Portland, and northbound
10 August 2007Saturday, August 4 found us traveling into Portland for the day. We attended the Saturday Market, an eclectic collection of arts and crafts, as well as music and food. We drove to a park and ride, then took the Max light rail into Portland. I’m impressed with Max. They did a good job. One spooky thing is that the original set of light rail cars were done at the same time as those in San Jose. The equipment is strikingly similar. Since then, both agencies have moved on, but the recorded voice on Max is the same as the one we have at home.
After walking part of the market, we took the Max further downtown and transfered to the Portland Streetcar. Amazingly, this city has two separate light rail systems. The Portland Streetcar seems to be a lighter form of light rail than the Max. It’s almost entirely street running, where the Max goes into dedicated right of way between the downtown centers. We took the Portland Streetcar to the Oregon Health Sciences University (the medical school) which boasts an aerial tram between the two parts of their campus. This I had to ride, so we did.
I’m a transit geek — what can I say? (update: here is a photo taken from the tram.)
I spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the Vancouver Elks, in work mode. This is not vacation. We are just living life on the road. If it all works out, we plan to give up our apartment and full-time in our trailer.
On Thursday, 8/9, we moved north to Thousand Trails, Chehalis Preserve, east of the town of Chehalis, WA. This park is really beautiful. I’ll try to post some photos.
We’ll be here at least a week. We have an appointment next week to get the trailer brakes repaired.
We plan to enjoy the weekend, then I’ll be in work mode again for most of next week.
Today is August 10. It’s been 39 years since I had my Bar Mitzvah.
No comments yet