Portland

I've spent the weekend with my Mexican friend, Andrea (AKA Bubba) who was at Grace College at the turn of the century. We played a lot of sports against one another and also, briefly, rugby together. Andrea is a marketing guru for Nike and for anyone who knows her, is coming to Australia again this summer.

We have combined some fun Portland activities with a lot of alcohol consumption so it has been very like college days. I have had my first Kickball experience (baseball without the bat), a real baseball game of the Portland Beavers and I am now a solid BEAVER BELIEVER! An international beer festival (like the Soiree of yesteryear) a tour of the wine country (beautiful - and the wines weren't bad either) and lots of other eating, drinking and being merry.

Portland is a pretty city with lots of green spaces and tree-huggers. Bicycle paths abound and right now the weather and temperature are perfect for life in the outdoors. Andrea has gone to San Francisco this morning for a conference so I have a couple of days use of her car to see some things outside of the city. There is a lot to see and do within a couple of hours with beaches, mountains and rivers all over the place so I shan't be idle.