Serendipity, It's a wonderful thing!

We have a "tradition" when it comes to going to Portland...we try and stay near the city, for about three days.  The first day is to go to park and settle in the campground. The second is to go to  Powell's City of Books for several hours to stock up on books for us, for Christmas and birthday presents and then to go to Old Town Pizza for a late lunch  with donuts at Voodoo Donuts after wards for a treat.  The third day we usually visit with family or friends in the area.

That usually was the plan.  I called first choice, they were booked up, so I called our second, they had availability, so I booked the three nights.  I didn't call any family or friends to say we were coming, something in me just said "to wait", so I did.

We settled in.  Later that day we noticed a group of campers across from us pulling out all of their belongings and washing everything.  There were three couples in the group.  All afternoon and evening they were at it.  In the morning, I told Jack "I think they must have encountered a bad dust storm, only thing that could have gotten that badly into every single nook and cranny!"  He thought it might be "beach sand" since we were in Oregon, and not that far from the ocean.  As he was outside, he went over to them and talked with them.  He came back and said "you called it sweetheart!  They were at Burning Man!  They are all from Holland and have just spent ten days at Burning Man!"

 

We then went  into Powell's and did our shopping, then to Old Town Pizza for our late lunch.  While there, we had a nice talk with the young man serving us about donuts.  We had heard about Blue Star Donuts, so asked him "Blue Star or Voodoo?"  He said "Blue Star, definitely!"  He said "Blue Star is quality, Voodoo is novelty".  So, we went to Blue Star.  Wow, what an experience!  It was like walking into a jewelry store and being shown precious pieces (and so were the prices).  But, the quality was really there.  We decided to splurge and buy a dozen and take them back to the Holland group!
So, box in hand, we marched over to their campsite and asked if they were ready for a break?  And did they they like donuts?  YES!  We all sat down and everyone introduced each other...to many names to remember...but we all sat around for more than an hour and talked and talked.  What fun!

I ended up spending time with Fred, who turned out to be a photographer, and as would have it we exchanged emails and Flickr accounts.  We met a couple more times to chat, but they had to finish cleaning as they were going store their RV with family and fly back to Holland on Thursday.  It was such a short visit, but we all got so much fun out of it.  It just "clicked".  Fred said more than once that he would stay in touch, read my blog, etc.  I hope so.  Life is full of surprises.

We opened up our door Thursday morning and a lovely bottle of Jonge Bols Graan Jenever was left on our door step.  ;-)

Catching up in Arizona,  Marie

Enjoying Oregon!

Once we settled into Bend, things seemed to turn around for us.  The sun came out, things warmed up and once again life was good!  Yea!  Our new campground was lovely and a great place to "get things settled".  We needed additional tires, and electrical fixed from the blowout, as well as to just rest up from the experience of it all.  Calls were made, people came out, and things were handled (as best they could, anyway).  There didn't appear to be much to "go and see" in Bend except for Tumalo Falls, so we saved a pretty day for that and took a short drive out to see them (along with hundreds of others, as it turned out!).  They were indeed lovely, but what I enjoyed even more, was the beautiful grove of aspens I found along the way!  Jack was kind enough to pull over to the side of the road for me while I tromped into the woods for a bit and spent about 20 minutes just basking in their beauty while I snapped picture after picture trying to capture it all.  Colorado has nothing on this sweet little grove!  I could have stayed there all afternoon just watching the breeze flicker their cute little leaves so they just sparkled in the sun...

As we drove back to our campsite, the drive picked up several of the trees starting to turn yellow, orange and red...aah, autumn is definitely starting...and even a nice view of Mt. Hood...

We left the following morning for a week in Portland.  Usually we are here for only a couple of day, and usually in the middle of November, so it's nice to come a month early and to be able to spend a little more time actually enjoying the city.  We have friends and a niece here that we visit as well as a couple of "favorite stops".  We tried a new campground this time, right in the city, and it sure was nicer than commuting 45 minutes each time!  Columbia River RV is right by the airport and I was concerned the traffic and the noise would be a problem, but it really hasn't been; we will use this place again!

It wouldn't be Oregon or Washington (your right on the border) if it didn't rain some of the time...so of course it did...but I have to confess, it hasn't been to bad!  We decided to take one of the days and drive out of the city and go see the state capitol, which is in Salem - just an hour and a half away.  Not bad, and we have never been!

When we got there...the sun came out!  ;-)  We missed the tour, so did the "self-guided" one and chatted with the receptionist to learn as much as we could.  It is a pretty simple capitol building without a lot of "fancy" trappings as it was burned down twice before and they decided to use a lot of marble etc. the last time.  I did like the "Woodsman" on the top of the dome (called the drum" because of the shape) though - very different.  And different is what they were after.  They wanted Oregon's Capitol to "stand apart from all the other Capitols...to be "distinctive and different".  Another change they made was having dual staircases, instead of one grand staircase at the entrance.  They felt it was more open and airy adding more natural light to the area.  The drum has 5 windows around it that also enhances this effect on the rotunda and helps shine down on their beautiful murals.

