Last Night In Portland

Well the last day of my training is complete. I have two certificates to prove that I was here....but I really did give it my best. Which is a bit unusual since classes and conferences usually leave me skipping out on somethings. Not this class. Even though I had read the book this class was based on, I tried to hang with it and do my part on our teams.

It was fun and enjoyable. I learned a great deal.

I had dinner with the gentleman who once went to 4th and 5th grade in Angelo. We went to the
Deschutes Brewery just down 11th Street (about 5 blocks) from the Governor Hotel. Unknow to me until I arrived is that Portland likes good beer and coffee. There is alot of good local breweries (some micro and some bigger) here and coffee shops that buy and roast their own. Even the Europeans at the class really like Portland because of their beer.

Anyway we ate Deschutes (an Oregon beer) which has a very nice restaurant with alot of beautiful woodcarvings to decorate the place. You can see the beer vats and what not through windows. The food is very nice (mine was a cheeseburger) and its location was on a path with Powell's Bookstore.

I gather Powells is one of the largest used and new book stores in country. Easy to believe since I need a map to get around in it. Several floors with several rooms per floor big. The floors and rooms were color coded to help with the search. It is one big place. There are several stores but the one at Burnside and 11th seems to be the biggest. Deschutes is just one block on down 11th street. All of this within a five minute walk of the hotel.

There is a region in Portland called the Pearl District which has what they call The Brewery Block. There appears to be a concentration of breweries in this part of Portland at the Pearl District which is just a bit farther down from Deschutes on 11th. We walked past the old Henry Wienhard place which is Bitz-Wienhard brewery. And you could see the old brewery vats up on stilts high in the air. Sorta cool.

It really helps to have locals give you walking tours. Everyone here is happy to help. Very friendly town and folks.

Well tomorrow, God willing, I will return home to ABQ with my family waiting for me. I now need to get down to the gym for some exercise.