Day Twenty-Two

It's weird to think I woke up in LA three days ago, and yesterday I saw this.

That's Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon. The big attraction, or thing to see, at any time of the year (and pretty much the ONLY thing to see now since everything else is snowed in) is Wizard Island in the middle of the lake. It's pretty cool looking.

Another cool thing to see was the neighboring mountains reflecting off the lake's surface.

I wasn't at the park long, since there wasn't much to do. I headed up through Bend with the ultimate goal of getting to Portland. Bend is a cool town! It reminds me of Flagstaff -- a big town or a little city, with lots of things to do and plenty of places to park and easy to get around in. I participated in the Bend Ale Trail, which is visiting 9 breweries nearby to win a silipint (a silicone pint glass). I did it in about an hour and a half (which the ladies said was a new record), even stopping to have a pint of beer and have a few tiny tasters at other breweries.

I then headed north to Portland, where the dream of the 90s is alive and people put birds on things and pickle other things. I got there around 6:30, and my first stop was Voodoo Doughnut, which was pretty much the busiest place I saw in the whole city.

Voodoo even has semi-bedazzled bricks.

And awesome stained glass art.

I picked out my dozen and headed off.

Miami Vice doughnut. Like melting down a peep and putting it on a doughnut.

The Voodoo doughnut.

The Loop and the M&M equivalent, I guess.

I stopped by Powell's Books, which is pretty much the Portland equivalent of NYC's the Strand, but with room to move around. I also learned there that Oregon has no sales tax, which is really nice people passing through.

My final stop in Portland was at the Rogue Distillery and Public House. Rogue Dead Guy is one of my favorite beers right now, and so I had a flight of four 3 oz beers for $6. I didn't like any of the other three (Double Dead Guy, American Amber or St. Rogue Red) more than Dead Guy, but all were still pretty good.

Oh, Keep Portland Weird.

Now I'm off to Seattle by way of Mt. St. Helens, then driving east as far as I feel like before I get tired to ultimately get to Glacier tomorrow.