Word from my stepdaughter E that she visited Rev. Al Green’s church, the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis, last Sunday morning – and the Reverend (the famous soul-singer/pastor) was in! Which means that the music his church congregants perform each Sunday was all the more fantastic. My son and I visited the church almost two years ago and had a great time, listening to one terrific gospel singer and musician after another, but Rev. Al was away on tour, promoting his latest album. In addition to the sunday morning service, there’s a Thursday night choir rehearsal open to the public – from what I can gather from the church’s website. Good to know.
Goodbye Oregon
We arrived in the rain and left in the rain – but in between, we had a surprisingly amount of sunshine and warm temps during our 10-day visit to Oregon. Yesterday morning in Portland, we walked over to Kenny and Zuke’s Delicatessen – in the trendy Ace Hotel – for breakfast that could tide us over into dinner while we flew back to Iowa. That it did – I had a large plate of scrambled eggs with carmelized onions and large chunks of lox, served with a flavorful chewy onion bagel. D was happy with his eggs, very crispy bacon, well-seasoned hash browns, and authentic rye toast. And just to make sure we didn’t starve, we got one of the deli’s “big as your head” corned beef sandwiches to go – which we shared about six hours later in the Denver airport during our long trip home.
As always after a trip, there are places I wish I’d gotten a chance to visit so here they are: Astoria, Bend, Mt. Hood, Hood River, the southern coast, and specifically in Portland – the rose garden in Washington Park (when in bloom); the Japanese Garden in Washington Park; the Chinese Garden (we forgot to visit it on the waterfront); the Mississippi neighborhood. Next time.
Filed under DINING, Oregon, Portland, Uncategorized
Portland: exploring on foot and tram
We walked until our ankles – or at least my ankles – were swollen yesterday but how could we not on such a gorgeous day, sunny with temps in the 60s, light breeze. First stop the Portland Farmer’s Market – the first of the season – in the SW part of town on the campus of Portland State University. Not much produce yet but what there seemed very local – which is good and not always the case at Farmers Markets. Also pretty upmarket products – pate, smoked salmon, chocolate-covered cherries et. al. I had a Montreal-style bagel with cream cheese and locally made lox for breakfast. heaven.
From there we went by tram (free tram!) to the Portland Saturday Market – near the Burnside Bridge on the waterfront. Jam packed with shoppers and vendors selling crafts and tschotches, high and low, lots of street performers too. And from there we took the street car to the upscale Nob Hill neighborhood, wandering down NW 23 rd street, the main shopping area. This town sure has a lot of fancy shoe stores.
Last stop for the day was the Pearl, where we wandered into Powell’s again and to a design store called Canoe. Plopped down for awhile in a pocket park, watching kids play and D. watched the final agonizing minutes of his beloved Jayhawks unexpected loss to UNI. (Small consolation that they lost to an Iowa team.) Dinner was at Karam Lebanese Restaurant, popular unassuming place downtown. We fly home today. Been a great trip.
Portland: exploring the other side of the river
Today’s view is of a brick wall so we shouldn’t have any trouble motivating ourselves to get out on the town. After one last walk on the beach in Manzanita on a gorgeous day – a near record high of 69 I think I heard – we drove to Cannon Beach, stopping for coffee at the highly touted Sleepy Monk coffee-house then drove 1.5 hours back to Portland on Highway 26, which turned out to be a very scenic road through the mountains and farmland along a river or stream.
After some confusion, we finally found the aerial tram entrance at the Oregon Health and Science Center (0r some such) and rode across the south part of town with stunning views of snow-capped mountains and the downtown waterfront.
Because we had a car, we explored some neighborhoods east of the river that aren’t reachable by light rail – Hawthorne Street, between 34th and 40th, was fun and funky, with lots of people hanging out in the sun. Also went up to nw 28th “restaurant row” which had a handful of interesting looking places. And stopped at the food cart pod at 12th and Hawthorne for a fine lunch of pomme frites with tarragon anchovy mayo (one of several options.)
Dinner was an adventure at Pok Pok, a very different Thai restaurant from those we’re accustomed to. No pad thai, no thai people actually. The chef is an american guy who spent time in Thailand and brought back authentic recipes. Very popular place so we got there early – at 6p.m. and were seated at 7 p.m., happily waiting across the street at the restaurant’s sister joint, The Whiskey soda Lounge. Our wait was supposed to be 25 minutes (not). people who arrived at 8 p.m. had a 1-1.5 hour wait. Despite this, well worth a visit. Had a wonderful soup with homemade coconut milk; mussells with fried egg and bean sprouts, protisserie hen, a fantastic dessert with Vietnamese coffee over ice cream with a homemade donut, and a “Hunny”- fresh grapefruit juice, a drinkable balsamic vinegar, tequila. When in Rome…
Oregon coast: the downside of comfort
We are so cozy up here in our tree house near the beach in Manzanita that it’s tempting to just stay put. The bed here is as snug as a nest — a wooden nook built into the rear wall of our room, with a low slanted wood ceiling that has a sky light and windows at eye level that look out onto the main street from top-of-the-tree level. I slept through the night for the first time during our trip.
