Vacationing in Portland, Oregon

Since both Christer and I had our last day at work June 30, and since Zoe’s childhood friend from Sweden arrived a few days ago to spend a couple of weeks with us, we decided to go away for a long weekend to Portland, Oregon.

Portland is a very laid-back city, with a nice downtown, about 3 hours drive south of Seattle. The city has about 583, 000 inhabitants and is considered as one of the most “green” cities in the world.

For a gluten free girl like me, it is interesting to know that Portland is the largest shipper of wheat in the United States. And it is also the second largest port for wheat in the world.

Another interesting fact is that Portland has one of the largest independent bookstores in the United States, Powell's City of Books.

For IT interested people, Intel manufactures computer components here, and is the Portland area’s largest employer, employing about 14, 000 people.

Apart from relaxing, spending time by the pool and eating good food, we took the tram up into the “mountains” and went for a hike. From there we could see the snow-covered peaks of Mt Helen and Mt Hood. It was beautiful. The following pictures is taken from the tram with Mt Hood in the background.

Today, we plan spend a few hours downtown before heading back to Seattle.