From Portland

I flew into Portland, OR last night. I hopped into my Buick Rendevous SUV only feeling a teeny bit guilty for renting a gas hog. It's a great car, if you need an SUV, drives wonderfully and it's very comforable. This is a good thing, because I spent about an hour in it from airport to hotel. The drive is only maybe 10 minutes, but when you miss one teeny exit it sort of screws you permanently. On the upside, I got a nighttime tour of the Portland area just outside of downtown.

My hotel, once I found it, was absolutely lovely; an old art deco building that has been restored. The hotel has done very well capitalizing on the beautiful architecture, decorating to blend period art with a dash of modern.

I have decided rather than staying in the major chain hotels, I should seek out these sort of places more often. The only downside is that sometimes they don't have high-speed internet available. *gasp* I know, in this day and age, what is THAT about?

Thankfully, this particular hotel does not suffer from such a tragic misguidance. Along with a very stable internet connection, I have valet parking for a price that is less than half the fee my last hotel charged for me to park my car myself! And....AND....at 5p.m. every afternoon, they offer free wine in the lobby. And really, don't get me started on how every member of the staff seems to be a male underwear model or that there is an Aveda Salon in the lobby. This is vital, because I forgot ALL my hair products: shampoo, conditioner, hairspray, smoothing lotion, etc. I use Aveda products (what a coincidence!) and they sell teeny tiny samples of everything I need (perfect!).

Oh, alright, the hotel gushing is getting annoying, I know. I am about to call down and order my car (heh) and head out exploring. I don't have anything scheduled for today, so I am taking my full tank of gas and heading west, knowing the Pacific Ocean is somewhere out there and I will run into it eventually.

My only vaguly tragic feeling about the trip so far is that I did not bring a camera. As my daughter would say "Phooey!"