Portlandia

After reaching the Pacific coast on Thursday in Astoria, I returned by bus to Portland on Friday to take in more of the sights of the city over the weekend. The Rose City lived up to its reputation as the land of bicycles, microbreweries, coffeehouses, and facial hair. In Portland, local stores remain dominant (save for the high number of Starbucks) with people buying their books at Powell's, not Amazon. With one of the highest concentration of restaurants per capita before even counting all the food trucks, Portland offers a compelling food scene as well.

The unofficial slogan of Portland

As luck would have it, I find myself in Portland at basically the best time of the year. With clear skies, high temperatures in 70s, and no humidity or rain, Portland felt like coastal California. I took advantage of this good weather to roam the Japanese gardens in Washington Park yesterday morning and explore North Portland today including a tour at the Widmer Brothers Brewery, home of America's first hefeweizen.

Sculpture in the Japanese garden in Washington Park

One of the ways Portland keeps itself weird is its fanatical support for the Portland Timbers - a soccer team that has recently joined the MLS. I managed to secure a ticket in the Timbers Army section of the sold out Jeld-Wen Arena to watch them take on the LA Galaxy. With a purple shirt and no Timber gear, I stuck out like a sore thumb in the Timbers fan section prompting me to run out and buy a Timber cap. Nevertheless, when I returned, the gig was up and the fans around me asked me if it was my first game and whether I knew anything about soccer. I gave them my story, and sensing the opportunity to recruit a new fan, these season fans generously gave me a Timbers scarf and a printout of the fan chants.

To the uninitiated, watching a soccer game in person is unlike watching any other professional sport in the US. If you are sitting in the fan section - the Timbers Army in my case - expect to stand the entire match and chant constantly with captains who spend the entire match facing the crowd and leading the chants and songs. A goal by the Timbers was celebrated by Timber Jim sawing off a section of pine with a chainsaw and lifting it like a scalp for the crowd. Needless to say, the atmosphere is like no other sporting event and has few equals, even in European club football. A second half stoppage time winner from a corner made the atmosphere that much more electric. I think I may have my MLS team.