In this post:
*Leaving Holland, Michigan and flying to Portland, Oregon
*Staying at the Howard Johnson two nights
*Staying at Hawthorne Hostel for 10 days
*Not liking the city so far!
*Renting a car and going out to see waterfalls
*Spending the solstice on a hike at Tabor Park
*Transferring to the Northwest Hostel
*Christmas in Portland
*Leaving Holland, Michigan and flying to Portland, Oregon
*Staying at the Howard Johnson two nights
*Staying at Hawthorne Hostel for 10 days
*Not liking the city so far!
*Renting a car and going out to see waterfalls
*Spending the solstice on a hike at Tabor Park
*Transferring to the Northwest Hostel
*Christmas in Portland
Tuesday, December 10: I cannot believe that I thought it would be such a wonderful idea to actually leave Holland and fly to Portland on my birthday! A nice symbolism, but not happy birthday to me! What was I thinking?!?!?! Absolutely crazy day trying to get everything done to get out of apartment, and of course the weather is horrible, so difficulties in getting the car stuff settled, taking longer to run errands, wondering about flying out, everything.
Flights ended up being a bit delayed in both Grand Rapids and Denver, but not too bad (especially compared to other travelers--the ones trying to go east), but didn’t get to Portland, officially, until December 11, just after midnight. Kind of bummed that I didn't make it on my birthday, but upon landing in Portland, did feel excited in that moment. The pilot said, "Welcome to Portland. Peace out." I had made it!!!!
Flights ended up being a bit delayed in both Grand Rapids and Denver, but not too bad (especially compared to other travelers--the ones trying to go east), but didn’t get to Portland, officially, until December 11, just after midnight. Kind of bummed that I didn't make it on my birthday, but upon landing in Portland, did feel excited in that moment. The pilot said, "Welcome to Portland. Peace out." I had made it!!!!
THIS is Portland?!?!?! Wednesday, December 11: Staying at Howard Johnson hotel, and grateful for my nice hotel room to rest. There is an all-you-can-eat Indian food buffet restaurant about 20 feet from the hotel, yum! Went downtown on the #12 bus—direct and simple. But, Yuk! Downtown is VERY city, unappealing and dirty and full of high-end stores and complexity and is way too big. Hotel area also not ringing my bells. Hope this isn’t typical Portland. Highlight of the day: catching a glimpse of Mount Saint Helens in the misty far-away, just over the 7-11 by the hotel, while waiting for the bus.
Hawthorne Hostel: 10 Days in Southeast Portland
The Hawthorne Hostel 
Half of the dorm at Hawthorne Hostel (my bed on bottom left) Thursday, December 12: Wishing I could stay in my Howard Johnson cozy cave for a few days more, not wanting to leave for the hostel, but I have to leave sometime, might as well get on with it! Hostel is on Hawthorne Street, and seems okay, definitely quirky. It’s a house with three floors and a few dorms, 34 beds total. My room has 8 beds and is just off the kitchen. I don’t know what I feel as I look at my dorm...dismay, maybe? Hawthorne Street itself is a busy commercial street, rather unattractive. Hmmm…not liking this Portland thing so much so far. I settled in (which involved piling things mostly on or under my bed, thankfully a lower bunk) then walked around Hawthorne a bit and got some groceries at the Safeway up the street. Feels so very, very weird to be here.
Friday, December 13: Spent the morning walking the “scenic route” to UPS store. (By which I mean “unintentionally indirect,” but actually, it was rather pretty, also.) Immediately off Hawthorne Street there are really nice neighborhoods. Not much by way of lawns, most front areas are small and full of plants and landscaping. All different, individualized. Lots of moss everywhere! And extremely cool trees: covered in heavy moss and feathery lichen (are the trees even alive??). There seem to be sleeping roses everywhere.
Finally found UPS store, then got lost on way back. Tired and hungry, called Radio Cab, very nice operator and driver got me back to hostel.
