Eyes, Oxbow, Teeth, Milwaukie, Vancouver

 

I put all those words in the title so I could remember everything we did since my last post. On Wednesday we took the train downtown and walked the mile and a half to the ophthalmologist’s office in the Nob Hill district of northwest Portland. It’s a trendy kind of area with lots of shops, restaurants, apartments and lovely old houses.

Jim’s appointment went well and we really liked the ophthalmologist (Dr. Mark Terry) and the younger doctor who did most of the exam and discussion with us, Dr. Sanchez. He was in the last week of his one year corneal fellowship and starts his practice in Albuquerque soon. Jim will most likely need a corneal transplant one of these days due to his inherited Fuch’s corneal dystrophy, and Dr.Terry later told us Dr. Sanchez was an excellent surgeon, so he’s someone Jim may visit again in the future. The general consensus was that since Jim’s vision is still 20/20 and he isn’t having disabling glare or fluctuating vision, he did not need surgery at this time and he could just be checked in another year. Always nice to get a fairly good report.

After almost three hours at the doctor’s office we were ready for a beer, and Bridgeport Brewing was along our route back to the train. It’s the oldest craft brewery in Portland, and we found the beer to be good but not outstanding.

On Thursday we drove 22 miles to Oxbow Regional Park where we met up with our friend Chris for a hike. We haven’t seen him since we were in Anza Borrego together back in February. He is  now camp hosting at Promontory Park near Estacada, OR and Oxbow was about halfway in between so it was a good place to meet.  Despite occasional drizzle and gloom we managed to hike over 6 miles through the ancient forest and along the banks of the Sandy River.

The sun came out a few times but the forest is so dense it barely reached us.

Our views from the Ridge trail were obscured by trees.

We were afraid if we stopped for too long moss would begin to grow on us, too.

The Sandy River.

Chris ducking under a huge trail obstacle. Glad we got to meet up for a hike and lots of talking. I think we may have solved all of the world’s problems.

On Friday we had to take Elvis in for his dental cleaning at 7:30. No traffic to speak of crossing the I-5 bridge north to Vancouver in the early morning. Around noon I got a call from the vet saying that Elvis was under anesthesia and doing fine but the xrays found that he had a molar with a resorptive lesion and she wondered if we wanted to have it pulled. I said go ahead since he was already out, but it was quite a surprise since he isn’t even four years old.

Tooth resorption is a common autoimmune condition in cats where the body tries to destroy the teeth. She said some cats only have one in their lifetime, but others end up losing many teeth. Since the rest of the x-rays looked fine we’re hoping this is his one and only. It can cause severe pain on chewing so I’m glad we caught it early and got the tooth pulled. He doesn’t seem to chew his food like Sophie does so maybe it’s been bothering him for a long time. So the $185 cleaning ended up costing over $400 with the extraction, meds, sutures, etc. Although he was quite a little drunken monkey that evening after he came home, and Sophie hissed and swatted at him because he smelled funny, he is eating and doing well and they are best buds again.

On Saturday morning we drove to Milwaukie, a southeast suburb of Portland, and home of Bob’s Red Mill.

We had breakfast in their restaurant (really good vegan whole grain pancakes and French toast), then wandered the aisles and picked up a few things. It’s a huge store that carries every product they manufacture. You can tour the factory during the week, which would have been interesting.

And we didn’t realize that Dave’s Killer Bread factory and outlet store is right across the street, so we got a loaf of day old for $3.49. From there we drove to the Milwaukie City Hall and took a walking tour of downtown and along the Willamette River.

It was a dreary looking day and we both forgot cameras so the phones had to do. The only picture I took in town was of this cute dog wearing goggles. He looked tired of sitting at the traffic light.

When we got to Spring Park we continued along a dirt trail that led to Elk Rock Island, part of a volcano that erupted about 40 million years ago. You can only walk to the island from late spring through fall, and there was still quite a bit of water we had to jump across.

Mansions across the river.

From there we drove a couple miles to the Columbia Sportswear Outlet where we both tried on quite a few things but didn’t find anything that fit. We had no traffic issues on Saturday driving around Portland.

Yesterday afternoon we met Jeanne in downtown Vancouver, WA at the farmer’s market in Esther Short Park. It’s not nearly as big or as crowded as the one in downtown Portland, but we got some good blueberries, Rainier cherries and a few Walla Walla sweet onions.

That’s Jeanne with her back to me getting a photo, while Jim is in the tent on the left getting some coffee. It was cool and drizzling, like it’s been doing off and on for several days,

Everybody had their dogs out for a stroll.

