We have returned, flush with newly-broadened horizons and tales of our exploits to share. As mentioned in the previous update, our canceled plans for Italy resulted in an impromptu itinerary for San Francisco and Oregon. Given the "substitution" nature of this trip, we couldn't have hoped for a better outcome. We had a great time.We arrived at our hotel in Japantown on September 29th after a $40 cab ride ride from the airport. I commented on the heavy traffic and was told that it "wasn't that bad"; it looked like rush-hour to me and our progress slowed to a crawl for a good part of the ride. The driver was excited when we told him that it was our first visit to his town and happily started playing tour-guide, pointing out landmarks and commenting on the city in general. It was a fitting introduction to SF, I thought.
We were hungry by the time we settled into our room, and after asking for recommendations from the staff, we made our way to a sushi restaurant just down the street from our hotel. It was a busy, family-run place with good food and friendly service. We ended up visiting it twice during our stay, despite the wide variety of restaurants that San Francisco has to offer. I especially enjoyed the number of choclatiers in the city! These people have their priorities right.
We attacked the hilly streets of the city with a gusto, walking our feet off for miles and hitting the usual tourist attractions first. Pier 39, among the most famous, was enjoyable even though it was very crowded. I couldn't resist a peek at the sea lions and really enjoyed the San Francisco Harbour Aquarium. It was small, but the underwater tunnel made up for it. Our tickets included a ship-board bay tour, but we decided to delay that for later in our visit and continued walking all along the piers. Our visit to the Automaton Museum was really fun, like taking a walk back in time.
Another enjoyable diversion in SF is the shops; Pacific Heights and Filmore street were my favourite. I found a lovely new necklace and unique ring and Phillip finally bought a leather jacket that he liked. We could not do any wild shopping, given the limited bag space for the flight back, but it was fun to browse. The consignment stores are even better than the ones here or in Florida's wealthy Watercolor neighborhood. But that's not surprising, considering the quality of living in SF; it's more expensive to live there than here!
As for culture, we took in an exhibit at the Metreon, downtown, called "Da Vinci; An Exhibition of Genius". They focused on his notebooks (replicas were on display) and a wonderful exhibit of machines that he had conceptualized and sketched. The machines were all wood, metal, and cloth - materials that would have been available to him at the time, and were painstakingly built by a team of architects, artists and others who have studied Da Vinci's work for decades. Most of the machines were "hands off", as expected, but some were able to be manipulated so that one could watch the result of a pulley, for example, or a water screw (a concept still used in pumps today). He was very interested in the measurement of time and there were several very intricate working clocks, one of which was my favourite piece in the exhibit. There was also an octagonal chamber full of mirrors with a peep hole that he designed to study a subject he wished to draw, as well as several improbable, but nonetheless conceivably workable machine guns. One of the questions raised by the exhibit was "How would the course of the history of warfare have changed if Da Vinci's machines and tanks been used in early wars?" Fascinating and well-designed exhibit. If it ever arrives in Ottawa, I highly recommend it.
We also took in a comedy show at a downtown comedy college, which turned out to be the semi-finals for a competition among the students. Most of the comics were very good and it was almost as amusing to see how excited they were that we had shown up as "real guests" rather than as people who supporting their friends on-stage. Phillip said it was like going to see a show at Ottawa University when the audience was full of actors watching their classmates perform. There was a vote at the end of the competition to choose three favourites, and while the two men we liked were picked, Phillip and I were both disappointed that the woman chosen was one of our least favourites. We guessed that she had the most friends in the audience.
By the fourth day in San Francisco, both Phillip and I were footsore (despite the wonderful, deep soaking tub in our room), so we were slowing down, but there was still so much to see! We had done the bay tour, visited Nob Hill, the piers, and the downtown district, and we debated about going to the de Young Museum versus a long walk in Golden Gate Park. Deciding we didn't have the strength for the "museum shuffle" (if you've had the aching feet after visiting a museum, you know what I mean), we decided to walk as far as we could through the park. The sculpture outside the museum and the Japanese Garden were particular hi-lights, despite the fact that, in my usual "head in the clouds" method, I took an ungraceful tumble which gave me some colourful bruises. The botanical gardens were wonderful (I couldn't resist the flora / fauna pictures), though the squirrels were scarily bold. One of them actually nudged Phillip's foot with his nose, as if to say "Why aren't you feeding me?"
We flew to Portland on October 4th and rented a car for the drive to our friend, Amanda's, neighborhood. It's called "Nob Hill" as well, and while very pretty and one of the most expensive parts of the city in which to live, it doesn't quite seem a fitting name. Not after visiting San Francisco. Our hotel in Portland was decidedly "funky", with green, purple and orange dominate colours and cheerful, modern surroundings. Our room was really like a bachelor apartment, including a full kitchen, which supports the "green mentality" of the business. We could only stay one night, since the weekend was booked for a wedding, but we took the opportunity to visit with Amanda and her new beau, ate wonderful Indian cuisine and sampled some of Oregon's microbrews at a local pub. It felt like we were back in Ottawa!
We left the next morning for the drive to Columbia River Gorge Hotel, and the route was scenic, to say the least. We stopped every few miles, it seemed, to appreciate some natural splendour, a waterfall, or a state park. A very friendly Oregonian in the park (transplanted from Hawaii) gave us all kinds of great advice for what to see and where. Despite the cool weather and overcast conditions, the drive was spectacular and the sights unbeatable.
