...well, as long as it's from a safe and accredited source.
We made it to Portland on Sunday night and treated ourselves to a stay at the
Inn at St. John's.
We found it on Expedia.com for only $55. We weren't really sure what
money would buy us in this instance, but the hotel turned out to be
great. It has an aged, Victorian style and they always have cookies,
coffee, hot chocolate, tea, and fruit out in the lobby for guests. The
staff was very accommodating and friendly and we were impressed with the
continental breakfast. When it was time to pack up and go on our way we
didn't really want to leave our warm room with internet and TV. We
sadly said goodbye to our home for the night and then we were off to explore the city.
Our first stop was to a park along
the shore of Portland. After getting lost and cranky with each other,
we eventually made it to the park. Since the sun was out and it was
actually a little warm out we decided we needed to relax after the
stressful drive. So we got out a blanket and iPods and enjoyed the sun
on our faces. After some relaxation we were ready to see the city. So we
got on our bikes and headed to the downtown area. Portland is a very
big small city. Portland itself is only 65,000 people, but the greater
Portland area is 230,000. So even though the actual population of
Portland is not that large, it has a somewhat big city feel. We walked
along the streets lined with tall brick buildings which are filled with
local businesses. We have been very happy to see lots of small locally
run restaurants, art galleries, and other various shops. I haven't seen a
chain restaurant in all of down town. Unfortunately, the only day these
businesses aren't open are Mondays. Fortunately, we are staying for at
least another day.
After our exploration we decided to hang out in one of the many squares
in the city and got some great people watching in. We also met a dog who was
part Black Lab and part Corgi. We now want a dog exactly like him. Apparently
they are called Corgidors. While hanging out in the square Morgan searched the
internet for things to do and found a free brewery tour/beer sampling
opportunity at the Shipyard Brewery which had previously been recommended by our friend Eric Ruby.
At first, we weren't that excited about it and considered staying in the
square to relax a while longer. Then we asked ourselves what the hell
we were thinking and headed on over for some free beer samples. The tour
is actually a ten minute video describing their brewery and then after
that our great guide brought us down to see their bottling and
distribution center. They fill over 150 bottles per minute and the plant
is open 24 hours a day, 6 days a week... that's a lot of beer to drink! The brewery
not only brews and bottles their own Shipyard beer, but also brews the
beer of many brewpubs in New England and New York that don't have the equipment to
brew such mass amounts of beer. We then were able to sample 5 of their
beers, my favorite being the blueberry porter and Morgan's was the
Prelude(a strong dark smokey beer). While sampling beers we had fun
chatting with the tour guide about beer, our travels, her future plans
to travel, and about must do-s in Portland.
We found ourselves revived after the tour and samples. Our irritable
attitudes had subsided and we were ready for more biking. So we biked on
down to the port area to watch the sun set on broken-down tourist
trains and deteriorated piers.
We ended the night just north of Portland in a rest area with some gourmet mac 'n cheese, thanks to Morgan's ability to brave the cold, and did some research on grad schools. Yes- even though we are living relatively responsibility-free for now, we do know we'll need to reenter the real world eventually.
