Portland, OR

Started off today by walking down West Burnside Avenue this morning and through the 2 big record stores there. What I wouldn’t do for more money and room in my backpack. But I controlled myself well and didn’t but anything.

Amy picked me up at the bookstore again today and I went with her to one of her jobs before we went up to Washington Park again to have lunch.

After lunch she dropped me off at the OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), where she leaves me jaded / down / hammered / in despair, as we are not certain at the moment whether we’ll see each other again. All going well, I’ll come back to visit her once I’ve been to the Bahamas. She is talking of traveling in the near future, so maybe we can do some together. We'll be in touch, that's for sure. The OMSI is not dissimilar to the Powerhouse Museum at home – but aimed more at kids. I wish I’d known that before I went in – but it was still fairly interesting – with exhibits about geology (earthquakes, natural disasters, etc), the body and technology. From here I walked back over the Hawthorne Bridge, through, downtown, and past the hostel and up to the northwest between 21st and 24th Streets. This part of town is full of small, trendy shops, cafes and galleries, not to mention great for people watching (kind of like the Newtown of Portland).

I was back at the hostel by 8pm and spent the evening meeting people (i.e., Jim from Wollongong, Paul from Minnesota and Esau from Vancouver) and catching up on my diary. Dinner was last night’s barbeque leftovers.