Saturday, November 30, 2013

Pacific Northwest Trip June 2013 Day 4 Wednesday June 19

UPDATED: February 10, 2021

This is the fourth of a series of posts dealing with my tenth and most recent trip to Seattle as adult, this time also covering Portland. I’ve made minor corrections to these reports.  What few updates there are indicated by NOW in brackets. 

Minor editing to fix typos/incorrect names.

I walked north to the Portland Streetcar station. The streetcar arrived as I was about to get my daypass, so I missed getting photos of a few stops as I got my daypass inside instead (while separate from TriMet they share the same daypass program). I took the streetcar to the Portland Aerial Tram station, which was surprisingly busy on the lower end. Still got some great views of Portland. On the way back down to the lower (hospital) end, there were only two other people.
 
[NOW:  Portland Streetcar is City of Portland. I believe this was the A Loop.]

The next streetcar wasn’t due for another 15 minutes so I ended up walking downtown instead. Realizing I might not have much time to explore Portland proper today, I visited Salmon Street Springs and Mill Ends Park before heading to the near light rail

I took the Blue MAX train (TriMet) to Beaverton Central Station (the stop after Beaverton Transit Center from yesterday, but obviously also in Beaverton). I ate breakfast at McDonald’s. I would have liked to have visited Powell’s Books there, but it didn’t open until 10 and I expected delays towards the middle of the day. I bought a bunch of DVDs at Beaverton’s Everyday Music. My info said Things from Another World opened at 9 but there it said 11.
 
[NOW: That Everyday Music has closed.]

It was still too early for my next stop, but I still wanted to visit the town it was in. So, I simply took the 52 bus to Aloha and took the 57 bus from there (both are TriMet and you can get on both in Beaverton; I just wanted to say I’ve been to Aloha). On the latter bus there was a young girl screaming for her amusement; her dad didn’t try to stop her. The bus arrived at Hillsboro Transit Center. When I asked at Arcade Book Exchange if they had graphic novels, I got the sense that the woman would never dream of selling those. I also visited Jacobsen’s Books & More.
 
[NOW: Jacobsen's is now closed. ]

I went to the westernmost Blue MAX Station, Hayfield Government Center, and took the train on an over hour and a half ride to the easternmost stop, Cleveland Station in Gresham; near the end of the trip a loud crying baby was on the train a few stops. Then I took another train to double back one stop to my actual destination, Gresham Transit Center.

I took a free SAM (Sandy & Area Metro) bus to Sandy. Some Bookstore in Sandy was apparently closed down. I ate lunch at Dairy Queen on my way west to Sandy’s Blockbuster. It started to rain so I put on my coat but knowing I had a long hike ahead of me, stuck with short sleeved pants. At one point a returning SAM bus stopped where I was walking past as it was pouring, but I only got confirmation of no stops at Boring.
 
[NOW: The SAM bus is no longer free.]

It cleared soon enough and after a long walk (hour?) made it the main part of Boring, where I photographed Boring Bark & Landscaping.

[NOW: According to signs in the area the latter is just outside of Boring proper. However, both Google Maps and Boring’s own zone map place this as being within Boring limits. The town was named after William H. Boring, hence the unusual name.]

I passed the Boring Fire District and Boring Post Office, I also got photos of myself at SE Andy. I bought a DVD at Green Food Mart. She wasn’t going to give me a receipt at first but I made sure I got one.  I passed Boring Mini Storage and Boring Square Garden Center, visited a store I can’t recall the name of, passed the Not So Boring Bar & Grill, and visited the Boring Shell Station (the only franchise I could find in this industrial town).
 
[NOW:  Boring Fire District is now Clackamas Fire Station 14.]

I passed the Boring Middle School, probably the highlight in terms of names. I couldn’t find the Boring Machine Works, but since I got photos of all the above I’m happy.

[NOW: There was also a sign where the Boring Saturday Market is held.]

I think the next walk also took an hour because I was more tired and this part was up and downhill multiple times as I headed north. Not sure if I was in any town when I got the 84 bus (TriMet) to downtown Gresham. Downtown Gresham now really is boring. Every store had the same beige one-story buildings. I bought a pop at a place whose name I can’t recall.

Leaving downtown I visited Just In Video (another hike, more tiring ion part because I put on the slacks waiting for the 84 bus earlier. Another walk took me to CD Game Exchange, where I got some DVDs. I took the Blue MAX to JELD-WEN Field MAX Station, walked to McDonald’s for dinner, walked to the hostel, did one final short walk, walked back.

[NOW: CD Game Exchange is now closed. JELD-WEN Field MAX Station is now Providence Park MAX Station. The hostel was Northwest Portland Hostel]. 

BTW the weather was expected to be better tomorrow, but the per cent change of rain kept on increasing for to tomorrow, hence my chancing the walk in the rain today in Boring. One way or another I was going to get rained on, so might as well get it over with today I figured. This concludes the part of the trip devoted to areas just outside of Portland. Tomorrow all Portland!

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