An IPS weekend in Portland, Oregon

Hey all!  Well, we all survived our first week of Prizewinning Photography at the Institute of Photographic Studies!  Yeah!  I had SO much fun.  Over the weekend the "natives" of Portland went home and only Ashley, Amy, John, Jeanette, and I were left at the hostel.  So we decided to experience Portland with the Saturday Market.

First a last minute goodbye to Christi D.  I really should get a remote. :-)

Then off to the market! It was probably 20 blocks away and we walked it.  Apart from all sorts of photographic lessons I have definitely learned to enjoy walking.  The first couple days I got terrible shin splints.  My forelegs (do humans have forelegs...?) anyway, they felt like they were on fire all of Wednesday.  Thankfully I can walk normally now. :-)

The market was like a clean flea market that they have outdoors.  Many different vendors come with their booths and sell their (usually) homemade wares.  Some of the stuff was REALLY neat; the hats for example.  There were hundreds of hats.  

Amy!  She bought, excuse me, her brother bought her a new grey hat.  It is pretty swell looking, no?  :-)  

We all brought our cameras and shot away.  Portland, as weird as it is, is very friendly to photographers. We could go anywhere and photograph anything.  Normally restaurants and stores are picky about having pictures taken, but here they even encourage it.  One girl even had a lady ask her to include the store name in her photo because it was good advertising! How cool is that?

I ended up buying a really cool beaded metal hairstick.  You'll probably see it floating our around the blog here sometime...

Wooden trinkets...

Dispersed throughout the market were all sorts of buskers and performers.  Some were really good, even if I don't particularly enjoy their genre of music.  There are also many homeless people in Portland.  I can't count how many times I was asked for "even just 15 cents."

The floating glass ball statue type person...  No really, it was actually cool.  :-)  Ashley helps Amy get her Remy picture.

Give it a tip and it will shake your hand!

My first fish and chips...

Ashely and John

Our fabulous weekend group!  John, Jocelyn, Rowan, Elizabeth, Amy, and Ashely.

Then they said we should get a picture with me in it.  Hmmm...not what I was expecting, but very sweet of them. :-)  I didn't know that they had done it until I reviewed the picture!

Experiencing Stumptown Coffee.  Supposedly the best in the world, almost certainly the best in Portland and the U.S.  I don't drink coffee, so I wouldn't know, but I have a reliable source. :-)

I've got to find a youtube video that will teach me how to make those cool foam shapes in the top of the coffee.  That would be so cool.

Another Portland must: Voodoo Doughnuts.  famous for being situated above Portland's Shanghai tunnels and their crazy doughnut flavors.  Here Amy has a Bacon Maple Bar.

More Buskers...

My first Voodoo doughnut: Chocolate frosting, oreo pieces, and some sort of Peanut-butter frosting drizzled over the top.  SO good.  

RoJo!  Two of our amazing instructors. :-)  They are SO cute.

Then we went back to the hostel and watched Roman Holiday.  It was my first time and it was pretty sweet.  Yay for Audrey Hepburn!