Portland Wonderland Part One

...dig'in the weirdness...

   I just got back home yesterday, from a fab little trip to my parent's place. (Okay, so they live in Washington state, but Portland's right on the other side of the Columbia River.) So yeah, Portland Oregon, a weird sorta place. It's a good weird though. Especially if you are into art, food and tree hugging! 

   This time around it was just my youngest small fry and I. With a small cooler and a bag full of junk food, Jeryn and I took our 10ish hour trip from our place in North California to Washington State. 

Anyhoot, a big part of our trips have to do with food. Personally, I want to go to all of the places with weird names, but mom was with us, so I tried to pick something she would look forward to. This excursion was into the East Side Industrial District. I chose this little noodle shop called Boke Bowl. Not sure how you pronounce it, but...well...whatev's right?!

Their fare can be described as hip/infusion. We went with the more traditional stuff though...we were HUNGRY! Hard to think in that state of being. ;) The Ramen, which we call Saimin...it's the same thing, was good. Not ah-mazing.....but I've eaten SO much Ramen in my life, I can't tell you if you would dig it or not. However, their steamed buns....totally fab! They had one with a traditional filling of pork belly, but they had some unusual offerings too. Besides the pork belly, we also tried the fried chicken bun and the brisket bun. (They had a pb&J bun and tofu succotash w/ avacado too!)

You can watch the dude making all of the steam buns as you stuff your face! :)

After chowing down...we realized that there were a ton of fabulous antique shops and boutiques. Mind you, all hidden in industrial warehouses. Passing by on the highway...you woulda never suspected. 

We wandered into this warehouse called Cargo. They mostly had Asian items, but you can find many different thangs from many different places. They had SO much stuff....it's hard to figure out what to look at first!

Should I check out the gazillion Kokeshi dolls?....or maybe the Day of the Dead stuff?

They had a great section of blue textiles. Reminded me of Shibori dying. The best part though, was having my small fry photo bombing some of my pics. :)