The family and I went on a trip to Oregon this past Labor Day weekend. After our first week at school it was a much needed, albeit rushed weekend getaway. The Old Man came down from
Coeur d' Alene and made the first leg of the trip with us. I am sure he was just
ecstatic to be crammed in a car full of kids again after all these years.
We made pretty good time to Portland and all seemed like it was going well until the hippies struck.
Yes we were foiled in our plans by the hippies of ODOT ( Oregon Department Of Transportation). If you have ever traveled the highways of Portland you may have an idea of what happened to us. The trouble started on our way to Beaverton. We got on highway 26 (unaware of the danger that lurked ahead) and settled in to what should have been a 10 min drive to our hotel. We rounded a bend in the highway and out of nowhere it split, sending us careening onto the wrong highway.
All was not lost if we could find an exit and return to the point of the split. Once again the hippies of highway construction anticipated our plan and promptly placed an exit in our path. This exit wore the guise of one that would return us to our original route, but we soon discovered that we had been deceived. We exited and climbed to the top of the ramp. Turning to enter the on-ramp going the opposite direction we realized too late that this ramp paralleled the highway we needed but offered no entrance to said highway. From our ill chosen ramp the correct route tempted us, but stayed just out of reach and quickly faded away into the night.
We searched for a way back but to no avail. Then a ray of hope! An entrance to the I-5 south! We were saved! Excitement reverberated through our mobile prison. We would prevail over the Communist meat hating hippies of the highway interchange! But, once again we underestimated the depth of their diabolical scheme and relaxed into a state of ignorant bliss. This was a bad idea! We were not quickly deposited onto the I-5 as expected but meandered on an interchange that seemed to go on forever. After what seemed like an eternity we made it onto to the I-5 and exited at the Or-10 exit. Now by this time the forces of hippiedom had us so mixed up and unsure of ourselves that when it was suggested that the 10 would take us to Beaverton the idea was immediately thrown out the window (later we would find that this highway would have taken us exactly where we needed to be). We eventually made it back to the 26, got off at the right exit, and made it to our hotel.
The next day went much better and I have to admit our little unplanned trip did serve as a practice run to the zoo. We met Bryce and Heather Busenbark along with their daughters at the zoo and had a great time. We also saw some pretty cool animals while we were there. We did end up parking in the overflow lot as the zoo lots were very full. If you are planning on going on a weekend or holiday it might be best to park there from the onset instead of fighting with the traffic in the zoo parking lots.
After the zoo we went to Saturday Market with Bryce. This is a must see event if you are in Portland on a Saturday.(hence the name Saturday Market) Here is Bryce eating one of the best spring rolls in the world (only found at Saturday Market).
There are also quite a few hippies to be found at Saturday Market although not the same hippies who built the Oregon highways (thank goodness).
Our last stop in Portland was Powell Books. This is Erin's favorite place to go in Portland. Trying to describe Powell's is difficult. There is nothing to compare it to. It is like trying to compare any mountain in the U.S. to Mt. Everest. There is just no comparison. If you are looking for a book that you can't find anywhere else there is a good bet that they have it. They also sell online at
www.powellbooks.com.
If you decide sometime in the future to make a trip to the Portland area, be cautious and always keep a look out for the ODOT hippies (don't think that driving a VW will save you either, it didn't help us).
