Tranny pride, gay pride, this is rainbow city

Portland has always appealed as one of the most liveable of cities in the USA.

Worryingly, the traffic is starting to become an issue. There have been massive backlogs on the major arterial roads. As in so many places now, the populations and the car numbers are starting to choke things up at peak hours.

Ah, but it is the city of peaks. There on its horizon are snow-capped Mt Hood and Mt St Helen. They're a pretty spectacular backdrop when they are visible.

Yep, Portland is the most fabulous American city.

It is the city of Powell’s Bookstore - the greatest bookshop in the world.

It is a city with dope stores on every corner. There are people with waving billboards on corners directing the public to this or that specialist marijuana store - the new Green industry of this green state.

Cannabis is the major agricultural crop here now.

Who knew this legal marijuana business could have grown so immense and be such a thing of carefully-regulated efficiency? It is a sophisticated science.

It reaps the government hearty taxes and has opened up myriad new collateral industries, among them the design and manufacture of dope pipes. Glass blowers seem to have cornered the market but there is everything imaginable being made, as well as myriad souvenirs for visitors like us, magazines and recipe books...even ashtrays.

It is a signpost for the world.

This is not to say that wine is out of favour. The local wines are elegant and lovely.

We have had a splendid sojourn here with my cherished chums, Rachel and Bob.

It is hard to leave.

As it is with old friends, there is a sense that the conversation has just resumed and we could talk on for aeons.

But we have cooked together and laughed together.

Bob has been making stunning cashew cheeses, a vegan specialty. He makes them in red curry flavour and he makes them smoked and double-smoked.

It is hard to stop eating them, especially warm from the smoker.

I've helped him in bottling his beer. Yep, if he was the chief cook, I was chief bottle washer. We've been to a cider festival where we all wore "Designated Driver" wristbands because we were not there to drink but to listen to some fabulous music. And, by chance, to see some of the most sublime gemstone jewellery I have ever encountered.

We have been out eating kosher food at Kenny and Zukes.

I had my fix of matzo ball soup - Jewish penicillin and the ultimate comfort food all in one.

We have rambled through the wonders and wonders and wonders of Powell’s.

It is so big one has to use a map.

it swarms with bookish people, who are the best people, of course.

It is full of temptations which, for reasons of weight and bulk, the traveller must resist.

It reassures one that books are alive and well, that sensibilities are extant, that civilization is whole and hearty, that curiosity and self-expression are thriving...

All of this is underscored in Portland by the fabulous weekend market.

Cleverly, it is divided into two sections - one for imported market goodies such as Asian rag trade merchandise, the other just for the Oregon craftspeople. This latter is quite thrilling and refreshing in all its originality and ingenuity. Marvellous clothes and jewellery, domestic artwork, chocolates and fudges, massage stones and aromatic oils…

En route to the market, we ran into a massive street march.

Gay Pride is waving its rainbow flags ferociously in Portland.

There is deep ire at the discrimination towards transgender people denied access to women’s rooms in the Carolinas and, of course, absolute grief and outrage at the Orlando massacre.

The LGBT community has been marching the streets singing and chanting, flourishing placards and banners.

They have dressed up. They have brought their dogs and their kids.

They come young and old, flamboyant and conservative. Straights march with them.

They are a force and they will be reckoned with.

The Gay Pride sentiment does not stop there in Portland.

Rainbow flags festoon buildings.

They adorn restaurant walls. They are ubiquitous in a loving stand of societal support.

Three lovely days…

We have walked the suburb where we are staying. It is located on the flank of a cinder cone, a steep old volcanic hill in this volcanic region. Mt Hood and Mt St Helens were visible through the stands of suburban trees last night - spectacular with their snowy caps.

We have driven the city loop by day and by night admiring the bridges and the architecture.

We’ve admired the city’s public art and even the utilities markers on the footpaths.

We have gone to the Vietnamese part of town and feasted on salt and pepper squid.

We’ve sat with books and sunned on our little deck.

And now it is time to move on.

Such is life on the road.