Saturday, October 5 & Sunday, October 6, 2019
At the last minute Marianne realized she had the day free and decided to join Rob and me for a trip into Portland to see the Japanese Gardens. We took the train in with our bikes, then had a steep hill to climb to get to Washington Park. (We walked most of the way up. At our ages we have nothing to prove.)
It seems like every day we have a surprise that makes me smile inside. Yesterday there were at least four surprises - pumpkin pancakes, unexpected beautiful weather, Fort Vancouver, and finding out we could take the train to Hillsboro. Today the surprise was a performance of a traditional Japanese string instrument called the koto.
The koto is a Japanese harp with 13 strings. Each string will play only one note with a slight tuning variation of a half or whole note, so the instrument has to be tuned between every piece. Each string is tuned by moving the bridge. The tuning depends on the piece being performed.
Not only was it fascinating to watch, but the music was beautiful. It turns out that Marianne has a solid music background and plays many instruments, so she was as eager to stay for the entire hour-long program as were we. I was tempted to record some of it, but didn't know if it was permitted.
 |
| The right hand plucks the strings while the left hand creates special effects, which may include slightly changing the tuning of the string. |
After the koto performance we wandered through the garden.
 |
| Each one of the rocks had a raked circle around it. Amazing to think about how it is done. The designs are refreshed about once a week. |
 |
| That's Rob with Marianne. We didn't know Marianne very well at the beginning of our visit, but by the end of our stay we felt like old friends. She's led an exciting life, working in social services, adopting three foster kids, taking her kids, grandkids, and clients on cross-country bike trips, and she plays half a dozen musical instruments. |
 |
| I have no idea who these people are. I took this picture because I was struck by the number of people - couples, singles, and small groups - who took the time to sit quietly on the many benches scattered about, seemingly enjoying the peace and quiet of the garden sanctuary. Some talked quietly among themselves but most simply shared in the silence and serenity of the garden. |
 |
| Of course no Japanese garden is complete without a collection of bonsai plants. This Japanese maple is 70 years old. |
 |
| Mountain Hemlock, 150 years old |
After we'd seen enough of the gardens Marianne took us on a bike ride along the Willamette waterfront on both sides of the river. Then dinner and back on the train to Hillsboro.
On Sunday, October 6, we took the train with our bikes to Gresham because the tourist literature described the town as having some outdoor art I wanted to see. We had lunch in Gresham, then rode a bike trail back to Portland where we found fancy chocolate and a cinnamon roll in the Sellwood neighborhood, and beer in Portland's Central East neighborhood.
 |
| Gresham had lots of fun bike racks. I think I took a picture of every one. |
 |
| I think this is also a bike rack. She spends most of her time caring for her mother who is 100 years old. Our visit gave her an excuse to get out on her bike. |
 |
| There were sculptures, too. |
 |
| And murals. |
 |
| I thought the sign in this window was very clever. |
 |
| If you look carefully in the center of the picture just above the tree with red leaves you can make out Mt. St. Helens. |
 |
| When Rob and I explored Portland by bicycle in 2012 we were intrigued with the variety of neighborhoods. Marianne tried to give us a taste of them when we arrived in Portland after leaving Gresham. In the Sellwood neighborhood I popped into a chocolate shop just for a look but one of the owners gave me so many free samples that I had to buy a piece - $5 for a tiny piece of chocolate. The flavor was very unique. I shared with Rob and Marianne. We also shared a cinnamon roll from the Grand Central Bakery. |
 |
| Then we had to stop at the Hair of the Dog microbrew in Portland's East Central neighborhood. |
 |
| The Tilikum Bridge in Portland, only for bicycles, pedestrians, and the MAX train, was a joy to ride over. |
From Portland we took the train back to Hillsboro where Marianne's daughter-in-law had a spaghetti dinner waiting for us.
We didn't rack up a whole lot of miles during our Portland jaunts. Saturday's tour was ten miles and Sunday's ride from Gresham to Portland was 23 flat miles.
Monday was a rest day to do laundry, get haircuts, and do some bike maintenance. Rob cooked up a huge pot of beef stew for Marianne's family while Marianne and I played fiddle tunes. That was great fun.
We wanted to get back to the Oregon coast as far north as possible. Every route option I looked into had a problem - too remote or too much traffic. We didn't want to go back the way we came because that route wasn't all that great. Sam, our cyclist roommate in Astoria, had taken the bus from Astoria to Portland, so it made sense to check into the bus to Astoria. It cost $46.
No comments:
Post a Comment