I said to my friend Catherine before meeting up in Portland for the weekend that my only impressions of the city were of "some brick warehouses next to a river." This is because a lot of my family's trips growing up were spent driving around the Pacific Northwest on routes that often took us to or through Oregon, and all we ever saw of Portland was flying by on the freeway getting a quick glimpse of those brick warehouses along the river en route to the woods somewhere.  

I was right, of course. Driving on the freeway heading to dinner on the first note, I pointed out all those brick warehouses with excitement. My childhood impressions had not been incorrect! Portland did have brick warehouses next to a river.