We drove down to Portland after church on Sunday, arriving at the hotel right around 8:00 pm. We stayed at the Hilton, the same hotel the conference was held at. I'd read reviews on TripAdvisor complaining of small rooms. We didn't know what to expect until we unlocked our door and stepped inside. Small room? Obviously those people have never stayed in "the closet"! Our room is plenty spacious and it's even on a corner so we have two walls of windows. We'd asked to change from two doubles (reserved when Steve was going) to a king size bed but they were full and couldn't change us. I'm sure for some people needing to sleep in a double bed would be a hardship but since that's what we have at home, it was business as usual for us!
our room on the 19th floor
Dode left the room for his conference at 8:00 am and I followed after him at 8:30. It felt really strange to go to the car and drive away in a strange city. I noticed that I was unusually nervous. I've dragged my children all over the place, fearlessly exploring back roads and strange cities from here to Illinois. Now, I was in Portland, just a four hour drive from home, and I was nervous. I think the responsibility of having the children along distracts me from the nervousness of being in a strange place and not being sure where I was or where I was headed. I don't have a GPS so I had to print map directions at home and try to read them while navigating unfamiliar city streets. Portland is a city of bike only lanes and bus only lanes, and one way streets so getting around can be challenging. One missed turn can lead to a big detour to get back on track.
I'd planned out my trip at home before coming, using TripAdvisor and googling "Portland things to do" before coming down. For my Monday exploration I'd chosen Washington Park. Washington Park is a 42 acre park, just 2 1/2 miles form downtown Portland. As I explored the park I noticed similarities with Volunteer Park and Green Lake Park in Seatle. Online research revealed the truth, another of Olmsted's gems, done in 1903. Central Park is his most famous creation.
My first stop was the International Rose Test Garden. As I entered the garden and saw the sea of roses in front of me, my first thought was, "Elizabeth would love this, she has to see this!" She'd thoroughly enjoyed the rose garden at Woodland Park and Portland's rose garden is at least 10 times more impressive. I'd arrived before 9:00 am and aside from a few joggers, I had the garden to myself. I loved wandering the rows of roses, sniffing them and reading their names. By the time I was done, my asthma was acting up but it was so worth it!
roses in every direction
I love flowers named after people I love. My grandpa is a Helmut!
Leaving the beauty of the rose garden behind, I walked over to the Oregon Holocaust Memorial. As soon as I approached the memorial, I was emotionally invested. There are bronze objects scattered along the walkway leading to the monument. I was able to picture the Jews, forced from their homes, loosing their precious possessions before ultimately loosing their lives in the concentration camp. The polished marble monument gives an overview of the holocaust and has quotes from survivors, told from a child's point of view. The back side of the monument has the family members who were killed of people living in the Portland area. It was it was a sobering visit.
a discarded teddy bear on the way to the memorial
names of family members lost in the Holocaust
As I was riding to the Forestry center, I was very glad that I'd chosen to start at the rose garden. If I'd gone the other way, I would have dreaded all that downhill at the beginning of the day. This way, I knew that when I was finished playing, it would be an easy ride back to the car.
I spend 1 1/2 hours at the Forestry center. They did a good job of teaching about the forestry industry, both historically and how it functions today. They covered all the aspects of forestry, from harvest to using the materials to replanting. It was a very hands on museum with lots of things to touch and look at with magnifying glasses. They had several simulations. I got to try my hand at cutting down trees with a harvester and landing a parachute as a smoke jumper. The museum was nearly empty so I was actually able to enjoy the simulations without worrying about the people who were waiting their turn. I was glad I didn't have the children along because I could picture the fighting that would happen as they waited for their chance to play.
This scary looking device cuts down trees.
No wait for the simulator. Anyone want to try?
The Vietnam Memorial is right next to the forestry museum, another somber part of my day. The memorial is a built along a spiraling path that takes you by granite stones engraved with the names of soldiers from Oregon as well as the year they died. At the top of each piece of granite, they included news from Oregon from that year, both big news and small pieces of trivia, as well as information about what was happening in the war. The sun was beating down on me making the walk more arduous, a fitting companion to the memorial.
Vietnam memorial with granite memorial stones in the background
I left the memorial and climbed back on my bike to head to the Hoyt Arboretum, the highest point in the park. The arboretum has 12 miles of trails. Each trail is named for the kind of tree along it. The recommended tours were all on the north side of the arboretum, where the evergreens are. I spent an hour wandering through the evergreens before I headed to the south side of the arboretum where the deciduous trees are. I thought this area was much more interesting. It would have been better to visit the arboretum earlier or later in the day. I was there right in the heat of the day and it was close to 80 degrees and humid among the trees.
Dode thinks this path in the arboretum looks perfect for mountain bikes but alas, bikes are forbidden in the arboretum.
Apparently we need an Elizabeth magnolia.
She was the tallest tree in the magnolia section, that has to mean she's easy to grow right?
I drove back to the hotel, making several wrong turns before I finally found the right street to take me to the parking garage. I'd spent six hours at Washington Park and had two more hours to burn before Dode was done with his conference. In my bumbling around in the car, I'd noticed a restaurant called Veggie Grill. My picnic lunch had been just veggies and crackers so after all my exercise, some real food sounded great. I tried retracing my steps on foot, heading away from the hotel about six blocks before realizing I'd gone too far. When I finally found the restaurant I realized it was just one block east of the hotel, in the far corner of the building right across the street from our room!
I tried their All American Stack. It sounded good in the description but they neglected to note that it was spicy, nose running, mouth burning spicy. I'm not a huge fan of spicy food so it took away a lot of my enjoyment. I was pleased to learn that a vegan restaurant was so close to the hotel in case I need another quick meal!
I got back to the hotel and spent some time in the lobby using their free wi-fi before heading back to the room and finding Dode already there, a 1/2 hour early. We hopped into the car and headed off to one of the stops I'd researched, The Grotto. What should have been a 20 minute drive took us closer to 45 due to a wrong turn with a huge detour and traffic. We got there right at 5:30 but figured we'd be fine since they are open until 6:30. It is a Catholic shrine and chapel with gardens and statues scattered around. We viewed the actual grotto, a man made cave with a life size replica of Michelangelo's Pieta. The statue depicts Mary the mother of Christ cradling his crucified body in her lap. The grotto has two parts, a lower garden (free) and an upper garden which is accessed by an elevator which costs $4/each. By getting there at 5:30, we missed the opportunity to buy tickets to the upper gardens but we spent some time wandering around the lower gardens.
Then it was time for dinner. We ate at Vita Cafe. I picked it because they have vegan food and free range meat, a win win for Dode and me. I chose the Seitan cheese steak and Dode got a burger. My sandwich was really tasty. Dode thought his burger had too much pepper on it.
Leaving Vita Cafe, I threw caution to the wind and we headed to Ruby Jewel, an ice cream shop. I got two scoops, caramel with salted chocolate and marzipan with raspberry jam and shortbread. After we ordered, we saw that for $6 you could get something called a "flight" with six small scoops of six flavors of your choice. I wish we'd known!
Dode's small double chocolate and my monster two scoops.
The rich creamy ice cream was worth the risk of a tummy ache! I don't usually care for marzipan, but I sampled it and loved both flavors equally. Even when I finished my bowl, I couldn't tell you which was better. We left the ice cream shop and drove straight to a Walgreens so I could buy some lactose pills to see if that would help with the tummy ache that comes from eating dairy after being vegan for a year. I did get a touch of stomach problems but it was so worth it!
It was a great first day in Portland. I've gotten over the nerves and am ready for new adventures on day two.
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