Portland Reportland

Adam and Kathy's charming 100 year-old house sits on a residential corner in Sellwood, a neighborhood in Southeast Portland famous for its many antique stores. The neighborhood has what I consider to be the perfect combination of "real life" stuff that people need like hardware stores and groceries with "hipster" stuff that makes a neighborhood fun, like coffee shops and vintage stores. The walkable mixed zoning and Portland's extensive public transit enhanced our ability to enjoy it all.

One great thing about their place is that they are across the street from a middle school park, so their front windows overlook a great big patch of grass. Monroe loved to go over there every day and play in the small paved basketball court.


Two blocks up the street was a coffee shop Adam and Kathy took us to on our first morning of the visit. They had no idea what they were getting into--once we experienced the delicious bottomless coffee, yummy breakfasts, and kid-friendly atmosphere at Lili, we wanted to return every single morning. Sometimes when Monroe got up early, one or the other of us would quietly smuggle her to Lili in her pajamas and the rest of the gang would catch up later.



That picture of Monroe coloring at a tiny table in the rainy window at Lili is part of what we loved about the place--so kid friendly! We visited several coffee shops and neighborhood bars that had small kid areas with a few bean bag chairs and books, or a low table and a toy or two. These spaces made it so much easier to enjoy the city with Monroe.

Portland was true to it's reputation and showered us with grey rainy skies for most of our stay. Of course, we loved that most of the time--Los Angelinos don't get much weather. And Monroe loves to put on, take off, and discuss her hats, gloves, and jacket so she was thrilled.



We made some short trips: to the Portland Children's Museum nestled in some amazing hills, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in downtown Portland where Kathy's family has a restaurant, and out to the countryside to a beautiful state park full of crashing waterfalls. But we also spend a lot of time just hanging out chatting. It was a great time.