UPDATED: February 12, 2021
This is the 4th of a series of posts
dealing with my 2017 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”.
Yesterday I was given some breakfast cards. Only I
wasn't too keen on previous breakfasts here. Apparently they've renovated that
but there's only one day I can schedule a breakfast at Northwest Portland Hostel.
But you can also exchange the cards for a little bit of other food. Apparently
kids are allowed in the Secret Garden area of the hostel (the drinking area);
they just can't drink.
Slept mostly okay, interrupted only by someone
turning on the light at 1 am. Woke up around 4/4:30, an hour before I needed to
get up. I walked to Providence Park MAX Station and got a TriMet daypass. It
wouldn't accept my Scotiabank Visa likely due to strip wear but did accept my
old Royal Bank Visa. I took a Blue Line MAX train (TriMet Transit) to Beaverton
Station in Beaverton and went for a walk. My sense of direction failed me
trying to head back but with the help of a couple of people made it back and on
the WES train (TriMet) before it left.
[NOW: The TriMet daypass is only $5.]
I took the WES train to Woodinville Station in
Woodinville and walked to the 1x bus (all buses to/from/in Salem Cherriots
Transit). I think the coin machine misread coins so had to put in extra fare.
The only window seat was on the left side so that might make it harder to
catalogue photos later, as signage tends to be on the right side. I took the
bus to the McDonald's near the Oregon Capitol and had breakfast there.
The fountains in the nearby park were off. I walk
to the Downtown Transit Center and bought a daypass. I crossed Marion Street
Bridge over the Willamette River into West Salem, which is part of Salem but in
a different county. I noticed that the former Blockbuster was now a Sherman
Paints. It's a shame that the entire Blockbuster franchise went under around
four years ago so there's absolutely no possible way I could visit a
Blockbuster this coming Friday at approximately 10 am.
[NOW: The park is Oregon State Capitol State Park.
The Blockbuster I allude to above, in Sandy, has now closed.]
I visited Wallace Park before crossing the Union
St pedestrian bridge back to the east side. Returning to the Downtown Transit
Center where a Farmer's Market was being set up, I took a 16 bus southeast to
Kmart where I got more DVD sets; I think it was on the bus ride that I noticed
that $20 was missing. I walked north, than east, then north again. At one point
I could have waited for a bus but the stop was across from Oregon State Penitentiary
and didn't want to linger. I still made it to my destination, Buybacks, just
after opening. I got some DVDs. I wanted
the Blu-ray of Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (I have the DVD) but
they wanted $50. I walked north again to f.y.e. where I got more Godzilla blu-rays.
[NOW: The Salem Big Kmart has now closed. I didn’t
know it at the time but Buybacks was in Four Corners, not Salem; it has since
closed. The f.y.e. is in Salem, however.]
I took 2 back downtown to the Downtown Transit
Center and a 19 bus to Keizer. Both my usual places had moved south but the bus
only called out some stops not all, so when things seemed overly familiar i had
to dash back south about 15 blocks. Along the way I saw that someone had
written in chalk on a building, "Trump is President. Deal with it."
Actually I think the left is in fact dealing with it the way the right did when
Obama was President: via peaceful resistance. I took a photo of the store dog
at Tony's Kingdom of Comics. I got some horror DVDs at Mr Video. Impressively
since I visited once each in 2013 and 2015, the woman at the till remembered I
had been there before.
I took a 19 bus back downtown and a 17 bus over
Marion St Bridge back to West Salem. I thought someone had rung the bell but maybe
I was wrong because it continued on and I had to doubleback to McDonald's for
lunch. There was no crosswalk or street light near the street I wanted to get
to so it was hard to get to Reader's Choice but I made it. I took the first
bridge I was able to find a walkway for, Center St Bridge, back to the east side.
I walked to a comics and games store I can't recall the name of (hadn't heard
of it before) and Harvest Music, remembering there was something about it I
didn't like. The rows were so narrow I couldn't get in to look at them. Yes,
that must be it.
[NOW: The game store was Wild Things Games.]
Heading back towards downtown I saw that somewhere
in the distance some building was on fire. At Book Bin someone commented on it;
was unable to locate the store cat this time.
I visited Ranch Records, then the park near the capitol; only one set of
fountains were on; as with in the morning there was a singer in a tent. I walked
back to Downtown Transit Center where the 1x was arriving. So after all the
delays and backtracks I actually still made my originally intended bus.
Daypasses not allowed on the x buses. I took the WES train back to Beaverton
Station where I took a Red Line MAX train (TriMet Transit) back to downtown Portland.
[NOW: After Ranch Records I visited Borderland
Games. Both have since closed.]
I revisited Mill Ends Park, then Salmon Street
Springs, then walked along the waterfront to Bill Naito Legacy Fountain and
back. I revisited Mill Ends Park and briefly stopped in at Pioneer Place. I
took photos of a few art pieces before and after visiting Director Park, where
a woman was giving a speech against the travel ban. I had dinner at a different
Subway than yesterday, the one I ate at last year. I got on a Red Link MAX
train but there was an announcement of delays due to an apartment fire. I left
and walked past a Blue Line train. Both trains passed me before I returned to
the hostel. Spent a few minutes trying to find my padlock before turning around
and spotting it.
I drank a beer while doing this trip report in the
Secret Garden drinking area but the noisy kid from yesterday was back and the
mother was again encouraging him/her to
squeal while playing so I finally had to gulp down the beer and finish
this closer to my room as it was wreaking havoc with my Asperger's sensitivity to high pitched noises..
I've been also grabbing free papers throughout the
trip but haven't bothered with a blow by blow of that.
No comments:
Post a Comment