Met up with my former college roommate, Raya, for lunch at a famous vegan “heavy on the tofu” place near the hostel. Very fun to see her again, but also disorienting—we’ve kept in touch, but haven’t actually seen each other in 20 years. In the evening, went to see the Hobbit at the Bagdad Theater down the street—an old, beautifully refurbished theater where you can watch discounted movies and eat in the theater: pizza, beer, other stuff—there’s a restaurant in the balcony! (But I had water and my smuggled in granola bar—I have to adjust slowly!). Still going to bed around 7pm, but sleeping until almost 6am. Must be tired--maybe sick? The laryngitis that started last week persists.
Finally found UPS store, then got lost on way back. Tired and hungry, called Radio Cab, very nice operator and driver got me back to hostel.
Met up with my former college roommate, Raya, for lunch at a famous vegan “heavy on the tofu” place near the hostel. Very fun to see her again, but also disorienting—we’ve kept in touch, but haven’t actually seen each other in 20 years. In the evening, went to see the Hobbit at the Bagdad Theater down the street—an old, beautifully refurbished theater where you can watch discounted movies and eat in the theater: pizza, beer, other stuff—there’s a restaurant in the balcony! (But I had water and my smuggled in granola bar—I have to adjust slowly!). Still going to bed around 7pm, but sleeping until almost 6am. Must be tired--maybe sick? The laryngitis that started last week persists.
Hawthorne street scene. Note the Bagdad Theater and all the band posters on the telephone pole. The Bagdad Theater is one of many McMenamins establishments in Portland--they have a bunch of different kinds of pubs and entertainment facilities.
Saturday, December 14: Went in search of library, but it wasn’t open yet. Decided to stay out of crowded hostel all day and ended up going downtown again by mistake, stayed on the bus too long. Found a Goodwill to shop for work clothes, but the downtown Goodwill was not cheap! One coat I saw was $149.00!!!! Got home fine, lots of people at bus stop even though late and down town. Everything just seems to take so long to do, nothing direct or quick. Waiting for buses, walking and walking, going the wrong way…lots of exercise, though, and am getting used to the city more, seeing often interesting things because of getting lost!
Dining area and lobby of Hawthorne Hostel Sunday, December 15: Hostel and Hawthorne Street starting to feel comfortable, but hostel does feel crowded at times. I’m sleeping like a log lately, so am not overly disturbed by noises of others. Chatted today with an American living in Honduras, a San Francisco dweller who sounds originally from Ireland, and a Canadian girl stuck here because her car broke down after a 3-month tour of California and Oregon and she didn’t quite make it home. People come and go, sometimes in the course of one night. There’s only one big table to sit at and a few easy chairs, so it’s easy to make contact if you want, but a lot of people don’t. Real mix of personality types! Did manage to find a real Goodwill today and got some work clothes. Watch out temp agencies, here I come! Although, will have to do something with my hair. Lack of routine, lack of water spray bottle, lack of conditioner, lack of bobby pins and hair dryer and lack of motivation (yes! I admit it!!)…it’s all conspired to create some remarkably bad hair days for me here. I wear a hat a lot. It’s a cute hat. It works. But probably not at a job site. But, hey, this is Portland. Maybe it will!!
Monday, December 16: Worked on job stuff this morning for a bit, then off to library (and also to get out of hostel, which was overrun with kids eating, talking, lounging around—it can be cozy but some days it drives me crazy!). Ended up spending most of the day on correspondence. Did laundry and felt quite productive just getting that done (there is a washer and dryer at the hostel).
Tuesday, December 17: I’ve been here one week!!! Seem to be acclimating to the time difference: went to bed around 10pm, got up at 7am this morning—how normal is that? Last night there was snoring again, so I put in ear plugs and went right back to sleep. By the way, where is the sun? Does it truly not shine here? Shopping for groceries at Fred Meyers (the equivalent of Meijer’s, but with an amazing health food section) and went to Hawthorne Street Powell’s Books. I was briefly in the big Powell’s City of Books downtown, but the Hawthorne one is nicer—not so gigantic, but with still a great selection. When I first went in, I was so intimidated by all of these books—but now I’m liking it more. Some very interesting stuff in there!!
