OF LUGGAGE & LAVENDER - PART II

Sunday seemed a year ago as we headed into our Tuesday schedule which was decidedly less strenuous thank goodness.

 After checking out of the hotel we loaded our luggage on the coach and headed downtown for a guided Portland walking tour led by Peter, another great tireless local expert.

By the way I use the word coach rather than bus since as we were told the difference between the two could be well over $40,000.

Parks and statues throughout Portland as the city mandated there must be enough parks everywhere. No matter where you work you can pop out of your office for a picnic lunch in the park.
Civilized, just like New York. Well...
  

This photo is awful but it shows what happens
when someone walks in front of you while you're
taking a panoramic shot.
Or it's a ghost!?!

Portland is in the Guinness Record book
for having the World's Smallest Park!

City Hall has a replica of the Liberty Bell, or did they steal it from Philly?

I've never seen the two bells together! 

We learned about the Benson Bubblers, drinking fountains that adorn the city streets from our expert guide Peter.  He's on the left with Richard, Louise, Wayne, half a Bobbie and a sliver of Elaine.  (The story is interesting but too long to tell here so click the above if you wish.)
Below them is a top view of the fountains four heads.

And speaking of

heads, how about

the big one on this

statue of Portlandia?

If it stood up it

would be 50' tall!

Small fountains with sculptures such as this one with bear cubs appear all over town.  There are others with ducks and Sea Lions and otters Oh My (and on and on.)

Even though it wasn't raining (yet) this fine young, uh statue offered Susan shelter.

Known as "Allow Me" he

can be found in Pioneer

Courthouse Square

After walking for a while we desired a streetcar to take us to a funky part of town and close to our next stop, the Bridgeport Brewery for a tour (no open toed shoes please!) of the facilities and lunch.

And what a lunch it was! A buffet where we lunched on a really delicious buffet and imbibed tastings of a bevy of brews.  

Now that we were sufficiently mellowed out it was time to head for the Amtrak station and our nearly 4 hour ride to Seattle.

Our car had forward and rear facing seats but sadly many in our group do not like sitting ‘backwards.’ This meant the forward facing seats filled up quickly and just like musical chairs some travelers were left standing.

I am related to one of these unfortunates and quickly made friends with another one, Bev as we searched other cars for more favorable seats.  Success was ours – 7 cars down the line!

But at least the scenery was enjoyable.  I will allow these three shots to represent the entire trip.

Without an island:

With an island:

And with

twin bridges:

As we left the Seattle Amtrak station we glimpse our only view of Century Link Field, home of the NFL Seattle Seahawks and the more popular, at least in that town, Seattle Sounders of Major League Soccer.

Flexibility is the key to any multi city; multi attraction tour and since we were running a tad late we moseyed directly to dinner at Benihana before checking into our hotel, the lovely downtown Warwick.

Our room was only on the

5^th floor but we did have

a tantalizing view of the 

Space Needle. We will not

be visiting that landmark

till we return next week.

Wednesday saw us leaving the hotel after a served breakfast to tour the Chittendon Locks and watch ships that pass in the, uh daytime as well as salmon that seem to swim upstream all the time.

The locks can accommodate as many small ships that can fit at a time. Here 3 of them await the leveling of the seawater with fresh water.

Yo Coho, I was first!

And while ships maneuver for position above salmon snake through underwater tunnels on their way to spawn. A majority of their offspring will never make it back to sea but the ones who do will return to this very same spot when ready in a year or three.
Some may not return for 7 years.  That's a long time to remember where to go!

Our next stop, the Seattle Art Museum’s outdoor Olympic Structure Park.

Sadly, or rather predictably it rained the entire time we walked through and viewed the sculpture garden but then again, this is Seattle and as they say, what's a little liquid sunshine among friends?

Just like Eiffel Tower
the Needle can be seen
from just about everywhere
in the city.

What the heck is that?

We spotted most of the interesting avant garde works that were spotted around the garden.

Not to be outdone by Oregon's big Portlandia the sculpture garden has it's own head guarding the area! 

It's Yuge!  I said it's YUGE!

Sorry, you see the head is entitled ECHO for the mountain nymph of Greek mythology.

 Lunch was on the waterfront at the Fisherman’s Restaurant and Bar located on a ferry pier.
The area is a mini South Street NY Seaport but with the added attraction of a huge Ferris Wheel “Eye.”


The inside is filled with
nautical trappings. 


A neat (can I still use that word?) place to eat & drink.




And naturally they have many
souvenir
shops and
wooden sculptures to fit the mood.

The extended Rat Pack!

