I am in Portland
I arrived in Portland in the wee hours of Thursday morning. I basically managed to find a red eye flight going from east to west. I didn't even know that was possible until now! Luckily, I will undo it by taking a red eye back. I'm pretty sure two wrongs make a right in this kind of circumstance. Right?
I finally took the MAX (commuter train thingy) for the first time.
Despite having (a limited amount of) experience now, public transit still makes me feel like I am going to get lost. I think this is a symptom of having grown up in a town so small we had no traffic lights and public transit was a scary element of the terrifying Big City. Anyway, whenever I get on a bus, I cling to my transfer slip as if it is going to evaporate and look out the windows as if I may end up in a random location and have to remember how to get back using only my wits. I know that thousands of people have mastered the public transit system, but for some reason, my gut still tells me that it is out of my mental grasp and I am doomed. That said, I had no problems taking the bus, transferring to the MAX, and making it to Kyle's.
On Thursday, Kyle and I made my first stop at one of the places on my "to visit" list, Nick's Coney Island. Nick's was on the list for it's top notch root beer, and did not disappoint. I also noticed an interesting item on the menu, doughnut bread pudding. Portland is a doughnut kind of town. I am not sure if it is because of the famous Voodoo Doughnuts, or what, but people here like their doughnuts and, it seems to me, think about them more than average. So, there must be a supply of high quality stale doughnuts about, I thought, and I love bread pudding (a lot). I ordered it. I was pretty good, but I thought the doughnuttiness overwhelmed the bread pudding aspects of it, unfortunately. Basically, it tasted like doughnuts, which is not a bad thing; I was just hoping for something more remarkable. I was still happy. I like the guy who works there, and I suspects own the joint, and the root beer is... mmmmmmm...
After drinks and dessert, we headed back to Beaverton to attend ShaSha, the weekly happy hour gathering of Northwest team fencers. It was good to be back in the group and enjoy the teasing and fencing chat (and fish tacos). Also, this takes place at a sports bar, and I was delighted by TV coverage of the most amazing pair of pants I have seen in some time:
On Friday, Kyle and I thought we might go back into town and visit Bunk, one of the restaurants on my list of places to eat in Portland. I built my bike for transport and it needed a bit of grease. Kyle also needed a tweak to his ride, so we decided to stop by the Bike Gallery (<3) on our way out. Guess what. There is another problem with my cursed bike. Ugh! This one is, potentially, unfixable. Why is this bike such a nightmare!? It's rideable, but *sigh*. We did not make it to Bunk and stayed in Beaverton instead. We should be less pressed for time later this week.
On Friday evening, we left for the coast. We rounded up our friends and rented an adorable cottage near Seaside. Last time we did this, we were stuck in a 24 hour per day dark and stormy night kind of situation. This time was much better. We had normal Oregon coast weather, 60s and kind of bright grey.
On Saturday, we went into Seaside and found a motorcycle rally and a cat show. Of course. The streets were filled with bikes and the sidewalks were filled with vendors of leather goods and tattoos. Our band of geeks fit right in with the crowd, as you might imagine.
Happily, I was not the only one who wanted to go to the cat show, and some of us checked that out. It was odd, lots of rexes and sphynx... odd in a great way. Post cat gawking, we went shopping for salt water taffy (obviously, I somehow got control of our activities). We found a candy store that makes and sells 170 different flavors of taffy. That is a lot. I think the weirdest were jalepeño and cinnamon black licorice twist, and the one that I was most excited about was rhubarb. I have so much taffy now.
We spent the rest of the time lounging about the cabin, playing board games, telling stories, and eating candy. It was pretty fantastic. I also did a lot of knitting. It is like a switch was flipped by the cooler temperatures - MUST KNIT! I'm working on a gift, so no pics, but I can say that I LOVE Blue Moon Fiber Arts.
Well, that brings us up to date. I will try to take more pictures from now on.
I finally took the MAX (commuter train thingy) for the first time.
