Portland Day 1

So Portland is pretty cool. Not what I expected in terms of layout and a real taste of a different side of America compared to what I've experienced in New York City.

We stayed at the house of one of Heather's friends and it was my first time in a proper American house in a typical leafy suburban street, just like you see on tv, ha ha. Front porch and all.

Went of exploring on a 40min run while Heather went to an exercise class with her friend.

Thank god for the iPhone. I was able to map a run on the go, up Mount Tabor which was a 10min run form their house and round a reservoir and back.

So Portland is pretty spread out. We hired a car the next morning and drove back and forth between there and Heather's brothers place where her parents were also staying.

There were so many low level mall type stores on the roads outside of the city centre. Think drive thru Burger King and multiply that by a thousand for every type of store. Not used to seeing that, difficult to explain.

Heather's friends, Sheryl & Tom, have two young kids so as we were staying in their converted basement we got welcomed every morning before 8am as they came down the stairs for breakfast.

Heather saved me one morning as one of them wanted to come down the stairs dressed in his robot costume so I could sleep on, ha ha.

It's been a while since I was around young kids for long periods.

Tom is a fireman so on day one we got a tour of the firehouse (woo-hoo) and a couple of gifts for Heather's niece and nephew who were at her brothers place and that was funny (more later).

Oh, I also met Heather's mum and dad for the first time! It certainly helped that we had skyped at Christmas time and along with Heather's brother and wife and their kids I felt right at home, like one of my own family get togethers.