The hotel is as historic as the scenic drive - the whole thing was planned and built around 1912, and we found the surroundings decidedly different from Portland. When we checked in, we were informed that the "champagne social" was in the drawing room (yes, it had a fireplace and chandelier and cushy chairs). We enjoyed free champagne while we chatted about what to do for this portion of the trip, and when we returned to our room (furnished with antique-style bed and furniture), we found truffles and glass bottled water on our nightstand, with turn-down service complete with music and robes laid out for us. Very posh. Too bad the building still has all the failings of older architecture; we heard people in nearby rooms quite clearly and were woken frequently during the night by the sound of the waterfall behind the hotel, as well as the train which passed at regular intervals. We were not unhappy, however; because we ate in Hood River at the 6th Street Bistro that night and I had one of the best meals of my life. Breakfast at the hotel was also very good - the dining room had beautiful views and we enjoyed a walk around the grounds before we left.
As you can see from the photos, Oregon is absolutely beautiful. The drive to Parkdale was simple and we arrived earlier than expected, so the hostess of the Old Parkdale Inn gave us plenty to see and do while she cleaned the rooms and after dropping off our luggage, we set out with plans in hand. Our timing couldn't have been better if we'd planned it beforehand! The Fruit Loop, so called because it is a round-trip of the majority of orchards in the area, was an excellent diversion because it is harvest season. One can just pull into the driveway at any of these farmhouses, most of which have attached stores for their wares, and sample the apples, pears, jams, jellies, cookies, honey and more. I had an excellent apple turnover at Apple Valley Orchard (naturally). Their shop is reminiscent of an old "general goods" store, and we bought a few fruit / pepper jellies and some dark honey to take home.
As if that wasn't enough, it is also "Crush" season for the local wineries. I had raved about my Sauvignon Blanc to our waitress at the bistro, so she explained in amazing detail, the winery that made it and how to find it. That information, added to the map given to us at Old Parkdale Inn, was enough to convince us that we couldn't leave Oregon without a quick drive through wine country (which included a bit of Washington) to sample the local flavours. After three.. or was it four (?) stops, Phillip had to be a good driver and cut himself off - we learned that these wineries snub the "taste and spit" mentality, so we were a bit buzzed by the time we got back to Hood River. And guess what was going on there? A Hops Festival! Yep, a celebration of micro-breweries! We decided to skip a sit-down restaurant supper and bought tickets to the festival instead, which included souvenir mugs and an opportunity for several samples. I only rejected one of them; it got dumped, but I gave Hood River Brewery two thumbs up for some truly unique pale ale. We ate, and drank our samples slowly, but Phillip again stopped before he really wanted to because I was already too happy to drive.
The band oddly stopped playing at nine o'clock, which took some of the life out of the party, so we decided to head back. We had a pleasant surprise on the way; a huge elk and her calf crossed the road in front of us. We crawled under the duvet back at the Inn wise with new knowledge: Oregonians love three things above all others: good wine, good food and good beer! Three cheers!
Breakfast at the Inn was at a big communal table and very pleasant. The harvest season is very busy for the area, but apparently it gets very quiet in the winter, when its mostly weekend skiers. Our hostess recommended that we take a different route back to Portland so that we could drive around Mt. Hood and stop off for a visit at Timberline Lodge, a National Historic Landmark, built in 1937. It is a classic example of whole log and stone construction and quite beautiful... once we actually found it.
The fog conditions were such that, after driving up the mountain along snow-flanked roads and arriving at the ski lodge parking lot, we were a little disappointed. After the hype about the lodge, we expected something more traditional and dignified than the concrete and wood building that had all the character of an elementary school. It smelled and felt just like my old primary, with lockers and everything. We walked through it, underwhelmed, then came out on the opposite side expecting to find little else. Only about a hundred meters away, invisible through the white mists, was the actual Timberline Lodge! Good thing we decided to explore a little! As it turns out, the newer building was created to reduce wear and tear on the original lodge, and is used mostly by day-trippers who come to ski. The Lodge is for people who are staying for a visit and includes nice historic displays that tell about early explorers on Mt. Hood; two of the original five were women!
The rest of the drive, through small community towns, one of which was aptly named "Boring", was uneventful and we were happy to return to our funky hotel in Portland. Amanda, who had run a marathon the day before, did not come out to see us our first day back, so we explored on our own and, in the spirit of wishful thinking, even looked at a few condos during Sunday open houses. Keeping with tradition, something came up back home and I got a call from our neighbor telling us that our fire alarm kept going off in our apartment. I gave her the number for my friend, Kristina, who was looking after Scuttle and then received a panicky call from Kristina saying she didn't know what to do. There was no fire, but the stupid alarms were going off because the batteries had died! In the end, she called the fire department who came in and changed them. This sounds drastic, but we have fifteen foot ceilings and it was better than having Kristina climb a too-short ladder and hurt herself. We keep expecting a bill in the mail from the fire department!
By Monday, we were all vacationed out. We went downtown for a while, visited a bookstore (an amazing, four-story independent with new and used books side by side!), but were happy to relax and do little more than read and drink lattes at a local café. Amanda mustered her strength to take us out for a short tour of the city that night and had dinner with us before we said goodbye. I bought some Oregon wines to supplement the drinking chocolate and coffee card we had purchased for our friends who were pet-sitting for us, though Kristina has since told us that she is officially off the list as a cat-sitter. She's had too many mishaps to comfortably do it any more, poor woman. I don't blame her.
It took me a few days to sort through, clean up and label our vacation photos. They're uploaded now and hopefully will give you the complete picture (pardon the pun) of our adventures. The second part of our aborted trip to Italy is the tickets which were transferred to a Canadian flight. We've had progress reports (of a sort) from the lawyers, saying that the visa papers are to be expected soon. So far so good. We hope to receive them soon so as to confirm that we will definitely be "home for Christmas". You'll hear from us as soon as we get any news - especially if we're expecting to stay with you!
This was a long one, but I wanted to cover all of our trip in one go. We hope you are all happy and healthy and we look forward to seeing you soon!
