This was one of my worst vacation days ever. I had a great breakfast, drove around Portland, took exactly five photos (three of the same thing), and then went back to our hotel to rest and pack for the cruise tomorrow. I am sure I have NEVER gone an entire day on a trip without shooting at least 100 photos, but here we are.

The biggest reason (getting out the Meldrew, Paul) is the hotel we are staying in. It is just too far from anything except the airport, and I really don’t care to take photos of planes taking off through a dirty, sixth-floor window. If we were downtown, I could be out taking lots of photos of the war zone that is NOT here in Portland. But we are way out here. And driving in isn’t so bad, but the parking is HORRID! I mean, really bad. Last night, I parked in a space so small and tight that it took me 14 gear changes from Drive to Reverse to back into it. I could never have gotten into it from the front. And it costs a fortune. Every place wants to charge me a lot to park for a much longer period than I need. At Multnomah Falls the other day, the only choice was $20 for all-day parking. We were there for no more than 45 minutes. Last night, I was charged $20 for “overnight” parking from the time we arrived at 7:00 pm to 6:00 am. We left at 8:30. Ridiculous!

I want to share a few thoughts about this hotel. It’s the Embassy Suites by Hilton, Portland Airport. Interestingly, I stayed here before when I was working with Jostens, and we had a sales meeting. It was just as disappointing then as it is now. The rooms are spacious and relatively clean. They offer a free breakfast—which is not even “fine”—and complimentary “appetizers” in the evening, like chips and salsa, trail mix, or hummus with cold pita bread. However, the real issue with this hotel is that it misleads you. When we checked in on Monday evening, the woman at the desk asked if we wanted our room made up every day. We said yes. Today is Friday, and our room was finally cleaned. Each day, I would go to the desk after returning from our outings, asking why our room hadn’t been cleaned, and I was told it would be done the next day—yet it wasn’t until today. I believe the delay was simply because the hotel saw us checking out before we actually checked back in with American Cruise Line, which had paid. It’s just sad. So that’s my complaint.

Here are the photos I took today, both with my camera and my phone. I think I took one with my camera.

And thus concludes our four-day pre-cruise trip in Portland. We had fun, but even better, we enjoyed some amazing food. Tomorrow, I will return the rental car and board our ship (I’m not sure what to call it since it only holds 250 people) late in the morning. Due to low water on the river, we will need to take our “luxury motor coach” further east on the river to board in Skamania, Washington, about a 45-minute drive. We are scheduled to be on board by lunchtime at noon. I have a feeling that after a week of experiencing the best of Portland, the cruise food might be a bit of a letdown. We shall see.

There’s something that I can’t describe about the city [Portland] that I really love – just physically – how it feels to walk around there, and have coffee there. Also, the way that it’s a little overcast sometimes. Something about Portland just really resonated with me.  —Fred Armisen