Given that it doesn’t take much time to drive to Tacoma, I planned two side jaunts on the way up. The Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve was the first.
The interesting thing about the Mima Mounds is that there is no clear answer about why the mounds are there. We hiked through the site and also came back with no clear answers. But it’s fun to see them undulate across the landscape.
As you can see, the mounds are not very high. But when seeing them rise across the landscape (see this picture) they make an impression.
We also saw some scat. It is apparently a very seedy time for this animal.
Heads up. This will be a bunch of photos that are not well taken. I’m not in peak form for photo composition.
I decided to take the bus to Seaside for the day as a summer activity. There was some confusion where to load onto the bus. My ticket very clearly instructed me it was NOT loading at the train station, so I spent 45 minutes waiting at the Greyhound stop outside the train station, only to eventually hear an announcement that my bus was loading at the train station. So there was that.
Once I got on the bus, though, I hit transportation eavesdropping gold. Four college students who had internships at Intel, Nike, and Adidas, but were from the same college in Texas, chatted all about their Portland adventures. Plus they gossiped about people they knew. I find listening to gossip about people I don’t know to be one of life’s more sublime things.
The bus stops at Camp 18 to switch drivers. I think one driver does the coast part and the other does the Portland-to-Camp-18 part.
The bus stops first in Canon Beach, then in Seaside before going to Astoria. In Seaside, the drop off point was the youth hostel. I thought I knew where that was located, but I did not. It’s closer to the cineplex than downtown Seaside, so I had a bit more of a walk than I thought.
I had fish and chips at the place I like to have fish and chips and then headed to the promenade. It was overcast.
I did some beach sitting and reading and people watching, and eventually got tired of sitting. So I did some walking.
I’m not quite sure what happened with this picture. Maybe the blurriness came from how fast I was taking the photo? Anyway, I loved how these teens were dressed alike.
It turned out the overcast morning was a blessing. Because once the sun came out, there wasn’t much escaping it, especially since I’d already eaten. And I had forgotten sunscreen, so I needed to get out of the sun.
And that’s when I discovered the most amazing thing.
Back when I worked at DHM, my coworker had said in passing, “I just love playing Fascination when I’m in Seaside.” Then she mimed a grabbing something and slowly flinging it away.
I had no idea what she was talking about. I think she mentioned the arcade. That conversation got filed in my brain. But walking past the arcade, I stopped and looked in. Then hovered inside the door. Because this was Fascination.
Here’s how it works. You take a seat and put a quarter down. Or, if you are going to play more than one game, you put down a dollar. A bell rings and you roll a ball and try to get it in one of the open spaces. When you do, one of the circles on the mirror facing you lights up. If you get five in a row, you are the winner. A bell rings again and the game shuts down for everyone else. Mostly though, you aren’t a winner and are one of the people groaning that you didn’t win. But it’s still fun, even if you don’t win.
Here’s the winning breakdown.
The combo of working toward something on your own while competing in a group is incredibly fun. Apparently, Fascination used to be a regular thing at amusement parks and boardwalks, but it’s fairly high maintenance. It’s built on telephone technology (rotary telephone technology!) and so parts aren’t made anymore. Plus, it’s fairly labor intensive, as someone has to go around and collected the quarters and make change. So it’s on its way out. But for as much fun as it is, I’m glad I finally discovered it. Here’s the Wikipedia summary that lists all the remaining locations.
The bus ride home provided an equal opportunity for eavesdropping gold. Three tourists (one solo traveler, one mother-daughter combo) chatted about what they’d been up to. They were putting a good face on their trip, but I could tell Portland was kind of bringing all three of them down. I made a list of things they might like to do and handed it off as I was exiting. I hope their trip got better.
The Blythe Cricket in Joseph served us some delicious food. But even better, they had this tremendous display of colorful bakeware. It then became a conversation topic, as in, which of these items did you/do you have? I grew up with the blue cornflower square dish, and had one of those oblong tan dishes for a time. It was a gift from a woman who cleaned out her kitchen and gave me a bunch of her stuff when I moved into my first studio apartment.
I love the red, pink and green too. We also looked up when some of them were manufactured. The green in the 60s and 70s, of course. The pink and red in the 50s.
While I’ve not yet used the mason jar McMenamins places in each hotel room so visitors can bring beer back to their rooms, I did note that the jar was not a mason jar this time around. I assume that the global supply chain and COVID-19 are to blame.
I lazed about in my room, ate breakfast and lunch, and then headed home on a bus and two trains. It was a good vacation.
I got up early and headed out to a coffee shop to get some breakfast. On my way, I caught the sun coming up in this reflection.
And here is the sunrise from the other direction.
The coffee shop’s website said it opened at 6 a.m. and when I walked by the previous evening, so did the hours posted on the door. I got there at 6 a.m., though and no one was about. Employees unlocked the door at 7 a.m. While I understand that there might be some barrier to updating a website, I think posting a sign with current hours on the door is something that was doable. At least there was a chair outside for me to sit in while I waited.
