Day 14 -15 Portland, Oregon: Resting up and Catching up

July 17, 2017

The day after the end of STP is always one of discovery - discovering muscles I didn't know I had to be sore, discovering how funny I act when I'm really really tired (it had nothing to do with the beer!) and discovering whether or not my butt would allow me back into the saddle again any time soon.

We had arranged to stay in the Holiday Inn on the Park, right next the where STP ended, and it was the best call ever! Having a hot shower, sleeping in a real bed and not having to get up early was pure bliss for us! After a quick cup of coffee in our room, we joined Mike, Leslie and their grandson Isaiah for breakfast at a great little place not too far from the hotel. Seems like other STPers had the same great idea, just not as early as us - by the time we left the place was packed with people waiting at the door. I felt sorry for the owner, who had not anticipated this onslaught of hungry STP riders on a Monday morning and was woefully understaffed, but the breakfast was great, as was the service despite the lack of extra help.

Thanks again, you guys, for helping us to launch our tour!

We said goodbye to Mike, Leslie and Isaiah and headed back to our room to pack. Once that was done we had a quick nap (check-out time was noon and we were determined to use up every last second!) before heading out to ride our fully loaded bikes once again.

It was a little strange trying to get them down from the room. It took two elevators as one, with all the bags on it just barely fit.

Jim getting out of the elevator - very carefully!

just a couple of crazy cyclists on their way!

On the road again, it was a short little trip up the road to my old school friend Marlene's house. She has a lovely little home and had invited us to spend a day or two recouping with her. It had been a number of years since I had seen her, so the opportunity to catch up was not one I wanted to pass up on.

We enjoyed a fantastic meal at the local mercado with Marlene and her sweetheart, Stan. The mercado was made up of several food trucks featuring food from Mexico and Central America. It was a great place with a really cool vibe - I totallly recommend the Colombian food truck, but they all looked fantastic - a great place to eat in the Northeast end of Portland.

We finished our day with a relaxing session in Marlene's hot tub. It has all these jets that managed to massage all the parts of our legs and backs that were still sore, which I really needed as on Day 2 of STP I had developed a sore back and it was really bothering me.

One place we visited was the Keen Garage - a very cool setting

Our second day in Portland we decided to visit the Pearl District, which contains many funky businesses as well as more mainstream ones like REI. We needed to pick up a dromedary bag to carry more water for those sections of the ride where services will be a little more limited. Marlene took us to Powell Books, an amazing book store! We were a little (make that a lot) gobsmacked by the size of the building it occupies - an entire city block, all devoted to books! In this day and age, it is wonderful to see something like this not only surviving, but thriving, based on the number of people we witnessed busily shopping for that perfect book. The real moment of revelation came when we asked at the reference desk for the section on travel. "Well, what kind of travel?" we were asked. "Travel by bikes" we responded. "Oh, well, you want the cycle-touring section. That's on the purple floor in row 720". What? They have a cycle-touring section? You're kidding, right? Sure enough, we went up and there it was - a section devoted to what our current passion is. Unbelievable!!!!!

just a tiny, tiny portion of the books at Powell's

Jim got just a little excited at the prospect of so many books to look at!

After our very satisfying visit to Powell's, we checked in on a few more shops and then went to a gallery where Stan has some of his work exhibited.

This was a piece of felt art that reminded me of my friend, Carolyn

After all that walking around we were pretty hungry, so we ate lunch at a great little Vietnamese restaurant in the area. We loved the many little shops and restaurants in this part of Portland and look forward to coming back again to spend more time here. It reminded us of a combination of Granville Island and Yaletown back in Vancouver.

The afternoon brought us to the Japanese Gardens where we met up with Stan. We spent several hours touring this amazing place. It is build high on the hillside in Portland, so we were happy to not have to ride our bikes up to it! To get into the Gardens you need to walk up a set of stairs through a lovely forested area. There is a shuttle bus too, but the afternoon was not too warm so we chose to walk up. At the top are some new Japanese style buildings containing a restaurant, gift shop and meeting spaces. The really fit in well with the landscape and you get a feeling like you are in Japan, touring a garden there. In fact, this garden is considered to be the most authentic Japanese garden outside of Japan!

We found the atmosphere so relaxing and really enjoyed taking our time and seeing the many beautiful sites which included a Koi pond,

we were amazed at the variety and beauty of these fish

rock gardens (with a mysterious wooden structure that we all puzzled over) and moss covered trees. It is a magical place and well worth the effort to get there!

see all the moss? It's really incredible

If you peek just behind Marlene, you can see Mt. Hood in the background. I was amazed to know that you can see both Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens from Portland!

Wishing these two lovebirds many years of happiness

Later in the day we had dinner at Stan's place where we got to see his workshop. Stan is an amazing artist who works in wood. We were so interested to see the process he goes through from first inspiration to finished product. How satisfying it must be to be able to express yourself in this way - thanks so much, Stan, for sharing this with us!

A lovely dinner finished off with a local brew for Jim - that's another piece of Stan's artwork in the background

Our delicious salmon dinner over, we retired to Marlene's house, only a few blocks away, to retire early as we wanted to get out in the morning at 6:00 to beat the heat, which was expected to be in the upper 80's (that's US measurements). We enjoyed our short time in Portland so much and plan a return visit in the near future!

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