Portland

This week I have had the joy of visiting Portland, Oregon for work. It has been a great experience and I have really enjoyed the city! First off, the company that we are working with is full of great people. Our training sessions went really well and I think we have created some energy around the dental and eyecare products!

As far as Portland goes, the first thing was flying into Portland and seeing a majestic view of Mount Hood. WoW! Incredible! We grabbed a cab and headed to our hotel, called The Nines. Another wow! Check out the link. This place was gorgeous. And best of all I got upgraded to one of their suites.



http://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/property/photos/index.html?propertyID=1757

We have had some amazing food while visiting. The first night we ate at the Urban Farmer, inside the hotel. The next night we went to the Portland City Grill with the whole class. The view of the city was beautiful and the meal, once again fabulous.

http://www.portlandcitygrill.com/page/home

Last night, we went to Jake's Grill, which was one of the original resturants that started McCormick and Schmik's. Every place has had amazing beef and seafood selections and what I thought was significant - is that every place mentions that their ingredients are mainly organic and local. This holds true to what I had heard and read about Portland.



Another thing I read about Portland, was the emphasis on going "green" and perserving resources. I saw this several time in the hotel - there was lower water pressure levels, a "half flush" option on the tiolets, the option to not have your room cleaned, the option to not to have a sheet on your bed (less to clean I guess!) and revolving doors everywhere we went.

We were really too busy to do much sight-seeing, but I did make it Powell's books. Powell's has a really neat story but basically, it's this huge bookstore and mixes new and used books together.



http://www.powells.com/info/briefhistory.html

I look forward to coming back to Portland for another visit. Next time, I hope I have more time to discover the city and take advantage of the shopping (no sales tax!). And Voodoo Donuts is a must for next time. If you are looking for a place to visit, I highly recommend it (even with all the rain). Oh - but beware of the time change. Here I sit at 5:00 AM blogging about it, because my ole body thinks it's 7:00. It's been that way all week, but oh well - it's been worth it.