Equally beautiful in a very different way was the Japanese Garden, which made me feel as if I had been transported to pre-modern Kyoto, with the ceremonial tea house, the Zen rock garden, and the poetry stone with haiku on it. Most magical for me was the pond with irises, which reminded me of the irises in the driveway of the house that I grew up in.

And while New York has many wonderful bookstores, none of those in the largest city in the country can compare with Powell's City of Books. I've lived in cities with great bookstores, including Foyle's and Dillon's in London, the FNAC in Paris, and Kiepert Buchhandlung in Berlin, not to mention the Strand -- my favorite bookstore here in New York; but none is a better bookstore overall than Powell's, which claims to be not only the largest bookstore in the United States but the largest in the world. It's not just quantity, it's quality, and above all, organization: the City of Books is better-organized than any other bookstore I've ever seen, with its color-coded rooms: the Blue Room (literature), the Orange Room (cooking, gardening, crafts), the Gold Room (science fiction, fantasy, mysteries), the Rose Room (science, sports, education, children's books), the Red Room (religion, self-help, psychology, health, foreign languages), the Purple Room, (philosophy, history, military, gay and lesbian). I love the Strand, but they could really benefit from a visit to Powell's City of Books.

While at Powell's, I caught a very interesting talk/book signing by the author of a new book about the need to re-think the way economic theory undervalues childcare and what has traditionally been considered 'women's work.' And I splurged, buying half a dozen books that collectively weighed so much that I had to have the big ones shipped home — but through Powell's, and at a cost far less than it would have been through the post office. Powell's has actually expanded to seven bookstores in the area (including one at the airport), with the City of Books being the flagship store. You can even order on-line, and http://www.powells.com/ is a good alternative to Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble for those who want to support an independent bookstore.

What else impressed me about Portland? The toilets. Yes, the toilets. The toilets in the restrooms at the airport and at the Oregon Convention Center had a dual-flush function: pull up for a light flush (liquid matter), pull down for a heavy flush (solid matter). How sensible and environmentally friendly! New York and other cities in the country would do well to emulate Portland's example; if they did, we would save millions of gallons of water a year and help the environment immeasurably.

Portland also has a wonderful light rail system. The MAX train runs at street level, but without those annoying wires that the MUNI streetcar trains in San Francisco have. True, the MAX system only has three lines, but they're laying tracks for an extension. And there are bicycles everywhere. People in Portland really seem to care about the survival of the planet; as one of the friends I was staying with put it, Portland is a 'crunchy granola' kind of place.

Portland's Saturday Market is a huge open-air flea market of sorts, with everything from woven baskets to tie-dyed t-shirts to kettle popcorn on sale. And Old Town, Chinatown and the Burnside Triangle area have a clutch of gay bars and LGBT-friendly restaurants and cafes. I was particularly charmed by a rainbow-colored bench sitting outside one gay bar. I just missed Portland Pride, but apparently, fun was had by all. For the outdoorsy butch types, it's only an hour to Mt. Hood for mountain climing, skiing and camping; and it's only an hour in another direction to the ocean.

But Portland is having growing pains. Affordable housing is declining as the city becomes more fashionable — especially with ex-Californians fleeing the high cost of living and many problems of the Golden State. The Pearl District is full of fashionable new restaurants and new luxury housing developments that few native Portlanders can afford. Half a million or a million dollars for a condo apartment may not be at all unusual here in New York, but in Portland, it's shocking to see such prices for real estate. And the decline in affordable housing is leading to an increasing problem with homelessness.

Still, Portland is a clean and green little oasis of LGBT-inclusive progressive politics and public policy in a state whose rural eastern half regularly supports Lon Mabon's Oregon Citizens Alliance, which has launched homophobic ballot measures for over 15 years; one of these — the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage — passed a few years ago, though with a smaller margin of victory than in almost any other state considering such a measure, thanks to the hard work of Basic Rights Oregon, the statewide LGBT advocacy organization in the Beaver State.

The problems that Portland faces are not insignificant, but compared with those faced by many other cities in the United States, they seem to pale in comparison. If I weren't so happily settled in New York, I would consider moving to Portland myself. This was only my second visit to the City of Roses, but it won't be my last, if I can help it. Vive la Ville des Roses!