Saskatchewan Plates

I’m hanging out in Portland International Airport waiting for my flight back to San Francisco, hopefully my last flight for at least a month. I was shipped out to Portland for a week to represent the company at a conference. It didn’t too much convincing; I’d been hearing great things about Portland for quite a while. In fact, it was the last remaining list of cool kid western cities (others being Seattle, San Francisco, Austin, and Vancouver). It’s common knowledge that I have very strong feelings for a couple of the cities on that list so it’s fair to say that I had high expectations. 6 days later, I’m happy to report that my expectations were far exceeded. Portland, I think I love you.

On the convention: Tech conventions are necessarily weird. This one was no exception, but I learned a ton nonetheless. I won’t bore this crowd with the details, but definitely worth my time. I was a little heartbroken I had to miss the conference that followed ours afterwards: The three-day Bead Fair. I am sure there is a hilarious mockumentary in that crowd.

But why Portland? Portland may in fact be everything I love about Vancouver and Austin, but in a city that reminds me a lot of Saskatoon. The city is amazing. I spent most of mine time in the downtime that straddles the Willamette River. A long series of bridges dot the river just as they do in Saskatoon. The downtown is filled with people all the time, has great shops, bars, breweries, restaurants, in addition to an amazing (and free!) light rail system. I saw a number of bands while I was in town (check out Admiral Radley which counts a couple members of Grandaddy as part of the group). I stayed at a great hotel. I wore more wristbands during the trip than the last six months. I ate wonderful food and drank amazing beer. I lucked out that the Oregon Brew Fest happened to start just as my trip was ending so I managed to take in a pint along the banks of the river. I walked everywhere. And the locals are awesome. Lots of hipsters but much friendlier than your typical west coast hipster, not so aloof. I immediately felt welcome.

And, I managed to make it to the Doug Fir Lounge. I hope that name brings back cherished memories for those of you that did fourth year in Waterloo. For everyone else, the Doug Fir Lounge was the name of the party room/music listening space/attic in our apartment. We had named it after this Doug Fir thanks to some old KCRW live set, with no expectations of ever setting foot in the actual Doug Fir. To sit down along the wooden log bar and drink yet another local craft beer was almost a home coming for me, even though the actual memories I was remembering were took place on the other side of the continent. Surprisingly the decor of both Firs weren’t all that different. Maybe it was fate.

I had some great times with coworkers, I ran into customers that I’d only ever talked to by email, I met some hilarious guys from the BBC, and hung out with some great locals as well. It was always sunny, warm, and green, and no one died of dysentery.

So yes, Portland rocks. Vancouver and Austin please make room on the list. I could definitely see myself living in Portland.