The Pearl

Before my move up to Canada several years back, I was really getting to know downtown Portland, mostly because one of my friends had sweet access - her parents had a studio apartment in the up-and-coming Pearl District. We'd stay the night in their apartment and spend the next day roaming through the city. I learned to love Powell's and the meat packing district. Walking all those blocks repeatedly, I feel like I saw a certain aspect of the city come alive. Now going to the Pearl is like entering a whole new world.



It's packed full of apartments and condos and quaint shops. One of my newest "treasures," introduced to me by Rae Ann, is Sip & Kranz, a Stumptown coffee shop located near Lovejoy. I think I'm so attracted to it because it's something new and different. I enjoy the coffee shops near my house for their specific purposes (one I meet editing clients at, another I always end up doing some BSF at while Nate reads), so this shop is fresh. And the Pearl isn't so far away from my house that it's unreasonable to drive there!

Nate and I used one of the fancy cultural passes from the library about a week ago and walked through Pittock Mansion. Yeah, just about as uninteresting as it was when I was nine. Don't get me wrong - if you live in Portland, you should take some time to tour the touristy spots, but some of them just don't need to be visited more than once. I love the Portland Art Museum so I'll continue to go there as often as I can, but not so much the Pittock Mansion. We do want to go back and tour the grounds, though - I guess some of the property has been set aside like a park. Well, the City of Portland does own the Pittock Mansion, so I guess that's why the grounds are public also.



But I digress. After the mansion, Nate and I visited Sip & Kranz together. So the pictures in this post are from that little trip.

That's all.

I'm done. :)