12km out of 967km so far

Once again I woke up on the comfortable couch and decided to spend one last day in Portland with my friends. I felt a little guilty for doing so, especially as the weather was so nice out and I knew heavy rain will be coming in the next couple of days. But then I don’t know how soon again I will see Greg and Lindsy so I thought it was a good reason to stay. Plus I won’t be having any long breaks again up until San Fransisco which is definitely a few weeks away.

We had breakfast at home and together with their friend Veronika, we went altogether to a local supermarket. I think I bought way too many food supplies, as they barely fit in my panniers, but the prices were so good, that I guess it’s worth pulling all that weight over the hills. By then we were hungry enough for a stop to the nearby food-kart. Out of all these amazing options I went for an umber ‘Kalamata mama’ burger, stuffed with feta and olives, which can make even the most demanding stomach happy.

Some of the food-kart options

Greg waiting for his food

After the quick lunch break under the hot sun, we headed to the nearby Mt Tabor for a walk and see the view of the city.

In the park

Looking west towards downtown Portland

Being on an outdoorsy mode, we decided to go drop off the shopping at home, pick up Lola the dog and head to the hill at the opposite side of the river. Arlington Heights apart from the local zoo and many high class residencies, hosts the International Rose Test Gardens, with hundreds of variaties from around the world, as well as several experimental mixes. I never thought that there are so many different types of roses with such divert sents. We spend a good hour there wondering around, smelling each on of them and playing with the dog.

After these two fairly touristic activities, we continued the day with the real attractions of Portland, a stroll to various happy hour bars and breweries. We still had Lola with us, so we chose to begin with one that had an amazing patio that allowed pets. Both interior and patio were overloaded with vintage articles from all around the world, but the outdoors space had some cosy spots to hang out.

Yeah right…

Next stop was another patio, at a different style and a phenomenal happy hour menu with $2 cocktails! I mean these deals should be illegal, turning innocent cyclists into alcohollics!

Cyclists are welcome

Scandal

The day finished with another visit to the nearby food-kart on the way back home. I had a souvlaki type chicken pitta wrap with a touch of avocado in it. We had a couple of beers there and headed back home for an early night, so I can start my next day as early as possible.

16km out of 955km so far

Lazy start

Excellent Room service

Today I had a few things in the agenda. The morning was still a bit lazy, but by 11 I was on the road for downtown. It was nice to wonder around the city again and the weather was pretty nice.

The view of Columbia River from one of the many bridges

More food carts

First stop was at the Art Gallery, which even if I had visited again back in March, they had some new work on display worth checking out.

Black Box

Next stop was an outdoors mega store to get some supplies and finally buy a new stove that can fit the type of canisters that are commonly sold in north America. Again the one I wanted was out of stock, but since I was running out of time, I ended up buying one which is a little more expensive but I guess a little better. I can’t wait for some extreme cooking in the wild!

Heading back to the southeast part of the city, the most important mission of the day was a stop over at a local bike shop to check a couple of things. Bike Stuff is just around the corner from home and you can rent a bike stand and tools for $10 per hour and do the work yourself. The gears had been a little problematic since the time I put the bike on the train to Jasper, as they probably just threw it without much caution in the cargo area. The derailleur hanger was bent and at the time I had just unbent it by hand. At the bike shop I managed to align it a lot better using the proper tool. I spent some time to remove about half a kilo of black mud from the chain and cogs and applied fresh oil. I also tightened the left shifter and tried to stabilize the front mudguard that keeps rattling at the smallest bump. Now the bike feels like new again, ready for some more kilometers.

At the shop

After that, I caught up with the rest of the guys and we headed off to Kennedy School for some lectures in alcohol and swimming. This venue was an actual elementary school, that has now been converted to a complex of hotel, restaurant and a few different bars, together with an outdoors hot-tab. A really nice atmosphere and vibe in there. My muscles really appreciated soaking in hot water.

Back at school

If you are a bad student, you are sent to the detention room for some whiskey and cigars

Good students also deserve a drink

Not bad way to spend the evening

Later on we had a hefty amount of Thai food and a few more beers at a local pub, trying to taste as much beer as possible. There are so many breweries in Portland, that I would need to spend a full year here to try them all out.

3 grades of beer