Manzanita by night – at least last night, a Thursday in March just before the spring tourist season – was very quiet. At sunset, the few people around started migrating towards the beach and we joined the flow. Scattered up and down the beach, people stood quietly watching the fierce yellow sun sink slowly into the ocean, leaving behind bands of orange and pink. A couple of dogs leapt around near the water.
We found lots of people inside the San Dune Pub – most appeared to be locals. Good burger, local beer, fish and chips. Back to our tree house, where I tried out the whirlpool in our room and D caught up with some of his beloved basketball,sitting on a couch near the burning embers (not) of our electric fireplace (the one goofy touch in this room.) Go Jayhawks!
Filed under On the road, Oregon
North from Newport to Manzanita Ore.
Greetings from our little treehouse high above the ocean in the small coastal town of Manzanita where we’re staying in the third floor “Starseeker suite,” of the Inn at Manzanita, all light wood, cedar shingles and windows – plus a balcony looking out over the treetops and roofs at the Pacific.
Yesterday afternoon at the Sylvia Beach Hotel was very relaxing. After several walks along the beach, we gave in to the comforts of the hotel’s third floor living room/library, curled up in worn arm chairs in front of windows with unfettered ocean views and read and fell asleep.
The hotel’s infamous dining experience – where you sit at communal tables and play a get-the-conversation-going game called “two truths and a lie” – turned out to be a lot of fun, in part because we were seated with a very nice group of people – a young guy celebrating his 38th birthday with his girlfriend and parents. The young folks from Portland, the parents from Eugene – and all interesting. The game is a good icebreaker – you tell two truths and a lie and everyone else gets three questions then guesses which is the lie. Food was served family style and also was very good – more crab cakes but these were different from the previous night’s, a good salmon mousse, homemade bread and a green leaf salad with citrus and avocado, fancy mashed potatoes, berry cobbler.
We drove this morning north from Newport on our best weather day yet – sunny, even warm, with less wind than past days – stopping briefly to gawk at the Salishan Lodge, which did live up to its billing as the coast’s most elegant resort (my parents stayed there 30 years ago when, I’m told, it was a little humbler.) Then on to Three Capes loop, a spectacular 35-mile drive to Tillamook. Just before town, we found – thanks to our Fodor’s – a beautiful and empty beach, walking through waist high green brambles and vegetation atop sand dunes over a crest and onto a wide open white sand beach, all to ourselves. That was nice. You can find it about 9 miles w of Tillamook – Bay Point Split is the name on the turnoff, I think. Named after a town that fell into the Ocean during a fierce storm.
We skipped the huge cheese factory in Tillamook but did stop at the smaller Blue Heron French Cheese factory – and got some good brie and a baguette fresh out of the oven for a light picnic in a county park a little north in Garibaldi (where we watched a coast guard helicopter hovering over a cutter in what appeared to be a practice mission.)
The drive north to Manzanita and then Cannon Beach offered perhaps the most spectacular from-the-road views we’ve had, as we drove high along a mountain road with the blue ocean just below and large rocks jutting up from the water. Cannon Beach was, as advertised, a bit too much like Carmel – tasteful but still touristy. Glad we stayed here instead. We also drove quickly into and out of seaside, which had an old Jersey Shore feel to it.
In Cannon Beach, we parked near the elegant Stephanie Inn (which looked smaller and quainter in real than on its website) and walked on the beach by the classic Haystack Rock in the late afternoon. Stunning.
Filed under Oregon
To the Oregon Coast
On a spectacular morning, we drove north from Medford on Highway 5 to Sutherlin where we picked up 138 and then 38 west to Reedsport on the Oregon Coast. Beautiful scenery the entire way – through mountain valleys shrouded in fog and cloud, around mountains covered with evergreens (we saw our first logging trucks and clear-cut here) and along wide fast-moving river. The Coast from Reedsport to Florence was almost nowhere to be seen – thanks to a thick section of high sand dunes but by Florence we started to see wild waves lapping onto the shore and crashing into rocks as we drove on a curving road – highway 101 – way above the shore.
Mediocre food at Mo’s in Florence (we decided not to picnic because of intermittent rain) then great scenery en route to Newport – the whole drive took about 5 hours. We walked along the Historic Bayfront in Newport which turned out to be grittier than expected – kind of a mix between a real place (with fishing boats in the marina and big seafood-type warehouses with cool murals painted on the side) and tacky tourist stuff (a wax museum etc.)
We never would have found the restaurant we ate at down there had it not come recommended by some in-laws of my sister in Portland. Saffron Salmon – the restaurant – had superb food: calamari served unbattered with cabbage salad in a lemony sauce, Dungeness crab salad, a fantastic crab and shrimp cake served on wasabi-seasoned coleslaw, with thin, thin frites and Hebi, a fish we’d never heard of. Lovely place, great location with big picture windows looking out onto the bay.
