Portland, Oregon Day 1

I'm writing this bout 2 weeks after we first arrived so it's all going to be a bit sketchy. but I'll see how I go.

Janet dropped us off at the Santa Barbaa airport just after 3.30pm for our flight which would see us stop off briefly in Sacramento, before heading onward to Portland.

At frst we didnt even know if we were on the flight as our boarding opasses had no seat allocation. After speaking up it was all cool and they were allocated as we went through the boarding gate. I asked if Sherry and I could sit together. I think the process was pretty unformal, because we didnt get off the plane at Sacramento and people came up and said 'You are in my seat'. So we had to move to our originally allocated seats. We then had to move again! So 2 moves on the ground at Sacramento. If only the check-in lady had formerly changed our seats in Santa Barbara.

Arriving in Portland we were greeted by a Gary Payton look-a-like at the car rental place. He was pretty happy with our demeanour so upgraded us to a decent all-wheel drive car. We then headed off towards Leslie's in law's house which was located near Lake Oswego - a suburb about 15 minutes from downtown Portland.

My first impressions of Portland were - cold, dark, hilly and lots of bridges. I expected Portland to be a massive city but it was actually kind of small. I couldn't see much at night time but Portland seemed to be built on the bank of a river with little flat land between the water and the hills at the back of the city.

We arrived at Betsy and Rich's house, a lovely home up a street where the houses have no fences, it all seemed like Ivanhoe/Upper Beaconsfield living but only just out of town. A very nice house. Leslie was there to greet us and gave us the grand tour.