From Portland with love

Where to start? First let it be said that things are not exactly as we may have imagined before we left (no surprise really, and not bad either). For example, we really thought we'd have easy, ready internet access, but that has been harder to find than we thought. Our laptop is very slow and it is hard to post photos. Both contribute to us blogging less than we predicted.

We've had some amazing adventures, great weather, and been treated to some incredible hospitality. We spent 4 glorious, sunny days in Victoria touring the beautiful city. In an act of incredible generosity my old highschool cheerleading chum Patty suggested we camp in her backyard. One thing we are learning is "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" so we took her up on the offer. We had not seen each other for almost 40 years! She and her family graciously shared their space with us for 3 nights and we had a chance to get to know each other again. How surprised we were to walk into her house and see 2 Martin guitars on the wall, a jam space in the basement and a CD/record collection that would make all my music loving friends drool. We had a great music connection with Patty's husband Sean who plays a mean guitar in a band called "The Bald Eagles", and had a lot of fun swapping stories and jamming the night away. We are forever grateful. We spent 2 days and a night with our old friend from Guelph, Ruth. We took in the Emily Carr exhibit at the art gallery together(just fantastic) and spent a fair bit of time simply wandering the streets, Ruth sharing her knowledge of Victoria history. We go way back with Ruth and it was a delight to reconnect in her exceedingly sweet James Bay "strata".

 

 

 

 

We spent a few days in the Washington peninsula, specifically at Olympic National Park, which has 3 distinct zones/areas (alpine, ranforest, and coast). We hiked in sun at Hurricane Ridge amidst spectacular mountain vistas and spontaneoulsy drove to the west coast so that we could visit Ruby Beach. We camped in the damp Pacific Ocean mist that bathes the big trees in constant moisture (and gave thanks for the fact that it was not raining - apparently the area gets 12 feet of rain per year).

 

 

We are now in the incredible city of Portland and it is living up to its reputation. Beautiful architecture, funky, clean and unpretentious. The street food is amazing and there is no sales tax on goods (new laptop?). We are in a cosy hostel with fantastic ameninities, lapping up hot water, fresh coffee, a big soft bed and lots of space. Our big question this morning is - shall we stay another day? There is just so much to do here, plus some business to catch up on. This city, in particular, is very vibrant and it is fantastic to be part of.

We are learning. The transition from camping, empty beach, and the calmness of nature, to big city throws us both for a loop, initially. We've learned to take our time in a city and do a lot of walking. We are starting to think in terms of chasing the weather, instead of the location (which is why we are here now when we thought we would be at Mt. St. Helen's). We are appreciating in a whole new way what the term "rainforest" implies. We've learned that even though this entire coast is lined with forest, different forests are unique - they truly have their own character and feel. We have marveled at the INCREDIBLE abundance of the sea and its ability to truly support communities. We've learned that there is quite a thrill to packing up the car and heading somewhere new even though the unknown can ruffle our feathers a bit. We've learned that if an opportunity presents itself (as in a shower or an exceedingly rare bathtub) one should snatch it up because we really don't know what's ahead. We've learned that even though we love hostelling in cities, we also love getting back to our tent. We've learned that we are good travel mates, even though we sometimes butt up against each other like driftwood being bashed by the surf (and we've seen a LOT of driftwood - BIG driftwood). We've learned that even when we are feeling a little homesick (this was totally triggered in both of us when we crossed into the states) we still want to keep going - together.