In which Layla and Roz sample beers, see storytelling dance, and don't want to leave Portland

By Layla

It's always horrifying to be on the last day of a holiday - we teeter on a knife edge between holiday delight... And morose. So we're always keen to have a full day of fun planned. We jumped out of bed and headed off on the bus to a different part of the trail in Forest Park. The sky was a brilliant blue, there was no sign of the humidity we knew was awaiting us back home, and we walked through the beautiful, forest trail trying to allow delight to triumph over morose. We had lunch in the Clearing Cafe, a delightful little spot with some particularly delicious sandwiches (and cake... Ahem), and then on the bus down to the waterfront. We settled down sleepily in the sun with our books and all was serene for about 20 minutes... Until suddenly an adjacent vigorous sprinkler sprung into life and we were unexpectedly showered with freezing water! Leaping in confused alarm to our feet, we decided this wasn't the perfect reading spot after all. 

We climbed up and over a bridge over the river, destination: beer tasting mini-tour! Sure we'd done the wine tasting, but Portland is really known for its craft beers, with more breweries in the city than in the whole rest of America combined (I think). No sooner had we come off the bridge, one of the coolest of these was staring us in the face (no, of course I wasn't surprised, it was just impeccable planning). We went into Hair of the Dog, which was bustling with tourists like us and locals sprawling across the outdoor tables, with their bikes. We hopped up to the bar and ordered a tasting flight each. We got four little glasses of their different beers, some of which were very nice but none of which got us especially thrilled. Then, following a cool website I'd found, we went past the Green Dragon brewery 'with our noses in the air' and headed to the more quirky Cascades Brewery, known for its sour beers. Sour beers was not really a concept I'd encountered, so, perched at another cool and attractive bar, we ordered an array of tiny glasses, and were quite excited. These were no generic beers. They were fruity but not like a standard fruit beer. They were tangy, and delicate, and surprising. Both of us particularly loved the honey ginger lime beer and were prepared to order vast quantities to take home, only to find - to our distress - that it doesn't transport. Something to do with the honey addition process. It couldn't be bottled. We ordered another glass, drank it alongside some delicious honey bread, and then headed home, wanting more. 

We'd meant to go out for dinner on our last night and indeed had identified a delicious-sounding Lebanese restaurant. But Roz and I were both reading The Girl With All the Gifts and were both so compelled that we ended up staying in to devour that instead (and pasta). But we eventually had to drag ourselves away, get on a bus, and head downtown to yet another huge, beautiful and full theatre. This was our wildcard booking: Ira Glass and Two Dancers. Ira Glass hosts This American Life, essentially a storytelling show on NPR. Radio stories and dance may not have appeared to be natural bedfellows, but the show was wonderful and touching and interesting and sweet, funny, unexpectedly lovely. Hooray for Roz's pre-holiday booking extravaganza. What a great week for seeing amazing shows!

When the curtain fell, we were absolutely not ready to say goodbye to our holiday. So we caught the bus back to Cascades and got more honey ginger lime beer, and a tasty cheese plate to accompany it. At 11:30 we grudgingly caught the bus home and even more grudgingly set our alarm clocks to 6:30am. Portland, you were brilliant and if I could live there, I would. One of the very best places in America I've encountered and a delightful holiday. 

Books Roz read on holiday: The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer, Room by Emma Donoghue, The Moon Field by Judith Allnatt, Mrs Hemmingway by Naomi Wood, and The Girl with All the Gifts by MR Carey. Plus some progress into & Sons by David Gilbert and A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel. 

Books Layla read on holiday: The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer, Perfect by Rachel Joyce, Room by Emma Donoghue, Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt, The Girl with All the Gifts by MR Carey, a small amount of progress into DC Confidential by Christopher Meyer and a couple of tentative pages into The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton.