Ira Keller Fountain

Portland is a beautiful city and we spent today cramming as much in as possible. The public transport here is brilliant, we jumped onto the Tri-met Maxrail at 8.00am for 5$ a head ride all day for 24 hours. With a quick stop and a coffee at Pioneer Square we boarded the max rail again and wnt up to Washington Park the home of Portland Zoo, the Japanese Garden, International Rose garden, Vietnam Vets memorial, a memorial to the Holocaust Victims and more.
I was first taken to the Rose garden in 1994 and have always wanted to come back. From the terminus of the Maxrail there is a free shuttle every 15 minutes that runs through Washington Park. We got off the shuttle at the Rose garden, the rose fragrance is amazing and there are literally thousands of roses planted here. The oldest being a rose bush grown from a cutting from a plant 1000 years old.
From here we went our separate ways with Carl and Paola going to the Vietnam Memorial and the Zoo and us walking the streets and taking in Portland downtown. Noela picked up some good bargains. We really enjoyed all of the different parts of the city including some of the weird ssites like the blue guy below. Reports from Carl and Paola are that the zoo is fantastic, and Carl got to appease his bear appetite again.
We regrouped at the motel at 4.30 and visited the Columbia river adjacent to the airport where there is a whole community living in houseboats on the river. Portland is truly a wonderful place but for now we are packed and ready for our gypsy train to move on. Tomorrow we move on to visit Mt Hood and Sisters Oregon and some very special friends.Read more