Portland: Days 2-4

Friday was a bit lazier for me.  I took a bus toward City Center, and I went on to check out the Waterfront walk.  I started at Steel Bridge.  Portland is really bike and pedestrian friendly, so virtually every bridge is accessible by both car and walker.  There is also a lot of water around here.  It's really beautiful and green for a city.  It doesn't feel nearly as cemented as a place like New York or even Chicago.

The walk along the river was nice, warm, sunny.  Lots of people run and bike here.  There's also quite a few homeless, but I never really felt worried because there are so many other people around.

I walked down to Hawthorne Bridge where I crossed back over the river.  I decided to walk towards a nearby cafe, which when walking, it doesn't really seem nearby.  Portland is interesting because you can quickly go from residential to shopping to warehouse back to residential pretty quickly.  The other thing about Portland is that it's got the largest number of non-chain restaurants, so there's really not very many repeating places.  This can be a good and bad thing.  If you like a place, you can only go back to that one spot.  But, there are also a lot more choices.  Anyway, I found a place to sit for a while, and then I just decided that I would rather sit around and read.  So I took a bus out to meet Tanya at her class so we could ride back to the hotel together.  I also knew that I needed to make sure I didn't wear myself out for Saturday.

Saturday was a big day for me.  And Tanya was extra sweet and supportive - she got up early so that I could take her to her class so I could take the car to my race.  When we decided to go together to Portland, and knowing that I would have days on my own, I looked for any races I could.  I found the Helvetia Half Marathon.  Perfect.

(That last picture of me finishing, I was turning off my watch so I got an accurate time.  Sorry you can't see my face.  But I do wonder how many finishers have pictures like this.  At the beginning of any race, you can always hear the beep! beep! beep beep! of all the watches and timers people switch on.)  This was my third half marathon, and definitely the biggest.  The course was through the back country roads of Hillsboro, OR, up and down hills, with lots of beautiful views of the farms and forests.  We even ran right by the Roloff Farm, which if you watch TLC you'll recognize from the show "Little People, Big World."  Obviously we didn't go in, but I did see the sign!

The pictures all have dots on them because the photos are stupid expensive, so I refuse to buy them.  Like, $20 for a digital copy of one photo.  No.  Anyway, I wish I had a picture to show you of the huge crowd of runners lining the country road, all the bright neon dots bouncing between rolling fields of green.

If you're in to traveling for running, I highly recommend this race.  There are lots of people, so I was never running alone; there are plenty of water stations and multiple toilets along the way; the views are really lovely; and it includes lots of food and snacks, a free burger and beer, a pretty cool t-shirt, and a medal.  Even though I was there by myself, I really enjoyed it.  I didn't finish as fast as my other two, but I knew I wouldn't.  This one was significantly warmer (it was technically only 60, but 60 and humid and sunny, so I got sunburned) and it was hillier (almost 900 feet elevation gain).

Needless to say, Saturday evening was just about relaxing.  Even though, to tell you the truth, I felt pretty good.

I had no plans on Sunday.  I was going to head up to the Rose Test Gardens, but then I learned that it was the Pride Parade.  So I went on down to the Burnside Bridge on the Old Town side of the river to watch the LGBT celebration.  This was definitely one of the longest parades ever.  I didn't stay for the whole thing because it was so long.  But it was cool.  There were some pretty cool floats, a couple bands.  And I didn't see any protesters.  I did walk around the festival area, but because I don't live there, it was slightly less meaningful.

The good news, though, is that the Saturday market (which also goes on Sunday) was right next to the parade, so I walked through that part.  It was pretty cool.  It reminded me in a lot of ways of the markets we went to in South America.

After Tanya got back, we decided to go down to a local favorite ice cream spot called Salt & Straw.  If you ever go to Portland, you definitely should eat this ice cream.  When they give it to you, it's a lot prettier than this, but I'd already eaten some of it.

Some other things we know about Portland:

1) Everything is a craft: beer, doughnuts, ice cream, restaurants, even boutiques and coffee shops and clothing (it's kind of a hipster's paradise)

2) Everyone is into recycling.  It's everywhere.  Cars are into recycling.  It's like, a thing.

3) They call this the City of Roses.  So naturally every yard has roses.  Roses everywhere.

If you're looking for a nice city to get away to, this is a really nice city.  Plus, it's really easy to get out of the city.  Beautiful hikes and drives are really not that far away!

Road trip to come!