tour is so successful is that they make it very interesting for the visitor. It was amazing to see how people lived underground, in different eras, because we have to realize that the tunnels were first inhabited by Chinese people who helped build the railroad first, and then worked in the mills.

We also learned about the “Sunset Law” (or something called like that), that used to say that Chinese people had no protection after the sun would set west, another reason why they would live underground. The tour guide also said that they were very good at what they did (and it is not hard to believe, considering how well preserved was what we saw this morning).

On our tour we also visited some clubs and bars belonging to the prohibitionist era, and a very interesting and educational “brothel”, who’s been brought back to life (oh well, to a certain extent) to let visitors enjoy it (again, to a certain extent), so that they can see for themselves how things used to work.

The tour ended up back where it started, 90 minutes later, and everybody in the group was very satisfied with the way our tour guide conducted the tour.

We then went back to the car, and drove another 200 miles to where we are right now, Portland, OR.

We drove mostly on I-84WB except for a 20 miles stretch, a scenic drive through Oregon’s most scenic falls, among them Multnomah Falls, worldly renowned for their pristine beauty.

And here I am on the bridge!

I-84 is such a scenic drive once you get to roughly 100 miles away from Portland, as the visitor drives next to the Columbia river, and at some point has a terrific view of Mount Hood at the horizon, just like we did today.

And another terrific view:



Tomorrow we plan on visiting what is only normal to visit here in Portland, for the most part, breweries, and Chinese/Japanese gardens.

Good night from the West Coast,
Nico