Day 5 – Cannabis Dispensary and other activities

Our light rail stop

It was very wet in Portland on Tuesday morning, so it was a very relaxed start to the day. 

We had read an article that mentioned a food hall to visit so we headed into town to try that out and also Bev was really keen to go to a cannabis dispensary. 

The Pine Street Market, where we thought we would have lunch,  is an outpost of some apparently good restaurants elsewhere in the town.  Maps guided us to the spot where there was a small food hall with a range of food ranging from Japanese and American through to Mexican.  We chose the Mexican place and enjoyed three different, delicious tacos. 

 

Outside the shop

Just around the corner from the food hall was a cannabis dispensary called Serra.  Now that was quite an experience!  When we wandered in, they wanted identification before we could enter further and explore the products.  Unfortunately, I was refused entry because a passport was the only acceptable form of identification and I didn’t bring it with me. However, Bev had hers so was able to check out what was available.  For those who wanted to get stoned there were smoking products as well as cannabis laced food products.  The smoking products get you stoned very quickly whereas the food products take at least half an hour.  Also, there were different strengths of “weed”, some for recreational purposes and others more for medicinal ones. They were all rated according to their THC and CBD (medicinal) levels.  So complicated - almost as bad as choosing the right wine to go with the food.

The inner sanctum - products for inspection & sale

Seeing the system of regulation work was great.  If NZ did legalise it doing the same sort of system of regulation, it would give the concerned people a lot more comfort about people abusing it.   It reminded me of the tobacconist shops that were around until the early ‘90s, but much better regulated and certainly nicer shops to go into. 

Bev wanted to go to the Nob Hill district which is or was a more affluent part of town.  However, as it is so close to town there are probably more businesses in the nice old houses than people residing in them.  The wealthy have migrated up the hill. We had a look at some of the mansions, then Bev explored some of the boutiques while I enjoyed a coffee.

We came home on the light rail at what I would have thought would have been peak time on the public transport system, but the trains were not at all crowded like they would be in either Wellington or Sydney.  I guess the car still rules here at the moment. 

We called into the local supermarket and picked up a bottle of Syrah from the Columbia Valley in Washington State.  It was superb and riper than I would have expected given how far north in latitude the area is located.  

Nob Hill houses

The contrasting face of Portland - charity cafe for the homeless