Portland had several awesome movie theaters and shopping malls, and sometimes Dad would just drop us off and let us run wild for a few hours.
I grew up in a small town called Tillamook, famous for its cheese, that was about 60 miles away from Portland, Oregon. My dad was a high school math teacher, and this is where his career track took him. It turns out that my dad was not a “small town” kind of guy. He had been born and raised in a small town, and wanted nothing more than to live in a major city. That was not his lot in life at the time, but he fought against it by taking the family to Portland almost every weekend, and on holidays. Compared to the small-town life we led during the week, Portland seemed like a wonderland of fun things to do. There was always live music in Portland, either at a diner or a public venue, or just hippies playing music in the park. Portland had several awesome movie theaters and shopping malls, and sometimes Dad would just drop us off and let us run wild for a few hours. Later I would find out that Dad did that so he could have some free time to peruse the local Portland cannabis dispensaries. That was another thing our small town lacked, was a proper cannabis dispensary, so Dad always stocked up on weed whenever he visited Portland. That was a long time ago, and much to my surprise I never left the small town. Just like Dad I enjoy driving to Portland once or twice a month to see the sights, watch some movies, and stock up on medical cannabis.