Art, Food and History

Day 2: Today has been a day of art, food, and history, in that order. We started our day at the Portland Art Museum with a wonderful multi-century permanent collection. It is a relatively small and manageable museum covering two adjacent buildings, one being the old Masonic Temple. The museum has at least one work from every well known artist from the French Impressionist era, including a recently acquired early Van Gogh which was just put on display. Lucky for us, I say! Another period which we both enjoy is American Impressionism and the museum has a number of wonderful works by Childe Hassam. And for our friend Paul, we saw an Elsworth Kelly in the Contempoary section. We really enjoyed our visit to this museum and we were impressed with the depth of their collection.

Next up, lunch at the old Portland landmark, The Heathman Restaurant. We both ventured outside our usual food comfort zone, as broad as that can be. Frank ordered Beef Cheeks, which was very tasty and rich. I enjoyed Braised Oxtail served with Yukon Gold Gnocchi, a really nice combination filled with flavor. I guess we have become part of the "Snout To Tail" movement.

Our final stop this afternoon was the Oregon History Museum. The permanent exhibit, titled Oregon, My Oregon after the state song, followed the history of the state from early Native Americans to the current time. It was well presented and very interesting.