Everything fell into place by accident. the way I ended up in Portland. My experience of the city came from the 3 days I spent here 5 years ago, and it was meh. Rewind a little bit more, I lost a bet to a good friend year earlier. Instead of going to San Francisco (which I’ve been), I pushed for a new destination. At that time, I was hooked on Olympic National Park with its’ mysterious Hoh Rainforest, and that meant flying to Portland. Neither of us cared about much about Portland and all we asked for is a rental car. As a result, we spent the entirety of Christmas here. We didn’t know PNW gets wet during the winter and we were blessed with sunny days, but nothing of interesting was opened. I’ve read it was becoming a food centric city, so we planned for Voodoo Donuts (I still think they are awesome), Tasty n’ Alder (RIP) and Skylight Restaurant. I thought the city was boring, gray, concrete, dead even. With those thoughts, we drove up north to Olympic National Park.
Portland did not excite me, especially as I learn about the growing vegan food scene there. I was also unaware of the natural beauty surrounding the Pacific Northwest, as I was still new to the East Coast and was taking in all the Mid-Atlantic has to offer. Portland was just another city that I would have checked off so that I did not need to visit again, ever. One thing made me do a 180 – my career path. Either a job chooses where I’ll live, or I choose where I want a job, which I much prefer the later. I surveyed the opportunities, resulted in potential cities such as Portland, Boise and Dallas. Portland was the highest ranked of these places. Many strokes of luck, a lot of help from friends and some work on my part, I managed to find something in Portland. Made the drive across country in 2019, and was ready to explored gods give to the world. (as what Redditors called, Earthporn on easy mode)
Then, 2020 hits. There was a epidemic that turned into a pandemic, creating a lock-down that have not been seen worldwide since WWII. Social justice finally took a front page, and people took at stand in downtown Portland. Forest fires literally set Oregon and surrounding states on fire, and turned the sky blood red. And the cherry on top of the cheesecake is watching the finale of a failed TV businessman unable to defend his title and whatever left of his dignity against the most boring and uninspiring ex-senator and vice-president who still does not know how to behave himself in public sometimes. Yet, privately, I was having a decent year. We (yes, we :D ) hiked and visited some awe-inspiring places, ate some excellent food, and my career is moving somewhat in the right direction.
With that, here are my 2020 tier list for Portland. The first category is restaurants, with absolutely no orders:
Excellent *****
Great ****
Good ***
And restaurants I wouldn’t recommend, or you can’t go anymore (closed for good).
This is the category for hikes and viewpoints I partake in this year. They are listed in tiers,
Excellent *****
Great ****
Good ***
And everything else,
That’s all folks, let’s hope 2021 will be more interesting!