09 Jul 2013 Portland, OR
Portland is
just an hour and a half from Cannon Beach.
The drive was beautiful and it was evident that we were coming into a
larger city. The two lane road from the
beach to the city was full of travelers. I bet in the near future, this nice country road will be a 4 lane highway sometime. Too bad.
When we
arrived at our friends apartment the weather was beautiful and the parking lot
was surrounded by wild blackberries. They
are not quite ripe, but will be in a week or two. We stayed with Eve and Levi, our friends from
long ago, but longer for Katherine.
Katherine grew up as a child hanging out with Eve. Their mothers were friends back in the 1960’s,
and still are today. We joined them for
New Year’s Eve at their mountain cabin parties in past years, and stayed with
Eve when she lived in Denver, and hung out with them in Vegas a few times. While on road trips, when we pass through
Palisade, CO we see them too. The West
Slope peaches are great in the summer! (Too bad we are missing them right now) Katherine’s mom’s friend Diane, and husband
Patrick, were in Portland finishing up a summer camping trip with Eve, Levi,
and their other daughter Gabrielle. They
were on their way out, but we had a day of overlapping travel. We were lucky for this! That one night was a great time of talking
and learning to play Polish poker.
We made it
into “Portland Proper” as I was calling it, not “Downtown” or the “City.” Katherine and I just drove. (No, we didn’t ride a bike or take public
transit.) I found a place to park the
H3. That was difficult to find. The H3 has two roof boxes and antennas
galore, not exactly lending itself to park in a parking garage. We were in search of the food trucks. Levi and Cora (another friend from the cabin
parties that now lives in Portland and we were able to have dinner with) said
that they are really cool and you can find any type of food you want. Oh, we found them! There were a ton of trucks. I narrowed my focus on the Thai truck
advertising their Pad Thai. Katherine
was happy with this, and we ordered.
There were lots of people around, since it was lunchtime, and we were
about to have a warm welcome to Portland.
A filthy,
obvious intoxicated man, smelling of bodily waste approached us. There we were, just minding our own business,
waiting for our food order like everyone else, when he got really close to us
and said “Hey, man,” in his slurred surfer accent. OK, I thought. I have dealt with this before. Just say, “No, sorry man.” The problem was, I said this before he even
said what he had to say. This was
bad. It set him off. He was trying to run some con with his friend
in front of him, and when I didn’t give him a pansy , non-confrontational
excuse like everyone else, but just a direct “No,” he decided to yell at me for
the next 3 to 5 minutes. Did you all
know that I think I am sooooo cool, but I’m not. I think I’m am “kung fu,” but I’m not “kung
fu,” I’m fake. I’m not real. Look at me with my lady-person, thinking I am
so cool, but I’m just fake. I’m so fake
that he wondered where I am from. I
wasn’t keeping in real enough to be from Portland. They just needed a little help. I heard about how uncool I am forever, then
he told me that he was the drummer for the band Butthole Surfers. What the!?!
He finally left, and the lady waiting behind me said, “Welcome to
downtown Portland.” I have traveled to a
lot of cities around the world with pan handlers and con artists. Everywhere else, when you say no to someone
asking for money, they just go away.
They might mumble something rude, but they go away. This was the first time a tramp was spoiled
enough to become so indignant when denied.
It was an entertaining way to begin our tour of Portland.
Unfortunately,
we did not have anymore awesome encounters with famous musicians, but we did
have a pretty great time walking around the City Center. From
there, we walked down 10th street to the north and back down 11th. We were glad that we did. There was a really cool guitar store and a
bike shop. Both places had nice
employees that talked to us about the products and small talked for a
while. This was a great change from the
exchange in front of the food trucks.
After the bike shop we went to the Deschutes Brewery, sampled some or
their specialties, and drove out to the north of the city. Our friend Lori had arranged to meet up with
us at the Hopworks Urban Brewery Bike Bar.
We got there in perfect time to find Lori in her car, then Eve and Levi
Joined us, and it was a great time. This
restaurant is along the “bike highway” out of Portland. Indeed it was. Bikers were flocking out of the city in front
of the restaurant in droves.
Our time in
Portland was brief. We were able to see
some friends that we had not seen in a while, and got just a taste of the
city. I hope to get back in the future and
see some more. The traffic going into
downtown from the west is a little crazy.
We were supposed to go climbing with Lori the last evening there, but
sitting in traffic for 40 min and only going 5 miles was enough fuel to turn
around. That just makes me want to get
back again and plan the travel times a little better. The breweries that we went to were only a
small sampling for what the city has to offer.
The weather was more than perfect with temps in the 80’s with full sun,
no rain, and gentle breezes. Now it’s
time to head up the coast to Washington, another state that I have never had
the pleasure to visit.
I forgot to mention the Danner Boot Factory, the dress shop in a bus, and Powell's Bookstore. Oh well, this post is long anyway.
Oh yeah,
Katherine’s leg is feeling better. She
is not running on it yet, but is able to walk around without hobbling. For a while, I thought she was going to have
to get it scanned and maybe be on crutches.
We will take it easy, but there are a lot of trails we are going to hit
soon.
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