Portland - Thursday

It's important when your flight leaves in the middle of the day not to let the whole day be full of packing and doing nothing, I think. So I packed the night before I left OR (mostly) so as to enjoy the day.

We took the Portland Aerial tram, a quick $4 round trip up to OHSU and back down the mountain. It's a great view of downtown and the river. It's also supposed to be a good view of Mt. Hood and other surrounding mountains on a clear day. This was not a clear day. I don't think Portland has a ton of clear days so finding the right one might be tricky.

A was in critical need of a latte so we stopped in at World Cup (appropriately named at this time). I'm still not a coffee drinker but I tried a sip of hers and it was alright. I got chai. It's funny how baristas at independent coffee shops everywhere kind of look and act the same. I should do an anthropological study on this.

We employed the use of Verizon GPS to get us to the Pittock Mansion and it was a serious fail with a serendipitous twist. You know that episode of The Office where Michael follows the GPS instructions and ends up in a lake? Ours wasn't that bad, but it did take us on a seriously roundabout way up a road to nowhere. The fortuitous part of the story is that A has always wanted to drive through this neighborhood but didn't know how to get back there. Enter misguided GPS. Houses built on hills always amaze me so I loved the drive too.

As usual, my imagination went crazy inside the mansion. I imagined myself living there in the late 1800s, having made my fortune in the newspaper business. I have always, always loved visiting old homes (which may be part of why I lived in one the last 2 years). The grounds were beautiful too, of course. Since Lady Pittock is credited with starting the Portland Rose Festival, the gardens were appropriately adorned with the city's beloved flower.

So I dragged my bags to the MAX and headed to the airport. I hopped a plane to Phoenix, where I met Eric in the terminal. I sat next to a guy on the plane who was flying in to propose to his girlfriend. He was nervous. Also, I went from 60 degree weather to 110 degree weather (I landed at 8:30 pm). Good thing we headed to the mountains the next day.

Photo Credit: Oregon Live