December 31, 2024
Meetup on Clinton Street
Bruce and Andrea fly south to San Luis Obispo tomorrow to retrieve the Raven and drive him north for us. That still leaves this morning for one last coffee visit with Bruce before they go though, one which I requested because I have a few items on my mind I want to discuss with him before they leave. I’m Uber-literate now, so I propose meeting nearer to his home turf at the Clinton Street Coffeehouse. I Uber over around seven thirty for my first cup and a cinnamon raisin bagel with peanut butter, and Bruce walks in and takes his seat an hour or so later.
Still in a catching up mode, we have the usual excellent visit and the time goes quickly. Before he leaves I remind him that he still has a breakfast at Stepping Stone Cafe coming when he returns, and then we both say goodbye and start walking home. His walk goes a little faster since he lives only ten blocks away, while mine is across the river four miles distant. My walk begins by heading west down Clinton Street - an eclectic and quiet street that’s a designated bike greenway. I’ve biked up and down Clinton Street many times in the past, but I think today is my first time walking it.
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2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
This has absolutely nothing to do with cycling! But, I did used to ride my 10 speed ( Raleigh) from home on the west side to Lone Mountain College (now USF )which is about 2 blocks up the hill from where her house was.
2 weeks ago
My overall plan for the four mile walk home is to follow Clinton Street to its western end and then after crossing the Max lines continue on west to the river, coming to it at the eastern end of Tilikum Crossing. Beyond that I think I’ll continue north along the river on its east side, maybe stopping in at another of my long time favorites the Water Street Cafe for a lunch break before crossing west somewhere - probably over either the Hawthorne or Morrison bridge.
That idea gets swapped out though when I come to Tilikum Crossing and realize how much more blue there is in the sky than was predicted. It makes me wonder if there’s a chance I could see Mount Hood in the distance if I got high above the river, so I decide to go for it. I walk across Tilikum Crossing and take my lunch break on the opposite side of the river instead, at Elephant Delicatessen.
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And here let’s take a brief break while I make a liar of myself and go back into vision recovery mode, because it turns out I was too hasty in reporting that we were done with the improvements. I realized this while sitting her eating lunch, watching this delightful group of four girls at the table on the right skipping around and singing fa la la la la while the adults hold court on the left. And I of course especially enjoyed being able to see them all so clearly at this distance. But that’s old news, something I could have done yesterday or even the day before.
No, the new news is further out - that man with the gold sweater sitting at a table at the very opposite of the delicatessen. With my glasses on, I can see the features of his face pretty clearly too- maybe just about as clearly as you see in this photo after zooming all the way in That I couldn’t have done yesterday.
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2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
It’s not a difficult climb up to Terwilliger starting from the Gibbs Street Overpass, particularly if you take the elevator up to the overpass level as I did today. No sense wasting my limited climbing capacity on an avoidable set of stairs.
Beyond that though it’s a gradual ascent of a few hundred feet through neighborhood streets until the pavement ends, and then a stairway and winding path the rest of the way. Not much, but I’ve really just been shuffling around in the flatlands all week so there’s a little more challenge here for me today.
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It’s not long before I reach Terwilliger though, where I turn right onto it and gradually descend north toward town. This is a strategic error or bit of stupidity on my part though, because if I’ve climbed up here hoping to see the mountain I should have turned left instead and kept climbing toward the crest where I could hope for the best views. And I know this of course, because I’ve biked this route so many times and know where those views are: up at the top, such as the wonderful one by the iconic Chart House Restaurant.
But then if I had done that, I wouldn’t have enjoyed the shock of looking ahead and seeing Elizabeth and her walking friends coming my way.
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2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
This was really a serendipitous meeting and produced probably my favorite photo of the two of us together. The first one is from very long ago and predates my earlier memory. I’ve been unable to find it, but if I ever do I’ll try to remember to come back and post it here so people can compare and pick their own favorite.
