portlandia (no copyright infringement intended)

despite the fact that everyone i'd ever spoke to about portland, said i would love it, it took me over 30 years to get there (i'll relinquish control over the first 18 years, and blame my parents for that neglect). two friends and i woke up WAYYYYY too early (anything before 8am is too early) and drove down to get as much into a short visit as possible.
portland comes across as a seemingly  lackadaisical community of 'hipsters' - and yet, it does itself well in the manner of nurturing the artistic realm. small shops of locally made product, restaurants of incredibly high caliber without the pretentious air of those in other cities - and BOOKS. oh the books. between the coffee culture of seattle, the rain of vancouver, and the lovely people (minus that one guy in that weird shop who was a complete jerk), i was totally impressed. definitely worth another visit.