The famous Sylvia Beach Hotel was as charming as expected. A five or so story green wood frame historic building perched above the beach with individually decorated rooms, each honoring a writer (we’re in Emily Dickenson – small but sweet and reasonable – $97 – and an ocean view.) It’s a conspicuously bookish place – no tv, wi-fi (I’m the wonderful Newport Public Library right now), telephones. Just books, games, a third floor library-den with cozy worn chairs in front of big picture windows with full frontal ocean views. Feel a little sneaky using a Kindle there. Fantastic breakfast this morning – all kinds of fresh baked goods, fresh fruit, cereals, juices, granola – and a cooked entree of bacon frittata and grilled bread. We shared a table with a guy from Portland and his sister and her companion from Texas.
Drove a little north to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse – well worth a visit. Climbed on a short trail cut into the green leafy vegetation on a mountain side for a superb view, then walked along a tidal pool laden, oddly, with black cobbles that became smaller stones and then gritty black and white sand resembling fresh ground pepper. I got nabbed by a “sneaker wave” – and left with soggy jeans and soaked sneakers. But the water wasn’t that cold, even though the wind was at times. Great view from atop the lighthouse where we got St. Patricks-day Green buttons announcing our successful climb up the spiral metal staircase.
Filed under On the road, Oregon
Oregon vino
On our prettiest weather day yet of this trip (at last!) we loaded up on goodies from Medford’s Harry and David store (kind of charmless but found some good satsumas) and Central Point’s Rogue Creamery (full of charm and pricey locally made cheese – we got the Crater Lake Blue) and drive a few miles away to the small historic town of Jacksonville, which has a two-or-three block main drag lined with old western brick and wood frame buildings that are all on the National Register of Historic Places. Also walked up a hill to the old cemetery which was worth a wonder, with its unapologetic segregation. At one point D and I found an area with one sign “Jewish” with an arrow pointing one direction and the another sign “Catholic” with an arrow pointing the opposite direction. (Maybe he and I could have been buried side by side on the border between. Does Make one wonder if, with all the cremation, there will be graveyards for our generation that serve – as these old ones do – as a historical record of sorts.
We had a picnic in the tiny city park, fell asleep on the thick green grass in the sun (yes!) and set off w/D’s sister on highway 238 into a green valley with vineyards and trees blooming with pink, white and fuscia blossoms, surrounded by blue-grey mountains – this is the Applegate Valley wine trail and folks say it’s what Sonoma used to be 30-40 years ago, with about 18 wineries. We stopped at three that had very different characters (and probably wine although I’m no expert.) Fiasco Winery (upscale; we bought a bottle of fig balsamic vinegar and learned that to use it with salad, skip the oil), Devitt winery (not upscale but this is where we bought our wine – called Precipice.) and Troon Vineyard, with very elegant tasting room and grounds filled with perfectly placed picnic tables. Definitely worth of visit, even if – like me – you’re not a wine drinker.
Filed under Oregon
Crater Lake and hip-hop Hamlet
I didn’t think we’d be able to visit Crater Lake – which graces the cover of many an Oregon tourism brochure – because it’s snow season but we made it there, about 1.5 hours north of Medford, with no problem. The last half hour or so of the trip was like riding through a bobsled run – with 10 to 15 feet walls of snow lining the two-lane road, but the road itself was largely clear of snow and ice. Crater Lake was, as expected, stunning – very still and quiet in the winter sun and just a handful of visitors braving the thick snow. We walked for a little bit on a trail blazed by cross-country skiers – which in addition to snow shoes is the way to go there this time of year. Every few footsteps one of us would suddenly sink a foot or so into the deep, deep snow. There are daily free ranger-led snow shoe tours (snow shoes provided) – next time!
On the way back, we stopped in a little town near the Rogue River Gorge (which is more like the Ithaca gorges than the Columbia River Gorge) for a late lunch at Beckies’ – an old dark wood roadside place that is the only restaurant or biz for miles, or so it seemed. Good hearty fare – beef stew, blt, very berry homemade pie.
At night, we went to see a modern-day version of Hamlet performed by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival – some definitely strange elements: The King communicated with Hamlet in sign language, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were women, the players (“the play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king” or some such) were hip hop performers. But I thought it worked and the actor playing Hamlet managed to make some of his almost-too-famous lines sound fresh, which is quite a feat. Very nice theater – very intimate, sort of theater in the round and we were in the third row for $36 per tix bought at the last minute. Place was packed too.
Filed under Oregon
In and around: Ashland, Ore
We awoke for the first time of our trip to sunshine – and took full advantage of it, driving first to Central Point to sample some of the local food delights – cheese at Rogue Creamery and chocolate Lillie Belle Farms. Yum. Then onto the pretty tourist town of Ashland, home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (where we picked up tix for tonight’s performance of Hamlet.) Charming town with lots of small Victorian houses lining hilly side streets and a healthy main drag with lots of nice shops and restaurants, some surprisingly affordable. Stopped for coffee at an alternative hang out – Eco. Then had very good very light Asian food at Sesame, eating outside in the sunshine. Life is good.
At night, we went to a slide show/lecture in a local high school given by a photo journalist who specializes in Afghanistan and Pakistan – pretty sobering sights of demolished villages, American soldiers, local children but also of the promising schools opened by the Three Cups of Tea guy (the book is Jackson County’s community read book.)
Filed under Oregon
TakeBetsywithyou 