However, the breakfast sandwich I ate was delicious (as was the tea) and all was forgiven.
I ate my breakfast in the Magic Flute room, one of my favorite at McMenamins. I also caught up on correspondence.
I’m nearly to the end of this batch of notecards, which is too bad, because I love them so much. They were a very good find at Scrap. It’s fun to see how many things have changed. On the right side of this drawing, you can see the Armory is still painted white. It hadn’t yet been taken over by Portland Center Stage.
9:15 a.m. was my soaking pool time. I had to reserve the time before I arrived. This was a great soaking pool experience, because no other people appeared. My reservation for 8:00 p.m. the night before, I skipped. I went down at my appointed time, but there were much too many people and too many people without masks. Today it was just me. I swam. It was a head-above-water breaststroke, but swimming nonetheless.
The chickens and I chatted for a bit before I went on a walk.
The movie theater is closed, which was to be expected. I took a closer look at the posters.
From the future, I can tell you that Free Guy was really released on August 13, 2021, not July 3, 2020.
Onward probably did play at this theater, because it was one of the last big releases before everything shut down. The Woman in the Window was released on Netflix on May 14, 2021.
I wondered if these two Forest Grove High School graduates knew each other. Were they neighbors who ignored each other or best friends? There’s a YA novel in this photo.
Here’s a Mondrian-style truck and camper. Very cool.
Aside from the fact I forgot to start my activity tracker until after I’d already walked an hour, this was a lovely walk.
I squished in a mini-vacation to celebrate my new job and used my $600 stimulus check to pay for it.
As you can see, my transportation to McMenamins Grand Lodge in Forest Grove was first class. Two trains and a bus and I was there! This is also my first time on public transportation since September and my third time on public transportation since everything shut down in March last year. That’s three public transportation trips in about a year. I think the last time I had so few public transportation trips was in 1995.
I am wearing official swag from my employer. You can’t really see the logo because my jacket is fuzzy, but the logo is there.
The crocuses were up at Grand Lodge.
I caught some great cloud cover.
Part of spending money was taking advantage of the services at Ruby’s Spa at Grand Lodge. I got a massage and a body wrap. It was my first-ever body wrap. I liked how it left my skin so very soft. If the government keeps sending me money, I might just book another one.
The website said the movie theater was closed, but I smelled movie theater popcorn. It turned out the theater was open. Alas, it was showing Tom & Jerry, a movie I had no desire to see. I stopped by the movie theater bar to get a pint of cider, and while there, I inquired about the popcorn. I decided not to buy, but the bartender sent me off with a pint cup of popcorn. Very fun.
Things I haven’t seen in many months: Those fun post-it note illustrations on office windows. Because the kind of offices that have that kind of fun aren’t open right now. However, the airport supplied me with a nice view of Mt Hood, plus an airplane flying around the mountain.
No, thank you, airport, for being so uncrowded.
Aside from the fact that I could have caught a deadly virus and died, flying during a global pandemic was heavenly. It erased the number one thing I hate about traveling by air: feeling like cattle.
The seats in the waiting area had stickers on every other seat to promote social distancing. The plane was mostly empty. I had my entire row to myself, plus the row across the aisle, plus the row behind me. It was glorious. And I got some great pictures of the mountains.
After several months of quarantining, I wanted a day trip. So Matt and I drove to Long Beach, Washington (I’d never been) for a quick day trip.
On the way, we stopped to take in the view and I found this graffiti. I googled “country bike tour 2009” and came up with this website, which probably has nothing to do with these vandals, but was fun to read about.
Look at that sun! Enjoy it now. Also, do enjoy the lovely Rolling Rock litter.
There’s that bridge that heads over to Washington. I’m not sure if I’ve ever crossed it. Today is not the day, though.
The first of many self portraits. Two pair of sunglasses, one mask.
And now we’re in Long Beach. The sun disappeared just as we got close to this lovely tourist town.
Two masks, one pair of sunglasses.
We walked down to get a picture of the crowds. I’m guessing this was a small fraction of the usual number of people here on a July Saturday. Then we walked the boardwalk, which I have no pictures of, but which surprised me by being very far away from both the ocean and the main strip.
Matt says hello from the world’s largest pair of chopsticks. One mask, one pair sunglasses.
After we walked the length of the main drag, we bought fish and chips and found a picnic table. One sunglasses, no mask.
Then we walked back across the boardwalk and drove home. But not before taking one more picture. Two masks, one pair of sunglasses.
Airline schedules were such that I had to fly to Seattle before I could fly to Tuscon. Grumble, grumble, grumble. But grumbling was somewhat mitigated by this vending machine full of food that looked very, very good.
Salads! Sandwiches! All from Beecher’s Handmade Cheese!
Look at this though. No seats to be had at the gate.
And I’m back to grumble, grumble, grumble.
On the way back I had a grilled cheese from Beecher’s and I’m all in with them. Now there’s a good reason to fly through Seattle.
