Portland, Oregon

This past weekend I traveled to Portland, OR for business and I kind of took advantage of the opportunity of the expense paid trip to the city that a good part of my mom's family lived. Let me stress the fact that this was a work trip and considering I was in Portland for less than 48 hrs, I didn't have much time to do my own exploring of the things I wanted to see. Even so though - I was able to see a couple things that were very important to me.

With only 26 yrs under my belt - I've lived in a total of 3 houses, 4 apartments and 2 dorm rooms....quite a laundry list. My Grandma Morey lived a good part of her youth until she married my Papa in one single house in Portland. Too much surprise for many people, the house still stands strong and in pretty good condition very similar to what it looked like years ago. As I stood on the street taking pictures, I could hear a small child playing in the backyard - just amazing when you think about it. This was the very house that my Great Grandma lived and my Grandma grew up, the same yard she played in.The sidewalk leading up to Grandma's house.I was also able to find the school that Grandma attended just a few blocks from her house - Grant High School.
And the park that I know the family often visited that is just a few streets from the house. (note: school and park pic taken through the sunroof of the car while driving by....I wasn't kidding about not having time.)Unfortunately I didn't get to see many other sites in Portland, but the little bit I did see was very beautiful, friendly and inviting. The best way to explain and compare it to anything like FL is that it looks nothing like FL. The neighborhoods and houses all look like those houses found on Bayshore in South Tampa - minus the rude Tampa "too good for you" attitude often found.