I just got back from a business trip to Portland. Normally, I spend a month or two there every summer, but this trip was just a short planning week. We spent lots of time discussing ideas for high school engineering activities. I managed to squeeze in several of my usual activities - buying a book at Powell's, finding a sale at Columbia Sportswear, drinking a Ruby beer at McMenamin's, walking along the Wilamette River, and eating a Marionberry scone at the Saturday Market.
I also made my way to a new store called "Collage" that one of the participants from Artfest told me about. It's a cute little art store on Alberta Street in northeast Portland. They have a miniature Art Walk & Street Fair the last Thursday of each month, which, of course, I missed. But I spent about 2 hours in the store finding all kinds of hidden treasures and deals on supplies I don't normally find - stencils, stamps, brushes, and even a little traveling watercolor set. I had to steer clear of the liquid paints, because I wasn't planning to check a bag on the airplane. Last time I did that, TSA left the lid off the black gesso.
