Portland is not so popular among Japanese as Seattle, St. Francisco, or Los Angeles on the west coast. But it has a direct flight connection with Tokyo, Japan within 10 hours. My impression toward this city before the trip was related to its environmental consciousness expressed by those words as organic, bicycle, light rail, and roses with its neighboring scenic beauties. For example, Portland is said to have almost 40 microbreweries within the city limits, more than any other city in the world. I imagined paring local organic foods with its crafts beer would be a nice pastime in Oregon, although I'm anything but a gourmet. Portland may be looking to be "weird" in a sense in seeking more naturalness and arts rather than the convenience brought by industrialization or modernization, and that's just what I was looking for in this trip as a senior backpacker.
I stayed in the hostel in Portland for the first three days since I came here on Aug.29. It was located in a quiet residential area in the Northwest district of Portland, within walking distance from downtown. I made a reservation for a private room instead of a shared room considering my age. Next to my room, a young couple with small kids was staying and I also enjoyed talking with a senior tourist from the other U.S. state at the breakfast room in early mornings. So not only young hostelers, but also all generation, locally and internationally, men and women were all together here, which made me feel relaxed. The room was simple and clean without lousy TV set and impressive with the chic drawing on the wall above the tiny but practical desk. The hostel was run by young people, who were all friendly and helpful, providing guests with various activities like “Brew Pub Crawl” or “Portland downtown Walking Tour”.
On the next Saturday, I joined in the “Washington Park Walking Tour” led by Abby with two other hostelers of a senior lady living in the south coastal area of Oregon and a young guy from Portugal who were currently working in US. We departed the hostel at 10 am and enjoyed in walking, chatting, and a nice view from the park hill and OHSU Tram, an aerial tramway in Portland connecting the OHSU Hospital on the Marquam Hill and the city’s South Waterfront.
After touring of 6 days, I came back again to Portland and stayed for two nights at a home in a residential area of the Southwest district of Portland, about 20 km east of downtown. I happened to find this renting room of an ordinary citizen's home on the Internet while in Japan. They were nice husband and wife belonging to the same baby boomers as me and I could feel some atmosphere of people's life in Portland. The room was cozy and decorated with their paintings on the three walls, bringing a kind of warm and faint breeze. I was surprised to know that she was growing tomatoes on her vegetable garden from genuine organic seeds, rejecting the Genetically modified foods, and her tomatoes tasted really sweet.
In downtown, I'd also like to recommend tourists to pay a visit to the Multnomah County Library, especially when they feel like taking a rest after their exhaustive wandering around here and there or shopping.
This library is very friendly and gives us useful information about the region. Even a tourist like me can read any book on the shelves for its vast collections. I borrowed the 3 books on Mt. Rainier based on their helpful advices and had a pleasant time on a shared desk for nearly 4 hours examining the routes I had trailed, sometimes using my notebook to reference to the Internet info via its free service.
Around their home at the Southwest, unfortunately or fortunately, there was no good restaurant, so I went east to Gresham just in the opposite direction from Portland downtown for finding a good local restaurant, where it took me about 20 minutes to go by bus. At a small restaurant which served local Northwest cuisine, I thought they served one of the best dishes ever I've experienced in U.S., listening to those mild 1960s American hit songs like Pat Boone's. In return to my night bed, waiting at the bus stop next to the Max Trail, there was a nostalgic mood in which I indulged myself as a stranger from a distant country.
Finally, a lot of thanks to God, the people I met, and the awesome nature, I had really enjoyed these 11 days in U.S..
(The End of the series of "Senior backpacker at the wheel on Oregon roads".)
This was actually my first one day
drive since I came to US 3 days ago on Aug. 29. I planned to make a round tour from Portland through Columbia Gorge, Hood River, Lake Mirror, and back to Portland. I thought this would be also a nice test driving to confirm that I was ready for safe driving in US where people drive on the wrong side of the roads.
<Historic Columbia River Highway>
Historic Columbia River Highway is a scenic highway along Columbia River in Oregon stretching from Troutdale to The Dallas. A guide book says that it was constructed between 1913 and 1922 not just as means of traveling by the then popular Ford Model T, but designed with an elegance that took full advantage of all the natural beauty along the route. Nowadays this old two-lane road runs in parallel with the modern Interstate 84. While in Japan, I checked my portable US Garmin GPS navi in simulation mode to see if it would correctly choose this scenic road instead of I-84 to go to Hood river from Portland. But this intelligent machine chose I-84 without hesitation, which forced me to input two more extra addresses on this particular road for Crown Point Vistas and Multnomah Falls.
I departed the Northwest Portland Guesthouse at 8 am and after filling up at a service station, headed for Crown Point Vistas, one of the most scenic points on this historic road. This site stands 223 m above the river and I could enjoy a magnificent view of the Columbia Gorge from the lookout of this Vista House. From here to Hood River, it was really awesome to drive on this old winding mountain road with a magnificent view of the Columbia River spread out beneath my eyes, sometimes stopping at falls like Multnomah Falls, the highest in the area.
<Hood River Fruit Loop>
After lunch at Hood River, I turned to the Hwy 35 at the Exit 64 of I-84 heading south for Government Camp on the southern slope of Mt.Hood. I drove through the Hood River valley, a farming community famous for its varieties of fruits and wine. Along the route just before reaching to Tamanawas Falls Trailhead, I found a fruit stand lively with some visitors and parked by the near roadside. They were offering peaches, nectarines, plums, and apples in a country style of store surrounded by the lovely colored flowers garden. How sweet their peaches were! In the brochure I got at Hood River visitor center, more than 30 of local farm stands were mapped on the Fruit Loop.
<Mt. Hood>
Passing through the Fruit Loop on Hwy 35, Mt. Hood was beginning to appear in the westward. This is the highest mountain in Oregon with the height of 3,427 meters above the sea level, especially popular as a ski resort through all seasons.
<Mirror Lake>
Oregon Route 35 merges onto U.S.26 toward Portland a few miles east of Government Camp on the southern slope of Mt. Hood. I found the Mirror Lake Trailhead 1 mile away from Government Camp. It was nearly 3 pm and although I was anxious to return to my hotel in Portland before dark, I started to walk across the small wooden bridge to make my way to the lake. This loop trail hiking is loved by people of all generation in Portland and I met many young couples, families with their kids and senior groups on the trail and enjoyed saying hello to them when we passed each other. Unfortunately it became cloudy when I reached to the lake, so I could not admire this great Mt. Hood standing in the north side from the loop. But it was a nice and refreshing two hours' hiking.
I drove through Rhododendron and Gresham on the route 26 and came back to the Northwest Portland Guesthouse before 6 pm. It was a gorgeous round tour with 9 hours of scenic driving, hiking, and delicious fresh lunch at a Hood River's cafe lounge, which also gave me more confidence in driving on U.S. roads for the week ahead.
(to be continued; next back to Portland)
