Leave the Path

Wednesday was our last night at the hostel. Thursday morning we did a load of laundry, packed up, and moved across town, over the river to the Hawthorn district on the east side. Emre, with his hat and moustaches and loaded up with all of our stuff looked even more adventurous than usual.

We had to ride the streetcar, walk a little, and catch a bus to our new temporary home. Unfortunately Thursday was one of the coldest, wettest, windiest days we’ve had. Or maybe it just seemed that way because I was noticing the beginnings of a cold and we spent more time than usual waiting at bus stops. I noticed that most of the pictures I’ve used are of the moments after the sun breaks. Those are the prettiest times in Portland, but they’re rare. Most of the time it’s overcast and it often rains for a few minutes at a time, though usually not hard. And especially along the river it is very windy. Standard uniform for Porlanders is a hooded sweatshirt with or without a rain shell and then some sort of substantial boots or shoes for puddle stomping. We’ve been damp more of the time than we’ve been dry. BUT the plants are fabulously green and the seasons are mild – summers aren’t too hot and winters don’t get all that cold.

We were really happy to be inside again. The place we’re staying now is the Bluebird Guesthouse. It’s about a 15 minute bus ride outside of downtown, but it’s a charming early 20^th century arts and crafts bungalow and very comfortable. The linens are good quality, the rooms all have little period details, there’s a big clawfoot bathtub, the kitchen is fully stocked, there’s a free guest computer with internet, and the common rooms are really cute. The neighborhood is pretty good, too, a short walk from a bakery and a coffee shop. The living room even has a guitar which Emre has been using to practice his favorite refrains from the Cirque du Soleil show we saw. It’s also really cheap which makes up for the short bus ride and the shared bathrooms.

In the afternoon we set out again to find OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. (They have a 2-for-1 ticket deal on Thursdays, by the way.) OMSI is on this side of the river and it’s on the map. Unfortunately it’s in an ugly, windy, confusing industrial/commercial district. Our first attempt was aborted by a big highway we couldn’t figure out how to cross and a constant drizzle of frigid blowing rain. We headed back towards the bus line and ducked into a little café for soup. The sun came out while we ate and the waiter gave us better directions for finding OMSI. We made it on the second try. OMSI was kind of neat. They have exhibits about life sciences, a few live animals, and dozens of puzzles set up at little stations. The coolest thing, though, was the dinosaur exhibit brought in from China. It included several complete fossilized skeletons of dinosaurs trapped in a Pompei- like event in per-historic southern China. There were also three different flat fossil slabs of small winged, feathered dinosaurs. Nearby were robotic versions of several impressive dinosaurs, moving disjointedly and making more clicking noises than I would expect from a real dinosaur. In separate spaces the museum also hosts a retired submarine and an IMAX theatre, but we didn’t visit those. All in all it was an okay museum but hardly life changing. I’m glad I didn’t pay full price.

Thursday evening we explored Hawthorn street, which is a few blocks north of our hostel. It’s supposed to be one of the coolest, most youthful neighborhoods in Portland. It’s not as pretty or compact as the older parts of town. I get the impression that this was suburbs, industrial land, and a little shady 20 years ago. Now, though, it’s home to lots of bicycle shops, café’s, and tattoo parlors. We ate at a cheap little Lebonese restaurant for dinner and then headed home under the rain to go to bed early.

Friday we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in the adorable breakfast nook of the kitchen of the Bluebird. Then we road the bus into town to catch the streetcar to OHSU. Oregon Health Sciences University is the biggest hospital in town with the best residency programs. It also has a gondola up to the hospital which is set on a hill outside of town. From the gondola, we could see the circus tents, the river, OMSI on the other side, and mountains in the distance. The other passengers in our pod included doctors, patients, tourists, and a couple local families with really excited 3-year-olds.

Once we got off the gondola at the top, though, we didn’t really know what to do. The platform leads strait into the hospital. We puttered around a minute before finding an exit and briefly exploring the outdoor parts of the campus. It’s really built into a hilltop, so all the buildings are different levels and there are long tubes connecting different parts of the hospital. It’s all very impractical but nice looking.

The gondola ride back down was similar, with a nice view west. We swung a fair bit, though, and I can only imagine this is a scary ride on really windy days.

Our afternoon we wandered around the center of the city a little more. We stopped into interesting shops here and there. We bought really fancy cupcakes from a cupcake store on 10^th. We also stopped for tea a couple times. Oregonians really love their tea and it makes sense. When it’s cold and rainy outside you might as well stop in a few minutes and have something warm and invigorating.

We decided to grab a few groceries and have dinner at the guesthouse. Emre bought a solid chocolate rooster from a local chocolate specialist and a few pounds of kumquats. He ate the rooster for dinner and the kumquats for dessert.

We are flying home super-early in the morning Sunday so tomorrow (Saturday) is pretty much our last day in Portland. The weather is supposed to be nicer so I think we will go see a few more gardens. I really like it here and I’m sad to go. I’m also really dreading the time change and a full week of class starting Monday. Vacations are never long enough.