waiting for the tide to turn

Portland, OR – A clear, warm, and breezy evening in the second Portland I’ve visited, I don’t have much left in the tank now

Hello all you wonderful readers. I’ve had a nice little taste of the northwest in the past few days. In the midst of this heat wave, the temperature in Seattle and Portland has been more or less ideal. Despite the scenic surroundings though, I can’t seem to find much enthusiasm for exploration. The Integra's suspension is worsening each day. It has creaked, groaned, and thumped its way across Washington into Oregon and, like me, just needs to bring this adventure to a close. We’re ready.

But for now, back to Idaho.

With a fairly long drive ahead of me, I got the car packed up quickly in the morning and drove out of Sandpoint on Route 95. Already by 10am, the temperature had reached above 90 and I knew it would be a long hot drive. I was surprised to find that the eastern side of Washington was every bit as arid as anything I’d seen in the midwest. For some reason, I’d expected to encounter dense forestation and snow-capped mountains as soon as I crossed the Idaho border. It would take another few hours of driving past dry prairies and canyons before I reached that kind of scenery.

In total, it took me about six hours to reach Seattle. The drive overall was relaxed and quick-paced. Seattle was the first city, on this westbound trip, that I actually knew my way around somewhat. A couple years ago, I took a weekend trip to Seattle to see the Sox play the Mariners. Although the greater Seattle area is fairly large, its downtown is relatively compact. It was with no difficulty at all that I found my hotel in the Belltown district. I stayed at the Radisson, which was the nicest hotel I’ve stayed in during this trip. After checking in, I listened to the Sox get creamed by Detroit.

The way I see it, after three games against Tampa Bay (essentially a triple-A team), the Sox were a little rusty. Anyway, I took a shower and went for a walk along 1st Avenue down to the Queen Anne district to catch a movie. With a little time before the show, I got dinner at a Mexican place next door to the theater. That night, I saw “Paris, Je T’aime.” I had seen a trailer for the film the night before at the Panida and was interested with the premise. Basically, “Paris, Je T’Aime” is a collage, a medley. The film consists of 18 five-minute shorts about people falling in love in Paris. Each segment was written and directed by different people. Directors include: Walter Salles, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven, and the Coen brothers (whose episode was probably my favorite), among many others. The film has an impressive collection of American, French, and English actors, including: Natalie Portman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Steve Buscemi, Elijah Wood, Nick Nolte, and many others I’d never seen before. It was fun watch the collaborative effort of so many good directors and actors towards one end, but the film was too all-over-the-place to be cohesive at all. Regardless, I had a good time watching it. (B)

Oh, and the film was played at the Uptown, which is a four-screen outfit run by AMC. After the lovely experience I’d had at the Panida, it was downright irritating to watch fifteen minutes of commercials before even getting to the trailers. Ah well. Having selected inappropriate footwear (again), I hobbled somewhat back to my hotel and fell asleep with the tv on.

I slept in longer than expected the next morning. The bed was the most comfortable I’d had yet on this trip, and my body responded by sleeping past 10am. With only a very short drive to Portland, however, I wasn’t really in any hurry anyway. I walked over to Cyclops (a bar/restaurant I’d been to before) and had a wonderful omelet with lots of coffee.

After a shower, I packed up the Integra and re-inflated its ailing rear left tire. Thankfully, I have a mini-air compressor in my car so I can keep the tire going until I get back to the bay area. With only around 11,000 miles on the tire, I figure America’s Tire Company in Redwood City owes me a new one. I had bought the tires new, just before the trip, in order to avoid problems like this, dammit! (fist shaking in the air)

Ahem. After my short maintenance job, I walked over to the Space Needle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Needle) for photos and general gawking. It was somewhere in the mid-seventies with a slight ocean breeze. Seagulls were making themselves heard overhead. Satisfied, I next walked downtown a bit to the Public Market to get a look at the bay before skipping town. The Public Market is to Seattle what Fisherman’s Wharf is to San Francisco. You can spend hours exploring the Public Market. However, my visit was brief, and soon I was walking back to the Integra to get out of town.

The drive to Portland was quick. Before I knew it, I was crossing the Columbia River again and looking for my lodgings in the southeast corner of town. I considered catching another movie for the third night in a row, but didn’t feel like I had it in me. Instead, I found a nearby internet café called the Fireside Coffee Lodge for dinner and a little photo management.

This morning I got up around 9:30 and felt no urge to even leave my room. Lethargic, I watched the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan formula picture “You’ve Got Mail” (C-) and the surprisingly good “Rumor Has It” (B) on HBO. In the early afternnon, I set out to explore the corner of Portland I was staying in. My first stop was Hawthorne St (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne%2C_Portland%2C_Oregon), which seemed to me a very cool and somewhat hippie stretch of town. It reminded me a little of SF’s Haight St., but without all the panhandling rabble. On yet another perfect sunny day, I stopped at Powell’s Books (at the recommendation of Zack & Diane) and picked up Willie Nelson’s “The Tao of Willie.” My stomach growling, I walked across the street to the Bridgeport Ale House for a very tasty pale ale (A) and their cottage pie (A-). Smiling as I read Willie’s opus, I was feeling a lot better. The book sparked my imagination somewhat, and I started thinking about my entire trip, and what it all meant. I figured that, at the very least, I’d done pretty well for myself by Willie’s standards. I’d done what made me happy while visiting all my friends. Willie would be proud.

Enlivened a bit, I took the Acura next to Mt. Taber Park, which is at the eastern edge of the Hawthorne district. On the small side, Mt. Taber park was lovely this afternoon. After entering, you can drive along a spiral road that takes you to near to the top of the “mountain.” At the top of the park, you can look westward towards Portland’s skyline. Being a sunny Sunday afternoon, there were lots of people, and many dogs, doing just that. Walking about, I also spotted a statue of Harvey W. Scott, a Portland pioneer and major contributor to the Oregonian (http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcMnLVq3aN2LR). I sat in the shade and read my new book for an hour or so before heading back to the motel. Back in my room, I felt wiped again. I napped for a while before remembering that I wanted to get a post out today. After a quick dip in the pool and a shower, I drove back to the Fireside and, well, here I am.

What does it all mean, Willie? I have some rough ideas, but I think its going to be a while before I can really wrap my hands around it. More on that later. For now, I’m satisfied with the knowledge that there are only 700 miles left on this trip of mine. Tomorrow will be a fairly long drive to the California border. I’ll check out a few redwood trees at the national park there and then take the 101 to San Francisco, with a quick stop in Glen Ellen to say hi to my friend Marti. I’ve never looked more forward to seeing the Golden Gate Bridge.

More soon.

Andy

For Seattle and Portland pics:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcMnLVq3aN2LR