Saturday, July 28, 2018

On this our last day of the road trip, we didn’t wander far from downtown Portland. We heard from an Uber driver yesterday about Portland Saturday Market not far from our hotel, near the waterfront. The name of the market is misleading as the market actually runs every Saturday and Sunday from the beginning of March through Christmas Eve. The brainchild of two artists, Sheri Teasdale and Andrea Scharf, it’s an open-air market for small businesses selling hand-made crafts, art and food that’s been operating since 1974. The Portland Saturday Market is a non-profit organization with 350 members who govern the market as well as sell their products.

On the way to the Market, we passed by a Voodoo Doughnut shop with a very long line of people waiting to buy doughnuts. It certainly smelled good, but we weren’t hungry, so we passed on by. I was curious about the popularity (it reminded of the Krispy Kreme craze that came and went so quickly.) Voodoo Doughnuts has been around since 2003, and has eight locations around the country. They are known for their unusual doughnuts, true works of art. We saw several people carrying bags or boxes of doughnuts, this in spite of the fact that the store only accepts cash.

At the Portland Soda Works booth, we sampled syrups to enhance sodas or use in cocktails. This company started in a neighborhood kitchen in 2012. Mark is thinking they’ll be great when making cider; I’m thinking martinis. We purchased a 4-pack that included spicy ginger, hibiscus cardamom, summer chai, and rooibos. Can’t wait to try them out! The website has several recipe suggestions to help us out.

I purchased some jewelry and prints at other booths. I like to get jewelry from local artists because they will be unique; no one at home will have the same pieces.

We stopped to watch sculptor Pete Bluett create custom garden gnomes for clients. It felt similar to watching a caricaturist, as the artist makes his creation while the customer poses.  Bluett has been doing this at Portland Saturday Market for 19 years. According to his website, you can have your face on almost anything, small, medium or large.

As we’ve been walking the downtown Portland area, we’ve noticed several sculptures on sidewalks or in squares.

We’ve enjoyed our visit to the northwest US. As always, there wasn’t enough time, and we are disappointed about missing Crater Lake National Park, but that just means we’ll have to come back some day.

Tomorrow, we’ll be back in Minnesota, where I’ll start planning our next adventure.