Despite having (a limited amount of) experience now, public transit still makes me feel like I am going to get lost. I think this is a symptom of having grown up in a town so small we had no traffic lights and public transit was a scary element of the terrifying Big City. Anyway, whenever I get on a bus, I cling to my transfer slip as if it is going to evaporate and look out the windows as if I may end up in a random location and have to remember how to get back using only my wits. I know that thousands of people have mastered the public transit system, but for some reason, my gut still tells me that it is out of my mental grasp and I am doomed. That said, I had no problems taking the bus, transferring to the MAX, and making it to Kyle's.
On Thursday, Kyle and I made my first stop at one of the places on my "to visit" list, Nick's Coney Island. Nick's was on the list for it's top notch root beer, and did not disappoint. I also noticed an interesting item on the menu, doughnut bread pudding. Portland is a doughnut kind of town. I am not sure if it is because of the famous Voodoo Doughnuts, or what, but people here like their doughnuts and, it seems to me, think about them more than average. So, there must be a supply of high quality stale doughnuts about, I thought, and I love bread pudding (a lot). I ordered it. I was pretty good, but I thought the doughnuttiness overwhelmed the bread pudding aspects of it, unfortunately. Basically, it tasted like doughnuts, which is not a bad thing; I was just hoping for something more remarkable. I was still happy. I like the guy who works there, and I suspects own the joint, and the root beer is... mmmmmmm...
After drinks and dessert, we headed back to Beaverton to attend ShaSha, the weekly happy hour gathering of Northwest team fencers. It was good to be back in the group and enjoy the teasing and fencing chat (and fish tacos). Also, this takes place at a sports bar, and I was delighted by TV coverage of the most amazing pair of pants I have seen in some time:
I got this pic from the WSJ
And, just now, because of my best friend, the internet, I have learned that you and I can own a pair of these fine trousers or WACKY MINI SHORTS!! simply by shopping where the bold golfers shop. *Sounds of my willpower working really hard*
On Friday, Kyle and I thought we might go back into town and visit Bunk, one of the restaurants on my list of places to eat in Portland. I built my bike for transport and it needed a bit of grease. Kyle also needed a tweak to his ride, so we decided to stop by the Bike Gallery (<3) on our way out. Guess what. There is another problem with my cursed bike. Ugh! This one is, potentially, unfixable. Why is this bike such a nightmare!? It's rideable, but *sigh*. We did not make it to Bunk and stayed in Beaverton instead. We should be less pressed for time later this week.
On Friday evening, we left for the coast. We rounded up our friends and rented an adorable cottage near Seaside. Last time we did this, we were stuck in a 24 hour per day dark and stormy night kind of situation. This time was much better. We had normal Oregon coast weather, 60s and kind of bright grey.
On Saturday, we went into Seaside and found a motorcycle rally and a cat show. Of course. The streets were filled with bikes and the sidewalks were filled with vendors of leather goods and tattoos. Our band of geeks fit right in with the crowd, as you might imagine.
Happily, I was not the only one who wanted to go to the cat show, and some of us checked that out. It was odd, lots of rexes and sphynx... odd in a great way. Post cat gawking, we went shopping for salt water taffy (obviously, I somehow got control of our activities). We found a candy store that makes and sells 170 different flavors of taffy. That is a lot. I think the weirdest were jalepeño and cinnamon black licorice twist, and the one that I was most excited about was rhubarb. I have so much taffy now.
We spent the rest of the time lounging about the cabin, playing board games, telling stories, and eating candy. It was pretty fantastic. I also did a lot of knitting. It is like a switch was flipped by the cooler temperatures - MUST KNIT! I'm working on a gift, so no pics, but I can say that I LOVE Blue Moon Fiber Arts.
Well, that brings us up to date. I will try to take more pictures from now on.
posted by Ashleigh @ 1:06 PM
1 Comments:
At 3:34 PM,
Dre said…
Is it of concern at all that I did not even bat an eyelash at your schedule: motorcycle rally drive-by, cat show, taffy shopping? I really hope when I visit you that you have purchased the wacky shorts...
Post a Comment
<< Home