Paint the Bathrooms Pink

Explaining my absence: I got back from Portland late last night and when I'm on vacation I'm on vacation from the Internet as well.

Here are just a few quick observations about the Rose City that I feel compelled to get out before morning at the sprawling shore embleakens my civic vision:

1. Driving is inconvenient, which forces people to walk or take public transportation.
2. Walking makes you feel good. Even though it's always raining in PDX, people are out walking and they're happy about it.
3. Portland's downtown is more approachable and less stifling than Cleveland's.
4. It's the neighborhoods directly around downtown that make it livable.
5. OMG - there are grocery stores you can actually walk to.
6. Everything is deliberately beautiful - even the bathrooms are painted in bright colors.
7. Portland doesn't seem to have the race/class divide in such a big way as Cleveland.
8. Espresso is everywhere. I have yet to experience a correctly made espresso drink here on the East Coast.
9. I saw liberal bumper stickers again. (Seriously guys, I hadn't seen the "Practice Abstinence: No Bush, No Dick" one. NJ may be a blue state but I'm in the reddest part.) And there was one house that still had a Kucinich For President yard sign.
10. Finally, cryptically, God bless the humble huckleberry.

More later.