Graffiti and grit--I just can't get used to it! Wednesday, December 18: Although I often have the hostel to myself before 8am, there was a friendly, enthusiastic young man at the table this morning from London who was so geeked about seeing the city, and eating at a regular American diner and seeing the quirky people and everything. He was, I think, overjoyed to have someone around to chat with! Then I went out to St. Johns (north of Portland) on the recommendation of a hostel girl. Was able to go down and see the Willamette River and say hello, and saw the St. John’s Bridge and the fog-shrouded pine hills beyond (I’ve heard that the hills ringing the main city are the new suburbs for the wealthy, but all I can think is, “Ha-ha, enjoy your fog, Richies!” because it’s foggy up there A LOT!) Also went into two thrift and two vintage stores and got two shirts for work. VERY nice sales clerks! Super nice encounters. Seems to be vintage/organic/ethnic/local/quirk everywhere in Portland, just depends on the concentration of it and the surrounding area.
Waterfalls in the Columbia Gorge
Thursday and Friday, December 19 and 20: Car days! I rented a car for 24 hours to move my stuff from the UPS store into the storage place, and do errands. Was very interesting being in a car after a week of walking and buses. Mixed feelings about it: I’m in a car again, WOO-HOO!! Driving in Portland is stressful, GAH! And so on. Thankfully, I’m oriented enough in the city to pretty much know which way to go and when to backtrack, but I kept getting east and west disoriented, and so did a LOT of loops around. So didn’t get too lost! Also did not crash car, damage car, did not hit anyone or anything. Yay!
Wahkeena Falls After my errands on Thursday, before I took the car back on Friday morning, I made a quick trip out to see some of the waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge. (I actually tried to go Thursday afternoon, but that first attempt was….not successful. Let’s leave it at that.) I saw three or four big waterfalls, including the famous Multnomah Falls, drove on mostly deserted, narrow, mossy, windy mountain road, and saw misty gorge view. And the trees! In addition to the towering evergreens, there’s a moss forest—these huge deciduous trees COVERED in heavy carpets of moss. So awesome!!!! It was soooooo nice to get out of the city. Really looking forward to seeing more of the gorge, mountains, all of it! (BTW, funny fact for you: you can’t pump your own gas in the state of Oregon! I did not know this when I went to gas up my car, and it was rather a shock!)
Multnomah Falls: Apparently, this is a somewhat famous and iconic waterfall. It is, of course, much more impressive in person, as are the trees. As is everything, really!
Saturday, December 21: Very friendly yoga girl sat across from me today, just sat down and started talking. She’s going to a retreat center to attempt a 10-day meditation session, in isolation. Better her than me, was all I could think. There is also an outside cat here named Blackie that I have gotten to pet and hang with a few times—bit skittish and changeable, but still nice to be around. On the bus yesterday a portly bearded man got on and there was something kind of on his back or something—and as he turned I could see it was long, thick dreadlocks that had been bound up and set up on his shoulder! Like a brown, fuzzy pet! It was about the size of a squirrel, sort of the shape and color of a shelled peanut. I wondered, unbound, how long his hair must be. It was pretty interesting!
Solstice Hike at Tabor Park
Douglas Fir Trees December 21, continued:
It was the solstice today, and I was able to go out to Tabor Park and hike up to the top (it’s an extinct volcano, more of a big hill now). It was very green: the park has mostly evergreens—coast Douglas Firs—with some moss-covered deciduous trees and lots of ferns and ground moss, and it was sunny-ish and warm-ish, nice day for the winter solstice! Kept thinking about how different it would be in Michigan! (sorry!)
