My day started as it typically has
this week, with me sitting in the beautiful light of the common area at the
hostel on the floor cushions on my computer answering email and working on the
blog, thinking about how I promised myself I would exercise every morning of
the trip, while the girls get an extra hour of sleep. This morning however I was both shamed and
inspired when Heidi, an 88-year-old co-resident, took out the yoga mats and started to
do a full Pilates session next to me.
She went right into the hundred like it was super easy. When she was done, she went and got me her typed
handouts of instructions and I did complete her routine. I hope one of these future mornings we can
actually do it together. |
| We did not eat here but if Julia were in charge.... |
Once the girls were ready, we decided
to leave the car and try the day totally on foot and Portland’s famed public
transportation. We walked around the
corner for a delicious brunch at Sweedeedee (granola, corn cakes with eggs, and
a Sweedeedee breakfast plate). We
continued our walk down to the Mississippi Avenue district, poking in several
of the stores…stumbled upon Blue Star donuts (thanks Tina!) and had to get
their most popular blueberry bourbon basil donut to split. (Let’s not forget we
just left a very big brunch, but when
you have a list to get through you must power on!). The more famous Voodoo Donuts is being saved for Jim, but I
think Blue Star might end up being more my pace.
 |
| Check out scoreboard! |
We caught the bus downtown with
the intended destination of Powell’s Books.
We disembarked however very close to Ground Kontrol – an old-fashioned
arcade. “Original cabinets, original
gameplay, and original quarter slots, just like you remember.” We needed a picture for our summer scavenger
hunt, but why pass up the opportunity to play!
Ms. PacMan is easy to find around, but Frogger and Centipede, my
favorite, are getting harder to find.
This arcade really took me back…and I still have some skills! |
| XL picture for an XL store! |
We did make it to Powell’s books. It is really almost too much to process. Even after spending hours there I never left
the first floor. Rachel went to
cookbooks and found a corner to hunker down.
Julia wandered the stacks. To
fit in more food, we had to take a break mid-book perusing to walk down to the
food truck corner. So many choices. We
ordered some dumplings and more Indian food (which was so hot Julia dropped it on the ground). We made our way back to
Powell’s and looked at books until it was time to leave for our early dinner
reservation at a Peruvian tapas restaurant Andina. Thankfully the menu featured small plates
that we could order – our server was probably annoyed that we ordered all small
sizes of the plates and didn’t actually get an entrée. We do have our limits.
We found the right bus to take us
back to hostel. Rachel made us tea and
Julia worked on the jigsaw puzzle, all thinking we were settling in for an
early night. But then the 20-something
residents started heading out for the night – some to local bars but others to Last
Thursday, an arts festival that happens on the last Thursday of the month in the
Alberta Arts District. It is community-grown event that is not happy with the mayor's attempts to package it. It is free to all artists, art vendors, musicians and perfomers who want to set up their space. If we had known Rachel would have brought her guitar along. There wasn’t much time after we
arrived before it would be shut down (boo to the mayor!) so we just walked the length of it…and it goes
on for a very long 15 blocks.
Near the
end, we came across Pine Street Biscuits, across the street from Salt &
Straw (both with lines out the door). Rachel
had read about them and was looking forward to trying them at the Farmer’s
Market on Saturday, but she wasn’t aware there was an actual brick and mortar
restaurant, so that’s the line we chose.
A very nice couple in front of us in line were from San Jose, just
arrived in Portland today, celebrating their 7th anniversary. (Somehow it came up that he thought I looked
younger than my age, hence the “very nice” description). We didn’t really need to be eating any
biscuits and could have just bought one to try, but instead we decided to buy a
half-dozen to bring back to share with people in the hostel. It worked out perfectly when we got home that
Grant, Tate, Nava, and Ryan were all hanging out, or at least all gathered at the smell of the warm biscuits.
We had great fun eating biscuits, chatting with them, and learning more
about Grant’s path to getting where he is today. He has
a long history for his not-so-many years, with an emphasis on international
educational travel, and his role as teacher comes across clearly in his wise and very
gentle manner. The Traveler’s House he
has created is really inspiring...
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