Wandering in Portland on a Spring Day

Some fun things happened when I was wandering in Portland tonight... a Saturday night at the end of May, when the tourists are just starting to arrive. I posted the following things on Facebook and want to put them here as well. 

Portland is absolutely amazing, oh , so amazing. I went out just for a few hours, a little after 6 and got back around 9. No aim other than realizing if I were to walk around the Old Port I'd probably find something that interested me. At first in Monument Square, it seemed so dead I was worried. Oh, but not for long, not for long at all. 

Out of all the very interesting things that happened, this was by far the most interesting and put a huge smile on my face. Down by RiRa's on Commercial, which I totally had not been planning on walking that far but did.... I walked past a guy, might have smiled at him, might not have, not sure, and paused for a minute to read a sign on their wall. The guy started talking to me. "Hey! I saw you and your friends at whole foods about a month ago, and you looked like you were having so much fun."

Me... "Really?"

"Yeah! I was impressed by the nature of your conversation, what you guys were talking about!"

Me "Really?" lol.

"What are you up to tonight?

Me... "Just wandering around, soaking up the vibe of people."

He seemed happy and said "That's what we're doing. Hey, that's what we're doing!" seemingly impressed with my answer. I mentioned the French family I had seen, the new every sort of jerky that exists store, and the strange brand of evangelist I saw, and he said, "That's what I liked about you. You have such a keen sense of observation!" He said that's what he liked about our conversation, that we were just "riffing off" of each other's observations of people. Granted, that is usually what we do, it's all we do, we seldom find other topics of discussion. But to know that someone else actually valued that? Thought it was cool, fun? To even think of it as "riffing off" someone? Wow, that is so very cool. So very, very very cool. I expressed my appreciation for him stopping to tell me that, and left. He wasn't the type of guy I normally would have approached... but something drew me to him.

and

Portland's reputation as a foodie town is well deserved. Just today, I saw a new shop on lower Exchange. "The Old Port House of Jerky."

I'm walking down Exchange as I normally do and see a big sign screaming out at me "SALMON BUFFALO VENISON KANGAROO ALLIGATOR" and some others and then MAINE JERKY SHOP or something of the like. And I'm just standing there like, Does this sign REALLY say kangaroo? Alligator? Am I seriously seeing this? Omg, so cool, so very cool, and I'm saying this as someone who would never touch jerky with a ten foot pole, lol. It's in the place the coffee shop used to be in for such a long time but then closed.

So now, in a one mile radius, you can get kangaroo jerky, donuts made out of potatos, popcorn in 30 different flavors (the last three all on the same street, actually), chocolates imported from all over the world including Australia, 20 different types of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, have two types of gelato, half a dozen I am sure ice cream places, candy, cupcakes, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something. The only thing that the Old Port no longer has is an honest to goodness chocolate shop...I think it used to, but I can't really remember. There is Dean's Sweets but it's a little bit out of the Old Port area and I don't remember it being very large.

Do you see why I love Portland so much?? lol

I found it ironic that at Le Roux Kitchen they sell strawberry balsamic vinegar and at the Gelato Fiasco half a mile away you can get strawberry balsamic sorbetto. Yes, we ARE a foodie town, lol. It's fun even when you don't eat the stuff. It's just fun to look!

and even

**
I love the joy of all the kids on the playground. Oh my . Kids running around, toddlers toddling and tentatively exploring their world. It does the heart good. And it's only 2 blocks away