Jim and I decided to take a walk around downtown and then follow the Columbia River Renaissance Trail along the river. It leaves the waterfront at two miles, so we turned around there, but you can continue on down a street where it diverts around a shipyard then goes back along the water for a total of five miles. It would make for a nice bike ride.

I-5 bridge.

Shipyard where the trail leaves the waterfront.

Wendy Rose, aka Wendy the Welder (cousin of Rosie the Riveter). This sculpture was built to honor the thousands of women who worked in the Kaiser Shipyards during World War II.

On our way back as we passed by McMenamins On The Columbia we decided to stop and check out their beer list. Happy hour had just started so we stayed for a bite to eat and a pint of House Stark Porter on Nitro. It was really good, one we would definitely have again.

We’re down to three days left here in Portland. Will most likely take the train downtown one more time for some urban hiking and beer tasting, maybe a hike in Forest Park, or a bike ride along the river. Tomorrow we’re expecting a visit from Jimbo and Chica. Can’t wait to see our favorite chihuahua, and Jimbo, of course

Beer, the Fourth, and a Walk in Washington Park

 

Sunday morning we hopped the train again from the Expo Center to Union Station in downtown Portland, where we had a half mile walk through the Pearl District to Fields Neighborhood Park, site of the Portland Craft Beer Festival.

A few weeks ago when I was researching things to do in Portland I saw that this festival was taking place. Tickets were $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Knowing neither of us would drink that much beer, I saw that they needed volunteers to pour. For a 3 hour and 15 minute shift we each received a t-shirt (that we had to wear), mug, and 10 beer tickets.

                      

Since several people asked how we got to be pourers, I wanted to address this. Most festivals and races (like bicycling or running) depend on volunteers, and since every event has a website now, just check the volunteer link to see what is needed, fill out the application, and you are in. Volunteers always get a little something for their time, usually a t-shirt, free admission to the festival, or free beer! It’s a fun way to get involved in a community event, meet some locals, and learn a new skill, like bartending or directing traffic during a bike race like we did in Bend.

The Portland Craft Beer Festival ran from Friday -Sunday, and when we saw openings for Sunday from noon to 3:15, that sounded like a nice quiet time to be pourers. After group instructions our shift started off very slowly. Each of us poured from two taps. Mine came from Ex Novo and Jim’s were from Widmer Bros. All breweries represented were from within the Portland city limits. By about 1:30 the crowds picked up and our time passed quickly.

Jim, waiting for our first customers, and telling me not to take his picture.

Both of my kegs had to be changed out during my shift. We poured a lot of beer!

By the time our shift ended it got quite crowded, understandable as it was a beautiful sunny day in the 70s. And Sunday was family day, so a lot of people brought their kids and dogs.

When the second shift came in to relieve us, we took our tickets and began our own beer tasting. Everything we tried was good, as was the slice of vegan pizza from Tastebud, one of the food carts there. I am not proud to say we each drank our 10 tasters, more than either of us are used to drinking, and I barely remember the walk and train ride home, but we did have a really good time and talked with some fun people, both locals and other tourists. It was a great day.

We had a pleasant 4th, with a walk along the Columbia River.

Lots of houseboats.

That evening we were invited to Jeanne’s site for a picnic before the fireworks, along with another Lazy Daze couple from Portland, Glen and Liz, whom we met at Quartzsite. It was a fun time although a bit on the cool side for us, and Liz made the best marionberry cobbler. We took our chairs across the road from the RV park by the yacht club to watch the fireworks on the Vancouver, WA side. Not used to staying out until 10:30!

We didn’t get any good photos but you can see how they were going off all along the river, and not all part of the show from Fort Vancouver. This is the last year that personal fireworks are legal in Vancouver, so they were everywhere and the sky was full of smoke.

Yesterday we took the train again to downtown and Washington Park. I was in need of a hike and wanted to visit the International Rose Test Garden in the “City of Roses”, one of Portland’s nicknames. We walked a loop of over six miles along both paved and dirt trails through the park, and only got lost once.

Jim thought there were way too many trees in the park but it was very pretty. On Gaelyn’s last blog post she joked about Bill’s dendrophobia, and Jim is definitely afflicted with that, also.

Interesting bark.

Exposed roots.

The rose gardens were beautiful but way too crowded so we didn’t spend much time there. Jeanne, Liza and Glen will understand when my first thought upon arriving at the gardens was that it was way too “peopley”.

Didn’t realize we were going to be hiking through a grove of giant sequoias as we passed through the Hoyt Arboretum.

After the hike we took the train back to Pioneer Courthouse Square, where we had to transfer to another line.

