I was down in Portland, Oregon this week for a technical meeting. I flew from Toronto to Vancouver and then down to Portland. Waiting in Vancouver for my puddle jumper connection.

Flying over Mount St. Helens.

Downtown Portland from my hotel room.

Went for lunch to Milos Cafe, there was a mini protest at the recruiting center next door. I think they were protesting Private Manning’s arrest. He was the one who passed along classified material to Wikileaks.

All around downtown Portland they have these food vendors, kind of like chip trucks, but you can get anything from sushi, indian, mexican and on and on.

The Zoobomb pile of bikes. Zoobomb is a weekly event where participants carry their bikes on the Max Light Rail to a station near the Oregon Zoo. From there, participants take the elevator to the surface and then ride their bikes down the hills in the vicinity. This process is often repeated several times throughout the night. This pile of bikes is the local meeting place.

The mall near the hotel had an ice rink in it. The other thing it had was carpet throughout the mall.

Outside one of the entrances.

A closer look at the sign.

The Max is Portland’s light rail transit. There is an area in the downtown core where it is free to ride. The cost from the airport to downtown is about $2.50.

Had the chance to go and see the Portland Winterhawks play the Tri-City Americans in game 3 of their WHL western semi-finals. The game was at the Rose Garden, the same place the NBA Portland Trailblzers play.

The announced attendance was about 7,750 people for a major junior hockey game, the atmosphere was crazy.

Portland won the game 3-1 to take a 3-0 series lead. They would go on to win the series the next night.

They went on to the WHL finals against the Edmonton Oil Kings. They lost the series 4-3 and a chance at the Memorial Cup. Derrick Puoliot went 8th overall in this years NHL entry draft to the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was part of the trade that sent Jordan Staal to the Carolina Hurricanes.