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The
Pacific Northwest has lured many an adventurer, but today's travelers don't have
to be Lewis and Clark to discover bargains. Head straight to Oregon, which doesn't
charge sales tax, meaning the price you see on an item is the price you pay at
the register.
One word of warning: Every state that has a sales
tax also has a use
tax. These laws are designed to collect sales tax on products
you buy in a tax-free jurisdiction but "use" in your home,
sales-tax-collecting state. Enforcement and collection of use taxes
varies from state to state.
Central
Portland offers a wide assortment of well-known retailers, but if you'd like something
funkier, try the city's Pearl District. This former warehouse area is filled with
art galleries, chi-chi shops and Powell's, the world's largest, independent bookstore.
Powell's files new, used, hardbacks and paperbacks right next to each other on
the shelf. It also has a huge inventory of out-of-print new books that sell for
pennies on the dollar.
If you bring along a box of old books, Powell's will
buy them for cash. The store, which is open 365 days a year, says
it acquires an average of 3,000 books every day.
Portland's Saturday
Market along the waterfront claims to be the nation's largest
continuously operating open-air market for handcrafted goods. There
are more than 300 craft booths, as well as an international food
court and lots of live entertainment.
Down the street is Hippo Hardware, probably the country's
largest architectural salvage operation. You can find anything from dismantled
mansions to a whole roomful of mantelpieces to an array of doorknobs sure to match
something that you own. These guys are amazingly organized pack rats and attract
shoppers restoring old houses as well as those furnishing new abodes and who are
looking for a matching hinge or a piece of chandelier. The prices aren't necessarily
cheap, but you won't find anything else like it anywhere.
Outdoor
enthusiasts can check out Andy and Bax, one of the nation's largest military surplus
dealers. If you're looking for outdoor clothing, camping or boating supplies (military
or otherwise) this is an economical place to find whatever you need.
You
can try out your new gear at the Columbia
River Gorge National Scenic Area that straddles the Oregon-Washington boundary
just east of Portland. The river canyon, 80 miles long and up to 4,000 feet deep,
cuts the only sea-level route through the Cascade Mountain Range. You can hike,
mountain bike, windsurf, camp, fish, boat, bird watch, picnic and rock climb or
simply take a leisurely drive and enjoy the vistas, including several waterfalls.
If you're more of a city slicker, stay within Portland's
boundaries and, during basketball season, catch the NBA's Trailblazers
in action. After the game, toast the victory with a local ale. Portland
is considered by many to be a craft-brewing mecca, with its first
craft brewery housed in what once was a cordage factory that made
ropes for turn-of-the-century sailing vessels.
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