Portland Week 1

I spent a few days at the William M. Tugman state park on the Oregon Coast.  It was a really nice park and the weather was very cool.  It was a nice change from the heat of Redding CA.  I decided to take it easy and just drove up and down the coast taking in the sights.  I planned on trying out my kayak in the lake, but a cold front moved it so I spent the day cleaning out cabinets and rearranging things. 

I got to Portland and hit the ground running.  I’m having such a great time, I don’t want to leave!  In the first week alone, I hung out with my favorite cousins Joyce and Lisa several times.   I took all the ‘valuable stuff’ I cleaned out a few days before and added it to a giant yard sale.  Although I made $70 and got rid of a bunch of stuff, the best part of the day was just hanging out.  I had dinner with a friend Mike and his wife Michelle a few times, they’re great to hang out with.    Mike works with the Hood River County Sheriff Marine Patrol.  He took me on a ride along to work the Roy Webster Cross Channel Swim. Out of 400+ swimmers, trying to swim 1.1 miles across the Columbia River, only 12 couldn't make it.  We got two of them.   I attended a reunion picnic from my Oregon Air Guard unit and had a great time.  It was so much fun seeing friends I haven’t seen in over 12 years.  I was amazed at how everyone looks pretty much the same.  My friend Rick and his girlfriend have a 3 year plan to hit the road in an RV.  I can’t wait to see them on the road!  A few of us are getting together this weekend in Salem to see some of the people who couldn’t make it to the first picnic.  I had lunch with yet another friend, Ellen.  Not surprisingly, we had a great time!  My friend Angela, who I recently saw in Arizona, and I have seen each other a few time and even got to meet up with the wonderfully crazy Sara for lunch.  I forgot how many people  I know in the area and how much I always loved living here.

But, it hasn’t just been visiting with friends, I’ve also done some biking and hiking.  I went for a short bike ride on the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail.  Back in the 1930’s this was the main road along the Columbia River Gorge.  It was replaced by a bigger highway and fell into disrepair.  It has since been restored to a beautiful biking/hiking trail.  There are old moss covered bridges all along the route.  Along the 10 mile stretch I did, about 5 miles were lined with blackberry bushes.  I passed a few hikers who said, like me, they were doing more picking and eating then hiking.  The PCT is out this way and I passed several groups of hikers along the way.  That evening I had  Joyce and Lisa over for dinner.  I made lasagna, which was OK.  I made blackberry crisp out of the fresh berries I picked and it was awesome.  We made plans to go berry picking and stop for ice cream in Cascade Locks.  If you read the book Wild, by Cheryl Strayed, she talked about an ice cream place near Bridge of the Gods.  Half a dozen people I talked to said I had to have an ice cream cone from there, so it’s on my to do list.  
 
I moved from a boring RV park in Vancouver to a State Park out near Cascade Locks.  There are so many hiking trails out this way, I figured I’d save a ton of money in gas and the scenery is much more interesting.  The Columbia River Gorge is so beautiful and there are spectacular waterfalls everywhere.  Today I hiked on Columbia River Gorge trail 400.  The trail head is in my campground and it goes right by Horsetail and Ponytail Falls.  What an awesome day, roll out of bed and hit the hiking trail. 

I know it’s not a particularly interesting blog entry to read, but I am having a wonderful time reconnecting with old friends.  I’ve checked in with the local park service to see what kind of volunteer positions they have and basically it’s just camp hosting.  That wouldn’t really leave me time to hang out with friends or do much hiking since they expect me to be on site most of the time.  No thanks, I’ll pay the fee and just camp. 
 
Link to Pictures
https://picasaweb.google.com/118205599704530902363/Portland#

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