Now Where Was I?...

Ah yes, last Thursday.  Spent the day in Ballard and the night at T's mom's place.  We had a very nice visit - she hasn't aged a day since I last saw her.  Friday morning breakfast at Vera's, the local diner, and then collected T. for the drive to Portland.  The drive from Seattle to Portland is unremarkable - having company sure made the miles zip-by at a seemingly faster than normal clip.

We got to Jane's and John's digs in Sellwood around 4:30 PM.  Time for a glass of wine and then down to Andina Restaurant a "novo Peruvian" culinary establishment in the Pearl District.  We had an assortment of tasty tapas for appetizers and everyone was quite pleased with their entrees - in my case a very good rack of lamb.  Back to Sellwood for more chit-chat and and called it a night at a reasonable hour.

By Saturday morning the rain had rolled-in and it was drippy for most of the weekend.  Nothing for a Southeast Alaska boy to be concerned about, of course.  Jane has been promising (threatening) to take me neighborhood shopping for over a year.  The goal being to identify that part of Portland that would be most congenial to yours truly as a future home base.  Jane is not one to take a commitment lightly and we cruised various Portland neighborhoods for 5 1/2 hours with only a brief stop for a slab of pizza and a salad.

With Jane as the wheel-person, T. the backseat color commentator, and me as the runner, we gathered real estate fliers from the front of on-the-market homes like a scurry of squirrels gathering nuts for the winter.  The time passed quickly although by the end of the day I felt like I had been engaged in serious work.  Nothing that supper at a Cena, Sellwood's premiere Italian eatery, couldn't set-right however.  I supped on a wonderful bunny ragout served over pasta. 

Sunday morning we went out for brunch and then hit the real estate circuit once again.  Sunday is open house day for many properties and I got a good feel for several more neighborhoods and several styles of homes.

Two days of driving around a city the size of Portland doesn't really provide the basis for reaching any solid decisions on my future home.  However it did allow me to reach some general conclusions - most of which are blindingly obvious but nevertheless required putting boots on the ground to really internalize.  First and foremost, when looking for a house it is very important to know how many people are going to live in it.  Unfortunately, this may well be the most difficult question for me to resolve insofar as it will require my mom (and maybe others) to make a decision about where she/they plan to live.  A two bedroom bungalow is a very different proposition from a four bedroom house or house with an apartment regardless of which neighborhood one is considering.

Second, two very similar houses will fetch very different prices depending on the neighborhood in which they are located.  Not surprisingly homes in more affluent and better maintained neighborhoods with lots of nearby restaurants, watering holes, grocery stores and other services are expensive.  The market seems to be very adept at putting a price on these amenities.

Third, Portland is a lot smaller than it has heretofore seemed.  Indeed the burg shrunk steadily as the weekend wore on.  It is a very manageable and easily navigable city.

Fourth, Portland is a city of well established neighborhoods and mostly older homes.  At least the neighborhoods that Jane would permit me to see...  I think the newest home we looked at was built in 1952.  The good news part of this is that most, but certainly not all, of the homes we looked at had oodles of charm and quaintness and had been remodeled and updated - in a majority of cases quite recently.  The bad news is that updates notwithstanding, older homes are in many cases not handicapped/elderly friendly.  Indeed I suspect that there may well be irreconcilable differences between charm and accessibility when it comes to houses - at least on MY budget.

But I am rambling...the bottom line is that there is no doubt in my mind that with a decent amount of time and perseverance I would not have a difficult time finding an outstanding place to live.  And I identified a number of neighborhoods where I think I would be as snug as the proverbial bug in a rug.

At any rate, on Sunday afternoon it was time to switch gears as I motored into downtown and checked into the Benson Hotel.  Made contact with Leah and Amanda and last night we went to a nice new bistro called Acanto.  A very pleasant supper - I took a break from carb loading and had a very tasty New York steak.  And of course the company was fantastic.

Today, I picked Amanda up around 10:30 AM and we drove to North Portland where she checked-out an apartment.  Then we drove around the Hawthorne District cruising for "For Rent" signs.  It was fun and I got more familiar with the neighborhood for my real estate considerations as well.  We had lunch at Chez Machin on Hawthorne Blvd. and both 'Manda and I had a savory crepe, La Cremeuse, featuring black forest ham, mozzarella, a fried egg, scallions, roma tomatoes and creme fraiche.  It was hands-down, without a doubt and unquestionably the best thing I've ingested so far this trip.

So there you have it.  We're up to date.  I'm gonna head to the hotel gym and burn-off some crepe.  And I think I'll take the night off...