Enjoying a Rainy, Green Portland

We dropped off our parents for their flight and the little sister and I headed to Cathedral Park under the St. John's Bridge. This was one spot that my sister had heard of and insisted we go. There isn't much to the park itself but the bridge and the foggy hills behind it were a perfect example of the rainy beauty that is Portland.

We decided to get out of the drizzle and head to Powell's Books. I absolutely love that place (two buildings with floors and floors of books). We spent more than an hour browning the isles of books and shelves with funny, nerdy things on them. I got a Cthulu shirt and a collection of HP Lovecraft's works. It felt appropriate with it being October, and all.

While we were at Powell's it was PACKED. It turns out that Bruce Springsteen was there signing his new book. We joked that Springsteen ruined my sister's first trip to Powell's because we couldn't get to one of the floors and that line wrapped throughout the building. We were able to squeeze through people to get to the shelves we wanted to see but I'm going to take her back on her next visit so we can meander more.

Our next stop was the Lan Su Chinese Garden. I've driven by before and it looked minuscule compared to other attractions I've seen. I didn't have high hopes but I was completely wrong. It ended up being my favorite place we visited while my family was in town. Every single angle was meticulously thought out and equally as beautiful. I imagine that every time I go back I'll see something new. Below are just a sampling of the dozens of pictures I took. Truly beautiful.

This is made from string!

This wonderful gentleman from
Wisdom Arts Academy made us
Chinese calligraphy symbols. He
made it look effortless!

After the garden we were hungry and walked over to a restaurant with pho. I've heard a lot about it but I don't like to try new food without someone who's had it before to make recommendations. My sister has had pho before and we ventured into the tiny restaurant. It was good (and a lot of food to eat at once!) and I enjoyed the artwork on the wall.

We rushed through our deceptively gigantic lunch to make it to the train station. My sister's vacation wasn't quite over and she was on her way up to Seattle. We said our goodbyes and I went home to catch up on sleep.