This is the 3rd of a series of posts dealing
with my 2015 trip to Portland, Seattle, and vicinity. I’ve made minor
corrections to these reports (typos, bits I don’t feel like making public).
Also, I’ve added additional thoughts with the hindsight of two years later or
to add further clarification. These are
indicated by “NOW”.
I turned in before 9 because I was seriously sleep deprived
from the night before. Some sounds in the night but overall I managed to get
caught up on sleep.
This morning I left at 5:10 am and wandered to the Capitol,
then to Capitol Lake. I crossed a bridge to the west side and then another to
the east to get some waterfront area photos. I wandered downtown some more. I
one section the west-east streetlights were off and the north-south ones were
blinking. I walked back to the hostel, passing Sylvester Park along the way.
Soon breakfast, maybe another short walk, then to the first of the two larger
sections of the trip. Have a great day everyone!
[NOW: The above was written in the morning. The rest was
written in the evening. The first bridge was at 4th Ave W, the
second at 5th Ave W.]
For anyone wanting to hear about the $4 deal at Oregon Zoo
today... I did my best to fit it in but there were other things I was more
excited about doing and despite my best efforts to get ahead of the game the
timing just didn't work out. Since I don't want to pay $7-$8 extra to go on a
different day, well, some other time perhaps. It would have been great to do on
my last day in Portland but today I was still in full explore mode. So, here's what I DID do today:
[NOW: The Oregon Zoo is in Portland, specifically
Washington Park].
On a whim I took the free 101 Dash bus (Intercity Transit) around
Olympia and chatted with the driver a bit; the bus passed through the Capitol
twice. I returned to Ground Inn, got my key deposit back, then walked to the
Greyhound. I was early so went across the street for a little bit and then
returned to the Greyhound Depot where I found out I had to check in. One woman
was upset that the bus hadn't arrived 5 minutes after the schedule time; I
pointed out that with Greyhound five minutes late is considered punctual. The
bus finally arrived. There were no window seats left so I asked people
generally if someone could trade. No takers. One person did finally offer a
left side seat after I found a right side seat where I could shoot at the
window without getting anyone's head so I decided to stick with that. In Centralia
though, the woman I was sitting beside offered to trade so I got a window seat
on the right side after all; right is better than left to get sign markers. In
Centralia there was a brief layover so I got a pop at the Chevron Station store
there. The bus stopped briefly in Kelso before, as expected, arriving in
Portland half an hour late.
[NOW: Ground Inn is now closed.]
I thought I had missed a 77 but towards the hostel so
bought a daypass from a MAX Light Rail machine instead of the bus and therefore
just missed the bus.
[NOW: The hostel I stayed at was Northwest Portland
Hostel].
I walked to the hostel where I put my stuff in storage
before going to the nearby McDonald's. In an effort to try to fit everything in,
I ordered lunch to go and then walked east and then dashed to an arriving
Yellow Line MAX train (TriMet Transit). I took the train to Delta Park/Vanport
Station just in time to see a 4 bus (C-TRAN; all 4/44 buses this day C-TRAN)
bus leave. The next one arrived (unlike their CSPAN express buses their regular
buses take TriMet passes) and took the bus to downtown Vancouver WA.
[NOW: It’s now the 60 that connects at the above MAX
station, not the 4].
I visited Lucky Loan Pawn Shop and Esther Short Park
before returning to the bus stop. At that point I had decided to skip Barnes & Noble but
still wanted to visit f.y.e., in part to get the photos of Vancouver from the
bus. I therefore took another 4 bus to Vancouver Mall and got a couple DVDs at
f.y.e.
A 4 bus was leaving 12 minutes before the 44 so even though
it arrived back at Delta Park/Vanport later I decided to take it. But then it
stopped at the Barnes & Noble at Vancouver Plaza and I realized I could
actually save time stopping at Barnes & Noble. I was too late to get off
but I got off at the next stop and doubled back to Barnes & Noble for a
quick look and then took the 44 bus to the station. I took the Yellow line (all remaining transportation
this day TriMet) to N Lombard Station and walked to VideoRama, where I bought
some DVDs. I took a 75 bus west to another VideoRama that was closing down and
bought... too many DVDs, mostly cult classic. The guy handling the DVDs seemed
a bit of a stoner and didn't think before purchase to remove the security cases
from the DVDs I had stacked, which would have saved me some time had he done so
before purchase. They had no bags at all, only a box so I crammed all the DVDs
into my backpack just in time to miss a bus. I walked to McDonald's, had dinner,
and to a 75 back to north Lombard Station and a Yellow MAX train downtown.
[NOW: The entire VideoRama franchise has now closed.]
I visited Mill Ends Park (world's smallest park, located in
the middle of a crosswalk) and Salmon Street Springs, erroneously listed in
2013 trip reports as Bill Naito Legacy Fountain. The water was coming out this
time almost looking like a white wedding cake. I briefly returned to Mill Ends
Park and then took a Blue Line MAX train to Providence Park Station, the stop
closest to the Hostel. It had a different name in 2012. Does anyone recall the
old name? Answer Saturday or when someone guesses correctly whichever comes
first.
[NOW: No one guessed JELD-WEN Field MAX Station.].
I returned to the hostel to drop the DVDs off, get my bags
out of storage, and snag a lower bunk. I walked to Burnside and took a 20 bus
to near the waterfront hoping to find the real Bill Naito Legacy Fountain. I
left my backpack but recalled it was supposed to be in the area. Much to my shock
I found it almost right away despite partly flying blind. It’s an okay fountain
with jets from the ground. I walked along Burnside, grabbing a strawberry pop
from a convenient store and passing the park with the elephant sculpture that
looks more like a camel. I visited Powell's and Everyday Music before returning
to the hostel.
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