Portland's Nines

Rooms at The Nines are spacious, decorated in a light blue and white with faux crystal-covered lighting, and the location is ideal, an easy stroll to the Pearl and Old Town districts and, in particular, the famous Powell's Books, an ideal place to get lost for a couple of hours, just make sure to get the map before you delve into the stacks. The lobby of The Nines is like a lost floor in MoMA, complete with sheer pink and blue drapes, modern portraiture, a pair of surreal, oversized high heels encased in glass, and several naked mannequins (they have more attitude than the staff) that reminded us of the 8mm black-and-white shorts we made in freshman filmmaking. We also had a late-night dinner and drinks at Departure, the new restaurant-lounge at the top of The Nines. Aptly named, entering Departure is like boarding a luxury plane to nowhere. Friendly and sleek, with a fabulous view of the city at night, the cuisine is neo-Asian-funky fusion and the dink menu distinctive, to say the least. Our damage: The "Tasho Macho," a blend of Thai chili ginger vodka, muddled Thai basil, lemon, lime and cock 'n' bull (whatever the hell that is). I'm fairly sure I had three of those, so the walk back to the room is a blur. Even the front desk staff add the the sleek vibe with their impeccable posture. The Nines recently made the Condé Nast Traveler Annual “Hot List,” but we enjoyed it anyway.

Up a Tree: Vertical Horizons

I booked this hotel because it was the closest overnight option for Oregon Caves National Park, and spelunking requires an early start. When I read about this joint, it seemed that they had three styles of tree houses. Turns out, they only have three tree houses total, each unique in design (with toilet, sink and heat) and set out pretty much on their own on a huge piece of property. To get there, we drove to the middle of nowhere, then down a dirt road, then down a gravel path, keeping our eyes peeled for a lone figure in the hills, waving a lantern like some horseless Paul Revere. It was fabulous, sort of like a hippie B&B, complete with a lovely breakfast. Check out the video of our "view" above. In the dark, it seemed that our nearest neighbor was on Pluto.

...the Magic's in the Hole

...and we filled our pink box with the popular Bacon Maple Stick, a light donut covered with maple glaze and topped with two strips of crisp bacon. The sensation was like getting the perfect forkful of a diner pancake breakfast. Tasty as that was, out favorite was the Voodoo Blood Doll, which included a pretzel stick voodoo pin stuck into a doll-shaped donut and a bright red raspberry filling that literally gushed when we took a bit. If this ain't fun, I don't know what is. Expect to go into sugar shock.

Portland's Voodoo Doughnuts...

During our recent visit to Portland (is there another city in the country with this much strong design?), we trekked from our hotel, the trendy but friendly Nines, to Old Town where a hole in the wall called Voodoo Doughnut is located. There was a line...out the door...so we strolled a block away to the Portland, where we picked an outdoorsy black jacket from the window of the Portland Clothing Store. Then we went back to Voodoo and, with a shorter line, waited to make out selections, which come in a pretty fabulous pink box...

Zombie Finger Puppets

We picked up these beauties for a buck each at a off-kilter toy shop in Coos Bay, Oregon. The store had a bit of an edge (for Coos Bay) and obviously a buyer who's as zombie-mad as we. Speaking of zombies...anyone read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a novel in which author Seth Grahame-Smith infuses Jane Austen's romantic classic with "ultraviolent zombie mayhem"? The book's now in our Amazon cart...stay tuned.