The Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood

A couple weeks ago I ventured out of the city again to check out the looming Mt. Hood up close and personal. I see it often peeking out on the Portland skyline, but it usually seems veiled in haze or fog which has somehow made it phantasmal to me. Although it’s only about 50 miles from downtown, it seems to hover ghost-like in the distance. To get a more tangible vivid look at its peak, I decided to take a scenic route and make a day of it.

I started by traveling along the Columbia River through the Gorge. The river borders the north side of Portland, across which you can see the state of Washington. As you wander out of town, there are several vistas where you can enjoy the view.



A little ways further, after cruising down a winding forested road, you come upon one of Portland’s most visited landmarks – Multnomah Falls. It’s the second-tallest year-round waterfall in the U.S. after Yosemite Falls.

Then I turned away from the Gorge and headed south toward Mt. Hood. I traversed farmlands and orchards and enjoyed the warm fall day, although the leaves weren't really changing color yet.

View of Mt. Hood in the clouds from Trillium Lake

Then my car climbed up the winding slopes to the top of the mountain. I knew that there would be some snow, but I was still kind of shocked by how cold it was. I took an invigorating stroll up the bluff to admire the amazing views.

Mt. Jefferson as seen from Mt. Hood

My 'Hood

Sellwood Riverside Park looking north to downtown Portland up the Willamette River

My reading tree at Gabriel Park

Gabriel Park Community Garden

Lake Oswego Public Library
I spend a lot of time here on the internet and renting free DVDs.

Tryon Creek State Park
This fairy-tale forest is only 1.5 miles from my house and has lots of winding trails.

It also has a nature trail that has rotating art installations.

Portland Farmers' Market

Singing and the Art Happening

“Without music, life would be a mistake.” -Friedrich Nietzsche

What’s a girl to do alone in a new city? Well, I know that friends usually don’t just fall in your lap, and I resolved to take the pursuit of fellowship into my own hands. I decided to try to find some group to join or some regular event to attend, and I discovered just what I was looking for at another one of Portland’s many festivals. The Bite of Oregon is a celebration of local food, drink, and music. While I was enjoying grilled Moroccan spiced prawns and an Organic Tree Hugger Porter and grooving to a Grateful Dead cover band, a choir stepped onstage.

“This is it!” I thought. “A choir like this is the perfect thing for me to join.” So I did some research and contacted the director, and now I am a member of the Flash Choir. It’s a small community choir that formed a year ago to perform at an art festival associated with the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art. And unbeknownst to me, I joined the choir at just the right time because this annual festival was just about to begin again, and the choir was involved in a couple different performances. This festival called T:BA (Time-Based Art) features dance, theater, visual art, film, video and things that cannot be easily categorize. Watch the following video to learn more. Happenings like this are the reason I moved to Portland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_Frk2OYJHM

We performed both opening and closing nights of the festival at a nightclub-type space called The Works. The building, called the Leftbank Project, is an industrial building converted into a venue for T:BA:08, and soon to be a community gathering spot.

The first night we sang a six-part song entitled “Caesar’s Gate”, which was written by one of the directors of the choir. And then on the closing night we sang “After the Goldrush” by Neil Young and “For Today I am a Boy” by Antony and the Johnsons, as well as another song written by our directors about the festival itself.

I’m at the end of the top row on the left.
Photograph by Gordon Wilson

It was a great experience, and I’m really looking forward to more performances. It feels so good to sing again! I love being a part of something so quintessentially Portland. I love the camaraderie of my fellow singers. It seems as though I’m thriving in my new environment.

The Beginning

Let me take you back to the beginning of my journey to Portland. My friend, Andy, my cat, Kage, and I set off from Phoenix on a hot June evening with my minivan (hand-me-down from Mom and Dad) and U-Haul trailer with the ambition to make the entire trip to Portland in one go. We took turns sleeping and driving, crawling up the I-5 in a kind of a haze.

Mt. Shasta in Northern California

We arrived in Stumptown over 25 hours later! Then, a kafuffle arose in regards to what I had planned to be my living situation. I had originally intended to move into a house with a roommate, but the place was so disastrous, I decided to give my backup (the Japanese couple) a call. However, I couldn’t move in right away, so Andy and I continued north, and headed up to Seattle to see a concert. I had purchased tickets to see Crosby, Stills and Nash several months earlier, knowing that I would be moving to Portland around that time. So, here we were, exhausted travelers with a U-Haul and a cat going to a winery in Washington to see a concert.

The next day we met up with Andy’s aunt and uncle who extended us very gracious and warm hospitality, and let us stay the night with them. We hung out with Andy’s cousins, and had a good time. Then we rolled back down to Portland, and moved all of my stuff into my little cozy new home.

Over the next couple of months, I enjoyed getting to know my new surroundings.

Mt. Hood at sunset over the Willamette River near my neighborhood.

I couldn’t wait to visit the coast, so as soon as I could, I drove out to Cannon Beach, which is only about an hour from Portland. I had such a glorious day, relishing my freedom and solitude. I went for a hike in the thick conifer forest above the shore, and then went walking on the windy beach.

