Before I get into that though, I’ve got to tell the story of Milly, the Dachshund that almost became a member of the Broderick clan. We were driving along the highway when we saw an animal dart across the road a few tenths of a mile ahead. As we got closer Jennie said “I think that’s a dog”. I did a quick scan of the area to see if there was anywhere it could have come from and by that time we were riding along side of the cute little pup. She literally ran across the street and then started sprinting along the shoulder. After a second of internal debate we pulled the RV over and I jumped out of the passenger’s seat. I saw the dog running toward me, but the second she saw me she stopped. She raised her right front leg and cocked her head to the side. I was worried she’d either run in the opposite direction or back into traffic so I just started saying “Come here puppy” and clapped my hands excitedly. She took the bait and came charging at me. She reached my shins and after a few sniffs allowed me to start petting her. I picked her up, walked across the highway and made my way toward the little trailer park community I saw when I scanned the area earlier. As I got closer I could hear a woman yelling “Milly! Miiiiiiiiiiiiillllllllllly!!!!!!” I yelled back “I think I have your dog” as her fence came into view. She sprinted through her yard and started climbing the fence she was so happy to see her dog. The dog’s name was Millepede (Milly for short) and she dug under the fence and got out. I was happy she got back to her rightful owner, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that part of me wishes there was a weiner dog laying next to Daisy right now. Speaking of, we may have turned a corner with Daisy and the RV. Very limited uneasiness when we started today, but after the first half hour there has been no panting, whining, or anything really. She’s mostly just hung out on the couch and looked through the front windshield with us as we’ve gone along. Hopefully this continues.
OK, back to Portland. Oregon welcomed us Sunday evening and we got to the Jantzen RV Park sometime around 8:30.
The sun had completely set, but we were treated to a view of Portland at night. It's a very cool looking city with many bridges separating areas and neighborhoods. We wouldn't explore the city until the following day though. On Sunday we just got to the park, set up and relaxed for the night. We turned in relatively early with a plan to tackle Portland the following morning. It sounded good in theory, but we woke up to the most rain we've seen since Grain Valley, MO on the ride out. We decided to sleep for a little longer as the forecast called for a clearing in the afternoon with only a chance for rain at that point.
After some quick math we figured out that renting a car for the day would be a cheaper option than cabs and a better option than public transportation. We’d prefer to leave the RV at the park once we’re settled in if at all possible. Portland is also a very dog friendly city and we wanted Daisy to be able to experience the day with us.
We started off going to the Rose Garden in Washington Park. There were still a few very pretty roses in bloom, but for the most part they'd already wilted for the season. Jennie, Daisy and I walked the gardens for a little over an hour.
It drizzled a few times, but the rain did hold off for the most part. We were about two steps ahead of Ziggy all day.
The next stop was to Voodoo Donut . Thanks to everyone who suggested this place. It is otherworldly. They have some regular donuts (or at least I think they do), but you’d never know based on what you see in the glass case upon walking in the door. Small donuts, big donuts, THAT DONUT HAS CAP’N CRUNCH ON IT!!!! This place takes things you’ve never thought of putting on a donut and combines it with even more things you’d never think of putting on a donut. We ended up with 4 choices and here they are in the order I like them:
TEXASS- By far the best donut I had from there. It’s a gigantic glazed donut (think Frisbee sized) with the consistency of a coffee roll from Dunkin’ Donuts. Actually it tasted just like a coffee roll minus the cinnamon.
Maple Bacon Bar- Yes, please! Éclair style of donut with maple icing on top and bacon strips on top of that. Tasted a lot like when the bacon gets mixed in with syrupy French toast.
Old Dirty Bastard- Regular donut+chocolate icing+Oreo cookie bits+peanut butter drizzle. It was decent, but the peanut butter was a little too much.
No Name- Same as ODB, but replace Oreo with Rice Krispies. Same downfall with the peanut butter though. They couldn’t figure out a name for the donut so they just went with No Name.
We decided not to eat the donuts until we got home and they taunted us with their delicious aroma the entire way. I’m also hoping that the Voodoo Donut stop was the second step toward ending the recent string of bad news that’s been with us. Without going into major details, we know two separate couples who lost a child, another couple’s child had major brain surgery at 7 months of age, a friend lost her brother and most of our friends have watched their retirement savings get crushed in the last couple of months due to the financial market conditions.
There’s been great news in this time span as well, but with each piece of bad news, I think our extended group of friends were finally at the “Enough is enough!” point. Jennie and I were discussing this as we were navigating the streets of Portland, unable to make a turn onto 3rd street to get to Voodoo Donut when a rainbow appeared that stopped our conversation. It pretty much stopped all thoughts except for “WOW!”
We’d both never seen anything like this so up close. It was a full rainbow with a beginning and an end. I thought about it for a second and the best I came up with was Mother Nature was listening and wanted to smack us around a little with a prism. I can’t begin to explain how precise it was. I was just lamenting on the bad news our group had been going through and the second I was done a massive rainbow appeared. Then we almost immediately found Voodoo and were treated to those donuts. It’s not a cure all, but rainbows and donuts are a start.
The night wasn’t over though. The life as a Phish fan usually leads you to places you’d probably otherwise never be (although I am on a deserted pitch black Oregon road and Phish ain’t here) and also allows you the fortune to meet a lot of cool people. You then have default friends in almost every major and minor city in the US. Portland was the place Todd and Heather called home. We also know a guy named Mike, but we didn’t get the shot to meet up (sorry PGV).
Anyway, the last part of our day was to be spent with Todd, Heather and Todd’s brother Trent. The plan was to go to Todd/Heather’s place, hang for a while and then grab some food/beer at the Deschutes Brewery to celebrate Todd’s belated birthday and us being in PDX (sorry wanted to feel local there). Of course a week isn’t complete without us losing something. This time it was the key to the RV. We searched everywhere and even started going through bags, separating the garbage, etc. Then Jennie says “Jimmy you better say a prayer to St. Anthony”. I say the prayer and BAM there sits the key in the middle of the driver’s seat. Clearly we’d already looked there multiple times. I had to laugh when Jennie said “I may be a Jewish girl, but if there’s one thing I learned from my Catholic in-laws it’s that when you lose something you pray to St. Anthony in the hopes of finding it.” Thanks, buddy. Would you mind sending me back those sunglasses I misplaced? Oh, he also decided to send Jennie's sneaker back that we lost post Goblin Valley. It appeared under the futon couch where we also searched for that sneaker at least 3 times.
OK, so we drive the rental car to Todd/Heather’s hood and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little apprehensive/nervous. Todd, Jennie and I know each other, but not extremely well and there’s always that though of “I hope we get along well” in the back of your mind when going into hanging with people one on one for the first time. All apprehension and nerves were dumb at best and within 30 seconds I felt happy to be in the middle of their living room. We had a drink and then walked through their neighborhood into “The Pearl” district. It was a nice part of town that you could tell recently went through a transformation and revitalization. Lots of newer loft buildings, bars, eateries and businesses lined the streets. We got to Deschutes, grabbed a table, had some food, drinks and dessert and enjoyed each other’s company. After Deschutes we decided to head back to the RV Park to get Daisy out and Todd and Heather had to be at work today.
Our time in Portland was great and I’d certainly go back again. Thanks to Todd and Heather for their hospitality and also for the suggestions on what to do in town. We hope to see ya both again soon.
Wow, huh? A guy doesn’t blog for 3 months and then he doesn’t stop typing. I’m sure things will balance out as we go.
Jimmy
PS- We've crossed back into the Mountain Time zone during this blog. Lost an hour. It's 12:34am.
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