Portland, OR marks the third destination for this month of travel. Melody had barely recovered from her 2-day exam, when we took off early Wednesday morning to visit her sister and brother-in-law. Since Portland was more or less lacking in big tourist attractions, we were able to take things slowly. We spent our first day bumming around the neighborhood and local shopping mall, taking note of all the other lazy bums who weren’t at work on a weekday. With little knowledge of the area, we just hit some nearby places for lunch and dinner. On Thursday, we decided to bond with nature, starting with a meditative stroll through the Japanese Garden, followed by a photography spree amidst the award-winning roses in the Rose Test Garden, and finishing with a visit to the Classical Chinsese Garden. We had hoped to grab lunch at the upscale Pearl District, but distracted by frequent stops at the various kitchen and home furnishing stores along the way and with most of the restaurants closing between lunch and dinner, we ended up driving to good ol’ Chinatown for some chow. Unfortunately, Portland’s Chinatown turned out far differently from what we expected, populated mainly by Chinese-American imitation cuisine and seedy shops with names like “Hung Far Low” which prompted us to quickly depart the area. Along the drive back for dinner, we witnessed the politically-active atmosphere of this city as we passed by what looked like a protesting fish. Friday, we drove to the town of Newport to visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Aside from the captivating view of the shark tank, however, the exhibits were pretty mediocre, with a sorry excuse for a new bat exhibit which featured tons of models, drawings, and videos, but only 4 live bats. A stop at the food court was equally disheartening, with sub-Progresso-quality chowder that left something to be desired. Unsatisfied, we drove into town afterwards to redeem ourselves with some real chowder and fresh, deep-fried seafood at the local favorite, Mo’s Original, before embarking on the drive home. With Emmeline and Eugene, our evening concluded with some outstanding Pacific Northwest cuisine at Wildwood with take-home treats from Papa Haydn for dessert. On our last day, I took the last opportunity to indulge in my first conveyor-belt sushi experience at the aptly-named Sushi Land before our red-eye flight back home. Overall, I found Portland to be easy on the eyes, but with the dirth of some authentic Chinese dining venues, it may prove to be a bit tough on the palate.