This morning we drove into the nearby hills west of downtown
to Washington Park,
a meandering forested area that has the Oregon Zoo, Children’s museum, and
several gardens and paths.
We arrived before the Japanese Garden opened, so we took the
time to walk through the free International Rose Test Garden,
established in 1917 when a local rose enthusiast petitioned to establish a
garden dedicated to preserving European rose species that may had been blown to
extinction during the bombing in World War I.
There were very few blooms to be seen. Most of the roses had barely begun to grow
new shoots from the previous season’s pruned canes. Some garden workers were digging in the back
of the property, getting ready to do some transplanting. The array of species was impressive, so I am
sure that in mid-July the garden is gorgeous.
We trekked up another hill path that took us to the gate of
the Japanese Garden. Again, since it is still early spring, there
were very few blooming or budding plants.
The cherry trees in downtown Portland
were blooming yesterday, but the cooler temperature in Washington
Park was causing winter to hang on
a little longer. The garden was pretty
empty. There were a few other visitors
but during the hour we spent walking slowly along the beautiful paths we were
mostly alone. The green moss and gray
plants made everything look extra delicate, and the feebly-gurgling streams
peacefully drowned out any city noise.
As we were leaving the park I stopped in the gift shop for
the rose garden and was offered a delicious cup of rose tea, however the rest
of the store was an annoying explosion of cheaply-scented products and
overly-cute wooden birds and teacups.
Hans left quickly while I finished my tea.
After a wrong turn to Beaverton
we drove the winding neighborhood roads to a trailhead into Forest
Park, one of the largest urban green spaces in any major city in the country.
Our 2.5-mile hike took us on a short loop around the
southernmost park of the park, tracing the main Wildwood Trail for a short
while, then back via a fire road. The
thick and tall trees were covered in moss and in some cases, had ferns growing
out of nooks and crannies in the bark of living trees. The air was very damp and still. We encountered a few runners and some of the
weirdest-looking dogs I’ve ever seen. It
felt really refreshing to be out in the woods, even for an hour. During the last quarter mile or so it began
to rain.
We drove around other parts of the city and had lunch at the
Lucky Labrador Brewing
Company, a quiet place inside a warehouse crammed with large wooden
tables and mismatched chairs. Our
sandwiches were pretty good and the beer was tasty too.
Hans wanted to go see the cabin Lewis and Clark built and
stayed in for a few months near Vancouver, Washington,
but we ended up at the site of Hudson Bay Company’s Fort
Vancouver. It was a British trading post from the 1830s
to 1860. Though the fort had generally
peaceful relations with the Native Americans and American settlers, the workers
eventually built a small bastion armed with small cannon, in case those pesky
Americans decided to attack. It was also
built as the result of an embarrassing episode in 1844 when the HMS Modeste fired a 7-gun salute from the
river. As the fort had no working cannon
to fire back and return the honor, the Company lamely flapped their arms in
dismay as the following conversation happened:
Hudson Bay Company:
“Oh, I…..I guess I’d better leave….”
HMS Modeste: “Yes, I think you’d better
had.”
Not really, but that was the reenactment that Hans and I did
at the fort.
We were getting hungry again so we picked up an excess of
snacks and drinks at Fred Meyer to have back at our room later, then stopped
for dinner at Bridgeport Brewery. Hans
had a really tasty bratwurst plate with homemade gnocchi noodles and red
cabbage sauerkraut. I had a very crisp
duck leg served over spinach that was tossed in creamy goat cheese. Their red ale was pretty good. Hans had the pale ale and it was so-so, but
then again most pale ales are.
As if we hadn’t had enough to eat already, back in our room
we demolished a six pack of Alaskan Oatmeal Stout and ate a large quantity of
fruit and sourdough bread. We wisely
decided not to open the bottle of Oregon
wine, or the block of Tillamook cheese we’d purchased. Those were left as souvenirs to take
home. We watched some TV and I passed
out some time during the episode of Top
Gear that Hans was watching.
Japanese Garden
Forest Park
Fort Vancouver
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