With Mom in Eugene and Brother in Portland, we run up and down the interstate more than we’d like to admit. The drive doesn’t get any better, though there are some pretty stretches when you get to the bridges in southern Washington and right now, you can roll your windows down and fill the car with the smell of sweet clover flowers just north of Eugene. Still, it’s a grind and the only way to make it less so is to stop and get out of the car.
Batdorf and Bronson serve a couple of different coffees “on tap” in Olympia’s old downtown. The cafe is in a huge space – one of those old buildings with high ceilings that must have been a bank at one time. We snacked and took a stroll past the city hall and the town square. Brick low rise architecture and wide sidewalks – Oly is a nice spot for a break, a classic American smaller city. We didn’t visit the Capitol building though you can see it just over there from downtown.
We dropped in at State of the Arts to pick up a Mother’s Day gift – you know this kind of place – lots of pretty but not very interesting watercolors, some amusing sculpture or paintings and some decorative pottery… maybe you bought some earrings in a gallery just like this. We picked up a birdhouse with an elaborate craftsman facade – well received by the giftee, FYI.
My brother and his wife live in Portland’s Hawthorne district, walking distance from all kinds of goodness including Staccatto Gelato. I had a few moments of regret about leaving my city neighborhood for the burbs – or was that envy – as we walked past the restaurants, bars, supermarket. The pistachio gelato was a big winner, as was Js orange chocolate.
The folks live right near Fern Ridge Ridge Reservoir, a serious birder’s destination. I’m not so much a birdwatcher as a bird looker, but I’m always game for a hike in the woods or wetlands. Fern Ridge has both, large wetland areas with lots of opportunities to see migratory birds, and a densely mossy trail that’s a little slice of rain forest. We walked in both types of habitat, the wind out on the levees was a bit much but the wooded trail was quiet and protected and you could pretend it didn’t feel like October outside. We saw some people fishing on the slough, but that was it for other humans. There were lots of birds to be heard and some to be seen, swifts, killdeer, Canada geese, wood ducks, redwing and not so redwing blackbirds…
We returned via Portland again stopping for snackage, this time at Grand Central Bakery. We have a Grand Central here in Seattle but we are never ones to pass up pastry and coffee. Rhubarb pie and almond croissants and stiff cappuccinos are good fuel for a three hour drive.
After so much domesticity, packing and unpacking, shopping curtain rods and waste bins and shelf paper, after so much moving furniture from one place to another and then, moving it back again, it was not just nice to get out of town, it was necessary. And even though we’ve done this particular trip dozens of time and are likely to do it dozens more, it’s good to be reminded that there’s lots out there we haven’t seen, even right in our backyard.
Photo note: I’m learning about shooting in RAW. I can shoot RAW in the non-program modes on my Canon. The birdhouse photo is from a RAW file, desaturated some and converted to JPG. You may not be able to tell from the Flickr shot, but there’s absolutely a noticeable increase in detail in Photoshop. There’s extra work and if I were traveling longer term and didn’t have access to my own machine, I think I might shoot JPG instead for simplicity. But I do see the appeal…
[tags]Portand, Eugene[/tags]
The Hawthorne District was my first PDX neighborhood. I have many wonderful memories from those early-90’s years…when it was still truly funky. 🙂