Haystack Rock

Cannon Beach is such a quaint little beachy town with an artsy flair. There are several galleries and bookstores and bistros in rustic earth-toned buildings, and not a chain store (Safeway, McDonald’s, etc.) to be seen. I took a book into a appealing little pub, and I sat out on the deck as I drank a couple of locally brewed beers and looked out at the waves and read my novel.

On the 4th of July I road a bus downtown to the Riverfront Blues Festival. It was a sticky muggy night, and there were hordes of people everywhere. I brought along a blanket and found a tiny little patch of grass to sit on among the throng of families and bikers and hippies and drunks and canoodling teenagers. I grooved to the music and watched all the party-goers.

Party boats on the Willamette River.

When it got dark, two barges moved into position on the river and set off fireworks over Hawthorne Bridge.

Several weeks later the temperature rose so high in Portland, I had to escape to the coast again. I never thought that I’d be hotter in this balmy northwestern city that in scorching Phoenix, but then of course, I was used to everywhere being air-conditioned. My little a-frame upstairs apartment does not do very well in 104 degree weather with only a little fan to cool it down. So, in lieu of suffocating in my stifling studio, I drove out to Astoria, which is on the northern coastal tip of Oregon. This area of the state proudly displays anything having to do with Lewis and Clark everywhere. Just south of Astoria at Seaside, I paused to pose with the famous duo.

My plan was to go camping, but every campground I came across was full (I guess everyone had the same idea as me), until I ventured upon an RV park that had a few tent sites. It wasn’t exactly camping in the wilderness, but at least there was a cool breeze.

I visited one of the town’s well-known landmarks, the Astoria Column. It sits on the top of a hill as a monument to Oregon history and the end of the Lewis and Clark Trail. There were beautiful views of the ocean and the Columbia River below.

Closeup of the column.

The Columbia River opening out into the Pacific Ocean

Lewis and Clark River

Afterward I sat on the gusty beach and looked out into the misty horizon.

Bicycle on the beach.

My New Home

So, here I am embarking on a new adventure all by myself. I moved to Portland about two and a half months ago, and I already feel like it’s home. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still excitedly exploring everything, and each day I find new things that are novel and provocative, but I already feel like Portland is just the right fit for me.

I meet such cool and quirky people almost every day, and I love being engulfed in the lush greenery every where I go. There are so many unique little shops and restaurants and neighborhoods, and there seems to be at least one festival of some kind going on every weekend. There seems to be something cool around every corner. Of course, this image of Portland is my perspective, which may just be clouded with rose-colored glasses right now. I’m bolstered by the accomplishment of moving to a different state by myself, and I’m basking in self-confidence and the quenching of some of my wanderlust.

It’s true, I do feel lonely and vulnerable sometimes. For instance, the transmission broke on my car, and it no longer goes in reverse, so my transportation situation is fairly precarious; I’ve had to do a lot of creative parking. But, thankfully, I live in a city that’s known for it’s public transportation system, and I have a bus stop right outside my front door. In fact, I’ve taken public transportation pretty often already because it’s just more convenient. The MAX (Portland’s light rail system) is just plain fun to ride.

I live in a small studio apartment in the South Western quadrant of Portland. It’s definitely not the most happening part of town, but it’s quiet and safe. My studio is termed a “mother-in-law apartment” and it sits above a garage behind the house of the family I’m renting it from. The family is made up of a young Japanese couple and their 3-year-old son. They are very mild-mannered and easy-going, and, of course, we both enjoy having the Japanese connection. When I told them I had a cat named Kage, there was no explanation necessary. (For those of you who don’t know, kage means “shadow” in Japanese.)

The main house (with my apartment in the back) .

View of my apartment above the garage down the driveway .

The back of the main house.

(The vine-like plant on the ground is some kind of Japanese squash.

My landlord planted it soon after I moved in, and I swear that it's grown about a foot a day.)

My landlords' chickens in their coop in the backyard.

(I get free eggs!)

View of my stairs as they wrap around to my front door.

Kage on the landing by my front door.

I got a job working at a Hilton Garden Inn as the Night Auditor, which means I work the graveyard shift. I’ve always been a night person, but the hours are still pretty tough. I’m hoping to get a different job with better hours and better pay in the near future, but for now it’s not a bad place to work.

I’ve already had a few adventures here in Oregon, and I’ve taken some cool pictures of them. Unfortunately, I don’t yet have a computer of my own to which I can upload the pictures on, yet. (The ones you see here were taken with my new phone’s camera, which I can send directly to an online album.) I’m planning on going to a Kinko’s or Walgreens soon, to see if they can put the pics from my camera’s memory card onto a disc for me. Hopefully the next blog will describe those first Portland adventures I experienced.

I miss hanging out with my parents and all my friends back in Phoenix, but life is good anyway. I feel pretty content, but also a little giddy. I’ll let you all know how things go from here.