Through the woods and over the rainbow

Portland, Oregon is a very colorful city.

You've already seen the stunning hues of the International Rose Test Garden...

But Portland takes it a step even further.

For starters, the place I stayed, called The Cornerstone Inn, was easy to spot because it's bright yellow!:

I stayed in the appropriately named (and decorated) Rose Room,

and outside there were many rocking chairs with festive blankets, should I desire to sit outside and gaze out into the vividly green wilderness of the backyard! Also, the backyard fairly glowed with the bright plumage of stellar blue jays! They liked to snack on the peanuts left out by the innkeepers!

Food is colorful:
At a restaurant called Sushi Boat. The food literally floats around on little mobile boats, free for the taking! Each of the different colored plates have different prices...the cashier sees your plates and knows how much to charge you!

'

Bookstores are colorful:
At the famous Powell's City of Books - it takes up an entire block! There are three floors, and the rooms on each floor are color coded based on subject!! I wandered through each of the rooms, scoping out the different reading material.

Oui, Oui, I like to travel!

Following in Tanya's footsteps (well, not exactly! I don't think knitting is her thing!)

Not much luck in the Sci-Fi section...
but luckily there were plenty of yellow signs offering advice!

The title of that book is Book Lust. I almost bought it!

I spent the most time in this room! I love literature!

Most of these books were on clearance...it was like a bookshelf excavation!

Aw, the children's section. By far the most colorful room in the whole store!

This section was fun! I've been meaning to read up on my punk rock concert etiquette (haha)

Even the little bookstore coffee shop got involved!

I love the name of the coffee grinds!

yum, brightly colored Italian sodas!

You can even add a splash of color to your everyday coffee shop by bringing in your own brightly-painted mug!:
At a cute little place called Chit Chat Cafe. There weren't too many people there to chit-chat with...except for a whining three year old girl with (what else) bright red hair.

There are also a few things about Portland that are a little... off-color.




For instance, there's this voodoo place that's full of old dirty bastards...




They only take cash and you have to look carefully to even find it in the first place...




And after you leave you feel remarkably more cheerful. It's almost like a sugar rush!




Or maybe it is a sugar rush.




After all, what else would you expect after visiting a donut shop???


Portland is the home to an intriguing donut shop called Voodoo Doughnuts.

All of the donuts have suggestive or down-right dirty names (and in some cases, shapes!). Can you guess what my donut was called??

Yup, the Old Dirty Bastard! It was really tasty!

(Bet I had you going there for a bit at first, didn't I?? Huh? Hehe).

This morning I moved on to my next city...it's the last stop on my Oregon trail before I cross back in to California.

As always, tune in tomorrow for the post that reveals where I am!