After getting a nice shower and comfortable bed to sleep on we awoke and headed into Portland. Having never been to Portland I didn’t know what to expect. There were a couple targets for the day (Powell Books, Saturday Market, Tilikum Crossing, and the International Rose Test Garden). We started with Powell Books.
Powell Books is a large independent bookstore that takes up an entire city block and has three floors. It was fun to peruse through the books and to see the different offerings in our favorite categories.
After Powell books, we went to the very large Saturday Market where there are vendors of all types. There were dozens of food and craft vendors. There were street performers and a large crowd buying all sorts of different wares.
We enjoyed the market for a while then we headed to get a bite to eat at the Old Town Brewery and Pizzeria. We enjoyed a simple appetizer and some drinks then we had to head back to the car and drive down to the Tilikum Crossing. This bridge does not have car traffic, but rather pedestrians, bikers, and the tram and is a new addition to Portland. Crossing bridges is one of Lea’s favorite things to do. The structure is beautiful with pedestrian lanes and bike lanes on both sides and in the center are the tram lanes.
We were getting tired after a long day walking around and we were ready to leave and we remembered we were told to visit the International Rose Test Garden. We pulled into the city park complex and worked our way around to the Rose Garden and we were amazed at the number of roses, the beauty of the roses and of course the variations in the smells of the roses.
After walking around the rose garden for a bit we headed back to Forest Grove and met up with Alena where we decided to treat her to some sushi at her favorite local sushi venue.
The next day we awoke and our plan was to visit Cannon Beach, famous for the large rock formations which sit just off the beach. This is the famous series of rocks which align with the key from One-Eyed Willy of the Goonies fame. Alena’s friend told us to skip Canon beach in favor of Oliver West State Park which is just south and has very little tourist traffic and would still afford us the chance to see the beautiful multicolored sea stars. We agreed and headed for the beach with intentions of arriving right at low tide. We pulled in, hiked down to the beach and scoured the rocks in search of sea stars. None!! Oliver West beach was absolutely beautiful as described and there were few people there, just a few surfers and as we left there were more and more families pulling in.
Since we struck out on sea stars we headed back north to Canon Beach for another chance. It was very difficult to find a parking spot, but eventually, we did and we hiked directly over to the rocks.
The largest rock is Haystack Rock and has a large colony of nesting seabirds on it. Unlike Oliver West beach, this beach was crowded. There were three-wheeled bikes rolling all around, hundreds of people, and clouds. We were only 10 minutes north of our previous site and we had clear skies and now there wasn’t a break in the sky. We started to look around on some of the rock outcroppings as the tide was coming in and again we struck out on finding sea stars. Later on, did we learn that there has been a major die-off of the sea star from what they call the red tide, whihc is linked to a warmer ocean.
On our walk back from the rock arrangement we stumbled onto a gentleman who was flying one of the most complex kites I have ever seen. He controlled it so well and was able to buzz the sand, coming within a few feet from crashing each time.
We headed back to Forest Grove and ordered some Thai food take out and relaxed for the evening. Tomorrow we are heading for Crater Lake National Park and Alena is joining us!
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