It was the solstice today, and I was able to go out to Tabor Park and hike up to the top (it’s an extinct volcano, more of a big hill now). It was very green: the park has mostly evergreens—coast Douglas Firs—with some moss-covered deciduous trees and lots of ferns and ground moss, and it was sunny-ish and warm-ish, nice day for the winter solstice! Kept thinking about how different it would be in Michigan! (sorry!)
View of Portland City from Tabor Park
Northwest Portland International Hostel: Two Weeks in Northwest Portland
Sunday, December 22: Must move to other hostel today, and feeling bummed about that. So many changes all the time! What’s with that? Can’t a person make some changes in her life without things being, you know, so different??? Gah! A bit of a low morning, but I finally made my way across to the west side of the Willamette River to The Northwest Portland International Hostel and Guesthouse. This place encompasses several large houses and is a 120-bed labyrinth of dorms and common areas and halls and stairs and courtyards. It’s in a residential area, crowded with old historic homes and pricy looking apartment buildings, huge churches, and a few blocks down, a couple of commercial streets with an eclectic assortment of shops. It’s the Alphabet District, so named because the streets are in alphabetic order going south to north, and since all the streets in Portland are numbered east to west, it’s easy to get around! The street names in this area are also famous for their use on the show, The Simpsons (i.e. “Lovejoy” and “Flanders” and "Quimby"—these are actual street names!) I eventually got unpacked and had to admit it was nice to have a closet again, and only 6 beds in this room. Then went to get groceries at the nearest place, Trader Joe’s.
The main building of the hostel is the tall green house, the Elliston, a house on the National Register of Historic Places. The houses on either side and behind the Elliston also are part of the hostel/guesthouse. Monday, December 23: Spent all morning getting groceries (Trader Joe’s being rather skimpy for what I needed, so I forayed further out). Met the others in my room, three girls traveling together, Chinese, but studying at Western Michigan University! Small world! They are very nice. They stay up late, but are quiet. Took a group walking tour of the Alphabet District in the afternoon, and it started to rain for real. Our guide said that it’s unusual for it to really rain, mostly it just sprinkles. We cut the tour short and went to a pub to dry off. I chatted with Rummy from South Korea, Mona from Switzerland, Brick from Australia, and Ignatius from Chile—very interesting!
Tuesday, December 24: Ran two errands this morning: to my storage place to get a couple of things out of storage, and to the UPS store to check my box. Came back from that, using various buses and walked up through the Pearl District. There are so many types of little local shops everywhere in Portland, but I don’t know…it’s all so much stuff that I don’t want or need. Is that what a big city is? Hmm...Later did some laundry and then went to Raya’s parents’ home for dinner. I had met her parents a number of times back in college, so it was nice to see them again, and be in a real home again. Coming back the hostel was a bit of a jolt!
Wednesday, December 25th: Merry Christmas!
How odd to be spending Christmas here in the youth hostel. Lots of people are here—students traveling during the holiday from school, families stopping for a night while traveling, others like me hoping to relocate here, some mysterious persons not really committing to what they are up to. It’s sunny today, so I went out to get some sun on my face :) and then this afternoon was the Christmas meal, big and boisterous and crammed into the dining area. I sat between two boys from Finland, and two boys from Australia and had a fun chatting with them. Later in the evening I talked for about an hour with one of the Chinese girls from my dorm—so interesting!!!!
How odd to be spending Christmas here in the youth hostel. Lots of people are here—students traveling during the holiday from school, families stopping for a night while traveling, others like me hoping to relocate here, some mysterious persons not really committing to what they are up to. It’s sunny today, so I went out to get some sun on my face :) and then this afternoon was the Christmas meal, big and boisterous and crammed into the dining area. I sat between two boys from Finland, and two boys from Australia and had a fun chatting with them. Later in the evening I talked for about an hour with one of the Chinese girls from my dorm—so interesting!!!!
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