Good morning Oregon: Portland / Corvallis

1st post in trip diary
2nd post
Trip Photos at Flickr

I woke at 3:54 and 8 am to an odd purring/flickering sound that may have been associated with the airconditioning from the next room - perhaps paper stuck in the vent. Unfortunately Fish had woken 5am and was not able to get back to sleep.

Breakfast was good: scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit, yoghurt.

Breakfast buffet at Hilton Garden Inn Portland Airport via kwout

The lovely waitress kindly obtained tea for me, but the milk option (half and half) as on the plane was not very pleasant to me. Perhaps I should stick to herbal teas here.

We managed to be ready for when Ursula and Steven picked us up at hotel in a blue Prius.  Apparently this was funny for the boys – something to do with jokes by Jeff Denham. 

Steven drove us to Multnomah Falls.  I will upload photos of the waterfall, wildflowers, highway restoration, railway line at Flickr.

Flickr: Your stuff tagged with multnomah via kwout

Oh drat I haven’t yet taken a photo of those interesting train cargo trucks with central support rail – what do they normally transport? Then we stopped at Vista House which now provides a history of the building of (?Oregon’s first) highway. The attendant told us that this rest spot was an afterthought and they just went overboard: pink limestone walls, marble floor, busts of Indians as ?cornices (is that the word I mean?).

For a late lunch at Pappa Haydn's Fish and I had some fancy sort of Tuna Salad (yes I wish I remember what specific kind) in which nicely herb-crusted slices of half-cooked tuna sat atop a bed of avocado with lettuce dressed with vinaigrette on the side – I quite enjoyed it, Fish found it strange but did eat it all; followed by delicious lemon and blueberry cheesecake. Cricket enjoyed his hamburger.


We enjoyed exploring Powell's bookstore in Portland and although I wished I had my wishlist with me, I couldn’t have bought more: just not enough room in our bags. I kept looking at the residences in that part of Portland with almost everyone of them having steep steps to a verandah of some sort at the front door, often balconies. The steps reminded me of the "stoop" described in a book I read as a child, probably by Scholastic, I think was called Amy and Laura.

During the drive to Corvallis when we weren’t unfortunately falling asleep I noted varieties of homes I don't see in Australia.

After a tour of Ursula's lovely home and garden, and chat over gin and tonic, I tried a fresh cherry - yum. I’ve always disliked cherries – based on the nasty things in cans of tropical fruit salad and fruitcake.  For tea: lasagna and salad: yum yum. Rhubarb and strawberry pie with cream and Rooibos red tea for dessert. Yum.  Drambuie.

Such a long day – we are very grateful for such generously kind hospitality.