NEWS FLASH!! The lost photo has been found, hanging on the wall of Elizabeth’s condo. So here it is. Likes, dislikes, grossed out?
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1 week ago
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The four of us chat for a while, with me being quietly pleased when Judy, one of the friends, asks if I’m the biker and how my vision is coming along. I acknowledge both facts and then give a quick rundown on my current state. And then we part ways, Elizabeth’s group continuing south and uphill to where the Hood views are while I descend to the lower viewpoint and get looks at Larch Mountain, the mountains across the river in Washington to the northeast, and Mount Saint Helens. But not Hood, which you can’t see from here for the trees.
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2 weeks ago
The next spring I took a bicycle loop through northern Washington - east over the North Cascades Highway, south past Grand Coulee Dam, and then back west through Stevens Pass. I had to abandon the tour and hitch a ride back to Seattle though when I got about as far south as Wenatchee. More than a year after the blast there was still so much ash on the roads in NE Washington that I was biking through a constant haze from it kicked up by passing cars.
I have nothing but memories left from that bike trip, but somewhere in storage I’ve got photos of Rachael and me standing on the rim maybe five years later and looking down into the still shouldering caldera. I should try to find them and put up a post about my history with the eruption.
2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
A former landlady was in her doctoral program at the time and was planning to spend the night up at what is now Johnston Ridge, along with a colleague. David Johnston told them they could not stay as it was too dangerous. They were driving back up from Vancouver the next morning when the mountain blew.
2 weeks ago
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There’s a biker sitting on the picnic bench at the lower viewpoint, so I ask him where the closest Hood views are and he points behind my back. That way about ten or fifteen minutes by foot he says, and then whips out his phone to show me the gorgeous shot he took at the summit not long ago. So of course I have to go up there too, and I reverse direction and start climbing back the way I just dropped from.
And it’s totally worth it.
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2 weeks ago
Unfortunately, that pretty much uses up the last of the walking miles my legs have to offer for the day. I start walking back down again, but when I approach the lower viewpoint again my calves start feeling strange and a minute later suddenly I’m bending over in the middle of the sidewalk with the calves of both legs cramping severely
I’m wondering if I’ll manage to advance the three feet to the edge of the sidewalk where there’s a bench I can lean on while the cramps pass or if I’ll just collapse on the sidewalk here. It’s touch and go but I make it; and while I’m leaning against the bench trying to straighten myself out again the two women who have been watching my writhings from behind with alarm approach me to make sure I’m OK. I’m fine, just a cramp, thanks for asking I grit my teeth and say, and they continue on down the hill.
Which sounds pretty bad, but isn’t actually. I have a few more cramping episodes before I finally make it into the city and hop on the Max for the next mile and a half, but actually I’m very pleased with this hike. Because one of the many discoveries during this crazy last month is that I’ve got quite a bit more walking capacity left than I thought. I’m getting great benefit from getting out on walks almost daily in the last week, and walking is steadily getting easier. I think getting in better walking condition is strengthening the software around the knees and is taking some of the load off them.
I’m at five and a half miles by the time I get home, and if you add on another mile and a half for our walk to our New Year’s Eve dinner later in the afternoon that puts me at seven miles for the day, the longest walk I’ve taken for quite a while. I really need to start building more walks into my daily routine.
Our dinner is a big success, and the perfect way to close out a year that has a much, much rosier ending to it than we’d dared hope for. We both have the dish we normally have when we come to Serrato - she has the scallops, I the lamb radiatori, and today she raves over the scallops and the side veggies it comes with that she claims are the best she’s ever had here. Sweet potato! Brussels sprouts! Yellow squash! she points out enthusiastically as she spreads them out on her plate to show me.
And in a particular treat for me I’m happy to see that Serrato includes an Athletic NA beer on their beverage list, one of the varieties I haven’t run across yet in my new quest to find the perfect nonalcoholic pint. Happy New Year, indeed.
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