Where to go in Portland
slimdixon: I live in Portland and Powell's Technical Books is a good suggestion. It's a branch of the main Powell's store which is located a couple a blocks up the street.I always recommend that people visit Pittock Mansion early in their trip. It overlooks the whole city and the surroundings of the city (Columbia Gorge, Cascades, Mt. Hood). It's a free thing to do that has tremendous payoff. It allows you to get a good handle on the layout of the city in one fell swoop. Makes the rest of the trip easier. Note: I'm not talking about going IN the mansion.Free Geek is a technology-only thrift-store. There's room for improvement but it's pretty great. I buy stuff there often. http://www.freegeek.org/There are A LOT of tech-related meetups that go on here. Check upcoming.org for your flavor of discussions.Mostly, I recommend just chilling out a coffee shop like Stumptown.