Why is Portland sooo HOT?!

In June of 2013, Southern California was in the middle of quite a little (early) heat wave, and boy was I glad that I had chose that time frame to go to Portland, Oregon - which was not only going to be a nice Get-Away but also to get some reprieve from the cruel heat that we were facing at home!

So off we went to Portland - 
I had only been once before and I didn't really get to explore quite as much as I generally like to, so this was bound to be a fulfilling trip in more ways than one!

Another bonus for us vegans is that Portland has slowly become a very very vegan friendly city, and you know how much I love food! LOL

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We arrived in the early evening, picked up our rental and headed straight for our dinner reservations. I had been examining the online menu at Portobello Trattoria for months and had been looking very forward to finally trying out this vegan Italian restaurant - but...since this is not a FOODIE FRIDAY, I won't go into review mode, but I will tell you that we enjoyed our dinner so much, that we went back for a second meal during the same trip!

This trip was all about the sights and sounds of Portland, and boy did we get our fill!

We had stayed downtown at the Hotel Monaco, which was in the heart of the little city. 
Great location...except for the fact that Portland has an incredibly HIGH population of street dwellers/beggers, on just about every corner and every where you turn. It also seems to have a very high population of hippy types, the worst hair cuts of any city that I've ever visited, lots of (what I assume to be) druggies, interesting musician types, and the most tattoos I've ever seen per capita. 
Some would say this was a prime location for people watching!

NOTE: the following time I stayed in Portland I stayed outside of downtown and only saw the above examples in the downtown area. 

Anyhow, what I haven't mentioned yet was the weather...
It wasn't at all as cool as I expected or had hoped. 
In fact, it was HOT, unbearably HOT. Did we bring the HOT weather with us? 
I think it very well might have been even hotter than it was even in Southern California (a place known for it's HOT weather). To think that I ran away from the heat only to find a destination that was hotter. BOO

Most of our plans were outdoors and we had suffered through the heat and done things like seeing the lovely Portland Japanese Gardens, the beautiful and fragrant International Rose Test Garden, went to Powell's City of Books - which is the most epic and BEST bookstore ever! (You can get lost in that store - I'm not even joking.)

We pedaled along in the heat on a fun bike tour (with a rather annoying and over the top exaggerated guide - don't ya just hate when that happens?!). 

We wandered about warmly in the Portland Saturday Market (the nation’s largest weekly open-air arts and crafts market), shopped at an all vegan strip mall, did plenty of yummy eating, and even headed outside of town to the Columbia Gorge, saw plenty of waterfalls and hiked and sweat our way to the top of Multnomah Falls (the second tallest year-round waterfall in the United States), forgetting to bring water - not the brightest idea.

It was definitely a trip to remember, it was a trip to repeat, and it was a heat wave that Portlandias will never forget!

As for me, I'll be back alright - but it better be cooler! LOL
-T