This is the 6th 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”.
First off I'll add an extra day to the Providence Park old
name contest, so Sunday BUT now two people have used Wiki to find the info. The
idea is to test the memory (or do some clever detective work); it's cheating if
you just Google it.
[NOW: Providence Park MAX Station was previously JELD-WEN
MAX Station.]
Definitely a day of mishaps though luckily of the type
that's easy to come back from. Nothing
lost or damaged. I woke up at 3 and couldn't get back to sleep. Finally got up
just before 4:45 and went to the Union Stn/SW 6th & Hoyt MAX Station and
got a daypass. I took me 20 minutes to notice the screen saying no train for
another 45 minutes. I walked to the same Subway as last night but it wasn't yet
open. I grabbed breakfast at 7-11 and briefly visited Mill Ends Park. I walked
to SW 6th & Madison MAX Station and took the Green MAX train (all trips
today TriMet Transit) to Clackamas Town Centre MAX Station in Clackamas. I
walked to Clackamas Town Center Transit Center and took the 75 bus to SW Roots
St, Oatfield, missing my stop because the bus screen and audio voice indicated
some stops but not others. Another issue this whole day is I've only found one bus
schedule thus far. I got a bit turned around but then crossed the street to the
tiny town of Johnson City. Yes, Roots runs along Johnson City. Ahem. It's only
0.18 km so it's probably the smallest Johnson in the US if not the entire world.
Didn't see any store but the City Hall was by Johnson Lake. I walked east to a
stop in Oatfield and after a bit of a wait took the temporary (due to
construction) 179 bus to Gladstone. Not as close as the 79 would have been to
where I wanted off but close enough. I headed west and then crossed the
Clackamas River Bridge (yes over that river) into Oregon City. Now, you know
how with many towns you want to get past the fast food places etc. to get to
the prettier part of town? Well, with Oregon City aside from part of the river
walk and one small strip, the fast food places ARE the prettier part of town;
Very industrial. I crossed the Willamette River briefly into West Linn and
back, on the way back spotting the Willamette Falls.
[NOW: The hostel I stayed at was Northwest Portland Hostel.
The bridge I crossed to and from West Linn was Oregon City Arch Bridge.]
Heading northwest to get a better view of the falls, I was
briefly blocked when the sidewalk seemed to end at a tunnel. Finally, I spotted
an unmarked pedestrian tunnel. Reaching the falls view area of Oregon City I
noticed the falls weren't natural but rather a dam from the ugly industrial complex.
Heading to a bus stop and wanting to get out of this ugly town, I waited a
while and the 33 finally came and took me to Oak Grove. Mike's Comics Collectibles
was gone and CD/Game Exchange wasn't yet open. I then made a huge mistake and
waited for the 32 bus a block away, not realizing it was far more infrequent
than the 33 and going to the same place. About 40 minutes later the bus finally
arrived, by which point I was in a pretty bad mood.
[NOW: When I walked to the 32 stop, I crossed over from Oak
Grove to Oatfield. CD/Game Exchange has closed.]
I bought a DVD in Milwaukie at a store called Acme-TV Movie
Classics. I also photographed the headquarters of the comic company Dark Horse.
Things from Another World wasn't yet open. I should have stayed longer in Milwaukie
because it seems nice but was still frazzled from before and so instead took the
29 bus back to Clackamas Town Center, passing Johnson City along the way. I
decided to skip the mall but did walk to nearly Happy Valley and back. I got on
the Green MAX train again at Clackamas Town Centre MAX Station, took it to Rose
Quarter Station, and then took a northbound 4 bus to Mississippi Rd.
[NOW: Acme-TV Movie
Classics has closed.]
Reading Frenzy had little stock. I visited Bridge City
Comics, made friends with a bulldog, and bought DVDs at CD/Game Exchange. I took another 4 bus to near Title Wave
Books, a fancy library bookstore. For
the first time I didn't find any books I wanted to buy though I did get two
DVDs. Returning to the bus stop, another 4 bus got stuck in congested traffic and I was a bit overheated by the
time the bus drove from east to west through downtown and then east again. I
got a bit confused and thought Clinton Street Video had closed but in my tired
state (2 pm and no lunch) didn't realize yet I was on the wrong street. I
walked north to Hawthorne and then east from there. I was pleased that I spotted
my old hostel from 2008 before I saw the hostel sign. A quick visit to a record
store, then I took the 15 bus east a ways. I had lunch at Subway and then
visited CD/Game Exchange and Powell’s on Hawthorne before heading to Belmont
and walking to Walgreen's.
Because I didn't have a card and was too tired to sign up for
one, i was overcharged for pop and returned it. I walked to Movie Madness,
which seems to alternate because lots of neat stuff and stuff I’m not
interested in. This being an even year, it was the latter. Realizing my earlier
video store mistake I took a 75 south to Division, a 4 bus west, and then
walked south to Clinton Street Video. Returning to the bus stop I arrived
downtown. I saw a bus I wanted to catch but the bus wasn't stopping near there
so I skipped that plan until tomorrow (by the way, everything after title Wave
was originally planned for tomorrow at some point).
[NOW: The bus downtown was another 4 bus.]
I saw a Red Line MAX train and took it to the airport just
to see the airport. There I drank lots of cold water. I took a Red Line MAX train
back south to 182nd St, where I got back advice on which direction to catch a
72 bus. I soon course corrected and took the 72 bus to Alberta Rd, where I
bought DVDs at the only remaining VideoRama I hadn't been to before. I took
another 72 bus to Killingsworth MAX Station, briefly getting a nice and cold
water from a vending machine at 76 gas station. I took the Yellow Line MAX
train downtown and grabbed pizza to go from Sbarro. I visited Mill Ends Park,
sat at Salmon Springs, visited Mill Ends again, and walked past the animal fountains
to a much larger fountain I kept meaning to go to called Teachers Fountain. In
that area they were doing Shakespeare.
[NOW: All branches of VideoRama have closed down. The
Sbarro was at Pioneer Place; it has also closed. The animal fountains are
called Animals in Pool fountain. Teachers Fountain and the Shakespeare
production were at Director Park.]
Walking to near my place I looked a beer prices at Whole
Foods Market but their beer was... organic prices. I found another smaller organic
convenience store that had some inexpensive non organic beer and returned to
the hostel. Tomorrow I'm going to do the impossible: have a low key day!
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