Our last day in Portland we were able to finally enjoy two of their beautiful gardens...the International Rose Test Garden of which Portland is famous for, and the Portland Japanese Garden.  I was surprised to find that the Rose Garden still had so many flowers in bloom.  Being mid October, I expected to see a lot of bare bushes, but was pleasantly pleased to see blooms everywhere!  Nothing like it would be had we been there in April or May...but certainly beautiful for a sun-filled October in Oregon!  Nice!

Portland Japanese Garden was delightful.  I had no idea what to expect.  We lucked out and wandered into a guided tour, thank goodness!  Cheryl spent an hour with us and walked us all around the park and explained each of the 5 areas of the park and shared the philosophy of the design of each area.  It really made a difference knowing the "what and why" we were seeing.  I'll never look at a Japanese Garden the same again!  Absolutely beautiful...

They also had a very interesting exhibit on The Noh Masks of Ohtsuki Kokun...how they are made and their meanings as well as some beautiful silk brocade costumes.

It was a beautiful way to spend the sunniest of days here in Portland!

...on the road to Washington,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

 

...On the road again!

The countdown to leave began.  Thanksgiving was Thursday.  The very last of the doctor re-appointments was Friday morning and by Friday afternoon we had taken two loads of "stuff" back over to the rig for reloading and reorganizing.  Phew!  It's surprising how many things wandered over to my sister's in the 6 weeks we were over there!

Friday night was the "good-bye dinner", the last of the turkey, a few more hugs with admonishments of "no tears tho".  No need to wake up extra early Saturday, because we were only going to Vancouver Washington.  So a nice breakfast, lots of hugs and kisses, and back to the rig we went!

I couldn't believe how slow I was at "remembering" to pull in the slides, to pull up the levels, at each of the steps to hook up the truck!  Jeez, 6 weeks and the brain cells went on vacation!  What used to happen without even thinking, actually took some thinking!  Tisk, tisk.  It was more than time to be on our way!!

As I've shared before, there's nothing like the feeling of getting in the passenger seat, strapping myself in, getting comfy and seeing the road ahead and the world passing by along the side, I was smiling now!  We were on our way - somewhere, it didn't really matter where!  It didn't matter that it was raining and it doesn't matter that the campground is just a pretty parking lot with gravel sites, we're traveling again!

We're in Vancouver for a couple of reasons.  We have a couple of dear, long-time friends who moved here years ago from San Diego that we see every time we pass this way.  They are special people that we don't get to see often enough.  He just retired this last May, so hopefully now they will get to travel a bit more, so that will change (their not RV'ers tho, darn).  The other, is that we are big fan's of the Powell Books in Portland, and can't be near this area without a day visit there!  If you've never been, and you love to read, you need to add this place to your "must visit" list!  One (they have at least 3 stores) store is 4 stories high, a square block full of every kind of book ever written!  Their other stores are specialties - travel, technical, etc. Way cool.  They have new & used, so you don't have to spend major dollars either.  We only carried out 6 books this time and spent less than $50.  That's really good for us!  A really nice dinner capped the day off, then back to our wonderful, cozy home for the evening.

Sunday, we ventured over to Portland's (famous) Saturday Market (yes, I know it was Sunday, but, hey, it's Portland, they can have it on Sunday too!).  What great finds we found!  So much better than buying in stores!  Those that know me, know I really don't like to shop, especially in stores, but I do like markets, or bazaars, boutiques, anything locals hand make or put together themselves.  That, I will support.  Something really special for the new baby coming in June, a incredible vest for Jack, some very unusual earrings (always can use new earrings, right?) for me, along with another knitted ear warmer (my ears get cold and I don't like to wear hats so much) and a fire starter for his cousin that he should have gotten one for every guy "on our list"!  ;-) Very fun!  A stop for pizza that turned out to be one of the best we've had in the two years we've traveled - so, again, if you are ever in Portland, stop in at Old Town Pizza!

A search for dessert led us to Voodoo Doughnuts, of course!  Our first 'go-round' we passed it up as it had a line down the block!  So, we headed out to check out one of their local gardens, Lan Su Chinese Garden.  It was just about to close, so the nice docent let me in for free!  I quickly snapped a bunch of pictures and scooted out.  Then, we headed to the "World's Smallest Park" - Mill Ends Park.  It was created by a man who gazed down on the busy Front Avenue thoroughfare.  He turned a a utility pole hole in the median strip at Taylor Street into "Mill Ends Park"!  Later it was made official.  What a hoot!

After braving the rain and the traffic, we deserved the donuts, so off we went back to Voodoo Donuts, this time, no line!  Jack was a happy man.  A great way to end the night.

Can you tell it rained all night?  Nothing "fancy"here, but, it's camping!

Only place I've seen where someone handmade a chain-mail "tie dye" shirt!

This is the elevator shaft where "Nina" went down and still "haunts" at Old Town Pizza!

Yummy Voodoo Doughnuts on the "doughnuts go-round"!

Lan Su Chinese Garden

 Mill Ends Park, Vancouver WA

...on the road in Washington & Oregon,  Marie