WHITE LOTUS

Betty and I watched a series on the tellie called White Lotus. White Lotus is a fictional hotel chain with locations in places all over the world. The predominant storyline in the show is that only the uber rich can afford to go and stay in White Lotus hotels. White Lotus is a satire. Are you with me? Dictionary.com defines satire as “a work of art, literature, or entertainment in which the folly and corruption of human beings, institutions, or social structures are exposed, denounced, or ridiculed.” The problems in our society are slammed when one of the characters says (I’m paraphrasing), “The privileged class will never cede their privilege - it’s against human nature.” If you don’t feel some discomfort when he says that, then it’s time to get some therapy. Which brings me to Portland.

There’s a lot to see and do in Portland. A lot of nice breweries, which Betty loved. I had a little trouble keeping her attention on the big picture. Sometimes she gets laser focused on her mission to taste every stout in the US of A. I will give it to her, she found some nice ones.

Enough about her. I really enjoyed seeing downtown Portland. I know some people don’t think highly of Portland and, in fact, some humans give Portland a bad reputation, but every city, and town for that matter, has its share of problems. If you think about it, every place has some bad humans. And, every place has humans who are down on their luck or went through a bad stretch and didn’t recover. For instance, just think about your own hometown - there are probably a lot of humans who got sucked in taking those opioids because some very rich people didn’t give a shit about other humans and were overcome with greed for green. The opioid problem goes across the spectrum of humans.

I think everyone wants to feel safe, make a living, and love somebody. In Portland, I felt safe from bad humans and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Beautiful architecture, gorgeous parks, interesting history, and a good transportation system.

One night we went to Nostrana, which is a cool restaurant in East Portland on Morrison Street. You may remember that we visited our friend Sarah, who is a chef in Napa. Sarah recommended a stop at Nostrana. She is friendly with the owners of Nostrana and thinks highly of their work. We second her emotion - a very tasty experience. Five paws on our scale of five!

We went to the Japanese Garden and the test rose garden in northwest Portland. You may have heard of Portland referred to as the Rose City. In 1889, the Portland Rose Society was founded and promoted the planting of 20 miles of Portland's streets with roses in advance of the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. The nickname grew in popularity after the exposition, where Mayor Harry Lane suggested that the city needed a "festival of roses." The first Portland Rose Festival was held in 1907 and remains the city's major annual festival. In 1917, the International Rose Test Garden was established, and it now features more than 7,000 rose plants of 550 varieties. It is the oldest continuously operating public rose test garden in the United States. Both gardens are part of the humongous Washington Park. Beautiful - even in the wintertime. The sun even broke through a little and we saw Mount Hood to the east.

We took a day trip to Multnomah Falls. If you’ve never heard of it, join the crowd. I think it’s one of the best kept secrets of the Pacific Northwest. I think these humans up here are trying to keep it to themselves. It is gorgeous, awesome, peaceful, and roaring crazy, all at the same time. We took a trail up to the observation point - Betty and I had to hold on to a chain link fence so we wouldn’t slip on the snow and plunge 200 feet to our deaths. Exciting!

Okay, I’m tired and I need a nap,

Buster

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