Just a few blocks away was Rock Bottom Brewery. I had tasted one of their beers that I liked at the beer festival, so we stopped in for happy hour. Excellent! They had just tapped an imperial IPA, and it was even better than my favorite at Crux in Bend. Too bad they only brew their beer in small batches and don’t bottle it. Jim had an ale on nitro that was really good, too.

Today we board the train once again as Jim has an appointment for an eye exam, tomorrow we have a hike planned with friends, and Friday Elvis gets his teeth cleaned. Glad we decided to spend two weeks here. Our time is going fast.

City Living: Columbia River RV Park, Portland, OR

 

On Thursday we drove 160 miles from Bend to Portland, a nice drive except for a delay due to an overturned truck near Government Camp and Mt. Hood.

We’re staying at Columbia River RV Park, probably the closest RV park to the city. We weren’t expecting much so were surprised that it looks better than we thought it would. The sites are angled so we aren’t staring directly at our neighbors, the restrooms and laundry are good, and so far for a holiday weekend it is very quiet. That is, except for the planes flying overhead from about 5:30 am until the wee hours of the morning, since the airport is only about 5 miles away. Luckily our little white noise machine drowns out the sound pretty well so it hasn’t really interfered with our sleep. With the Good Sam discount we’re paying $179/week, not bad for being just 7 miles from downtown Portland.

Our pull-through site just happened to be right next to Mike and Donna (Flying The Koop). We met Mike in San Diego last year but Donna was out of town, so we set up a happy hour after seeing that we were both going to be in Portland at the same time. What a surprise that we ended up with adjacent sites. We had a great visit with them, but sadly they moved on yesterday. Just as we expected, our new neighbors have two kids, the only ones we’ve seen in the park!

We took a bike ride along the Marine Drive bike path which starts near the RV park. In order to get to it you have to ride one mile along Marine Drive, where there is a narrow bike lane. The LPGA golf tournament is going on at the golf course just down the road so it was riding along with bumper to bumper traffic, which made us a bit nervous. It was a great ride once we got on the trail. We rode 6 miles to I-205 when the trail went back on the road again.

Nice views of Mt. Hood. We also got to see many, many planes take off and land as the airport is just off to the right of the trail.

Waterfront houses on the Washington side of the Columbia.

When we took the cats to the vet in Temecula, CA a few months ago he said Elvis needed his teeth cleaned. Those of you with pets know how expensive this can be, so I did some research and found Forever Pet Dental just across the river in Vancouver, WA. They charge $185, very reasonable, so I made an appointment. They recommend, but do not require, doing blood work before the procedure since it involves general anesthesia, so on Friday morning we took him in to get his blood drawn (another $35). We get to take him back for the cleaning next Friday.

Cats are so funny. You never know what spot they will pick for their next catnap.

Our friend Jeanne is also staying here this week. Actually she took Suzanne’s site, who was planning to be here but was sadly unable to make it due to her Winnie breakdown and repairs. Jeanne had taken the train downtown on Friday, and on Saturday she joined us for another train ride to the farmers market at Portland State University. The Expo Center MAX terminal is just two miles from the RV park. You can park there and take the trains, streetcars or buses all day for $5, or $2.50 if you’re over 65. A pretty good deal not having to fight traffic and find and pay for parking.

The farmers market was huge, and had lots of great looking produce and other food. We bought some bread and cherries and wandered around tasting all kinds of good things.

Quite a variety of little potatoes.

The descriptions were like wines.

Baseball sized Walla Walla sweet onions.

We were not alone.

Got a kick out of this musician’s sign, mimicking the ones on the foods and produce.

This beautiful old house is the PSU Alumni Center.

We then got back on the train to Courthouse Square, where they have a display of a Montainer home. This one is 200 square feet and costs $50,000 on your lot.

Jeanne checking out the bathroom. Believe it or not ours is bigger.

And it’s a wet bath, so not ideal. It’s a great idea, though, and they said the best seller is the 640 square foot one, which has a real bathroom and bedroom. That one sells for $100,000.

From there we walked over to the Saturday Market, which is mainly an arts and crafts type market. It was way too crowded and there was nothing we needed.

We passed by Voodoo Donuts, the big tourist attraction, where the line wrapped around the building. Are people just crazy?

We had enough of crowds and hopped the train back to the Expo station. A great way to get around the city. In fact, today we are doing it again to get to the Portland Craft Beer Festival in Fields Park, where we have volunteered to be beer pourers. For three hours of work we get 10 beer tickets, so after our shift ends at 3:15 we can taste to our heart’s content and not have to drive home. Should be an interesting afternoon.