I’m currently in Portland, Oregon, doing a little research for my books. They are set in Portland, which is a little weird since before Thursday, I’d never been there. There is a reason for the setting, however (otherwise I would have set them in Seattle (actually the Eastside), where I live). Portland has a really strong music scene, which matters in book 3. That fact is a little funny, since I came of age worshipping the Seattle music scene… but whatever. Portland works for the series.

A friend of mine came with me on Thursday night and we’ll go back Monday. Our first 24 hours were interesting. On the train there was a guy wearing socks but no shoes who just starting belting out “Amazing Grace,” until the conductor asked him to stop. Then, after we got off the train, one of those carts drove up and offered us a ride to the front of the station (my friend walks with a cane), singing guy somehow got in the cart with us. He sat next to me—joy—and rambled on in a low enough voice that I couldn’t really hear, except for nonsensical snippets. He offered to help my friend tip the driver by holding out random pieces of paper to her. Then we took a (literally) 5-minute taxi ride that the driver charged us $20 for, even though the meter said $6. Somehow in the moment, I wasn’t paying full attention because of my friend, and our stuff, and the fact that the motel looked closed and it was 10 pm, and I just gave him the twenty when he asked. So if you’re in Portland and you’re in a Broadway taxi and the driver’s name is something Quranni, give him the evil eye for me. The next morning, we were waiting for the streetcar and this guy overheard my friend telling this story about someone thinking she was crazy, and he came up and said, “Did I hear you say something about crazy?!” He laughed. “I’m not crazy, I’m just discombobulated! I haven’t had my first espresso today!” Then the streetcar came and we figured out how to validate our tickets and sat down—and sat there for another 15 minutes because there was a wreck just in front of the streetcar so we were stuck until they moved it.

Things normalized a little after that, but we have had the weirdest agenda because this is mostly a research trip. First—of course—we went to Powell’s, the famous giant bookstore. It’s pretty amazing—a department store of nothing but books. It’s three stories of an entire street block. I was proud of myself for only spending $114, until I went back and bought a t-shirt, too. No sales tax here, though, which is nice. We ate at this burger place, which was notable mostly because my friend dropped her water glass on her plate and two employees descended almost instantaneously to clean it up. That was Friday. We were lazy after that and went back to the hotel instead of doing something else.

Then on Saturday, we went to Milwaukie, because that’s where my hero and heroine live in the first book. I was able to find some good pictures of the library where my heroine takes her son a few times, but none showed the lower floor, which is the children’s library. Obviously I needed to go there, so we did. I made a map of the children’s section (I didn’t take any pictures because there were kids down there and I figured nobody would appreciate that…).

I snapped a picture of the fountain that’s out front, too.

After that, we went to this restaurant in NE Portland called Bollywood Theatre because that’s where characters in my second book go. It’s an interesting place—it offers Mumbai street food in an eclectic setting. We got some good stuff there. I’m glad I went, because although I found great pictures online and was able to write the scene, there were a couple details I picked up that I can use.

Then we went to a famous ice cream shop next door called Salt & Straw. They had some pretty wild flavors (green fennel and maple, fresh herbs sherbet, strawberry honey balsamic with black pepper…). I wasn’t that brave—I got honey lavender and my friend got carrot cake batter and hazelnut praline. There was an interesting guy on the corner playing guitar while wearing a full head skull mask. I don’t know why. Maybe because Portland?

Sunday afternoon, we went on a little river cruise with brunch. It’s not currently in any of my books, but I’m thinking of putting it in one of them. My cruise definitely wasn’t romantic, but theirs could be. There was a pianist playing constantly and occasionally she and some of the staff would sing some super old crooner songs (Doris Day, Engelbert Humperdinck, …). Something kind of funny I saw was a little herb garden hanging off the rail on the back of the ship.

Anyway, that was my exciting research trip.