Back on the tour bus with Vickie to learn about and tour the University of Washington.
We stopped to view the Park Conservatory which was housing the infamous  Amorphophallus Titanum, aka “Stinky Plant.” (Great Latin name when you see the thing!)
This interesting flora blooms every 5 years and emits an odor reminiscent of rotting flesh.  It is clearly a fantastic mother-in-law gift.
EXCEPT MINE, SHE’S GREAT, REALLY, NO JOKE!

After getting used to

the awful odor we

toured the cacti area.

Many interesting species and names noted there as well.  For example this one is called, "Old Man!" I have no idea why. Perhaps it's the grey hair?

And on the right I believe

this one is

telling us

something.

 
On the left is an extreme closeup of a cactus flower.

And this lovely bucket is actually inviting an insect over for dinner.

Just drop in!

The Seattle Asian Art Museum was just a few hundred feet up the hill so we walked up the hill in the rain naturally.

The art museum sported many interesting artifacts and in fact the art intersected many cultures and was therefore interesting to all.

The featured exhibition was
Mood Indigo - Textiles from around the world!


But there was so much more to see and so little time so we semi rushed but thoroughly enjoyed all the art.

I waited patiently

for Allen and Sue

to finish worshipping

this wonderfully

dressed leader.

He was then ready for his closeup.

SMILE!

We sat in a very pleasant and relaxing place before heading out.

  

Outside we found a lovely sculpture one could be forgiven for believing was commissioned by Dunkin Donuts.  And note the nearly ever present Seattle Needle peering through where the munchkin should be.

And being Susan's birthday it was only fitting she receive a birthday donut.

Cheers!

  

It was now time to head back to the hotel for dinner, another informative lecture and packing up for a very early 6am departure for Vancouver via train.  Here’s hoping we don’t have to search for forward facing seats!

The nighttime view from
my bed at the hotel.
Space Needle & flying saucer.

 TO BE CONTINUED IN VANCOUVER

OF LUGGAGE & LAVENDER

Mt Hood, Oregon - Elev 11,249'

We took a little trip to see the sights of the Pacific Northwest and were not disappointed.  As for the particulars I will not bore with the minutiae.  Instead allow me to whet your appetite with highlights and photos.

Mt Hood
From 36,000' elev.
Clearly my photo
is better
than stock, right?

By the way I took 880 photos!  But don’t worry I’ll cull out the ‘not so good’ ones, edit and crop the rest and keep only the cream of the cropped crop.

Don’t you just love digital?

The trip was a tour with the group formerly known as Elder Hostel.  Many did not know what the title meant but they were possibly hostile to the elder part so the name was cleverly updated to Road Scholar Tours (RST.)  I can now proudly say I am a Road Scholar!  Take that Bill Bradley.

So how do you see everything in such a large area in just 11 days?

You don’t.

But being a scholar means knowing your limitations.

However you do get a chance to live out of a suitcase and lug luggage from hotel to hotel travelling by trains, busses, luxury coaches, street cars, light rail, and ferries and of course by foot.

Luckily our luggage was stored most of the time and in the end you feel refreshed and invigorated that you did more in less than 2 weeks than most people do in a lifetime! (As long as they don’t live very long.)

Important note: Attention spans being what they are these days even I wouldn’t want to read about the entire trip in one sitting so I will tell of the vacation in several parts.

If you are reading a part higher than number one and wish to go in order (no reason really but) scroll down for the beginning of the trip.

PART I

Our 11 day adventure began in Portland Oregon pronounce Err-Gone where we spent 2 nights sandwiched around a full day before getting gone.

The irreplaceable &
therefore nearly ever
present Roger!

After an introductory dinner hosted by our tour over-guide Roger where all travelers introduced themselves to the group and explained what they did or are still doing we were regaled by a local expert who spoke about Portland’s pre Statehood history.

This type of informative lecture is a key feature of the RST experience and we were treated (subjected?) to at least one in every city or locale.  They were well done and I will try hard to remember half of what I heard and re-learned from my school days.  Just don’t ask me to repeat any of it.

We had our first glimpse of all the interesting people we would be cooped up, I mean traveling with for the next 10 days.  But just as there is safety in numbers there is also nervous anxiety among strangers.  And there were 36 of us in that room.  Most had been on RST in the past so they were familiar with the concept.  We were not.  Clearly we had some work to do.

After a full buffet breakfast at the Doubletree Hotel we headed out for our day's tours beginning with Portland's:

Every year since 1907 a rose
is selected & the breeder
anointed Queen for a year!

All Hail the Queen!

Rose Test Garden.

And in 1977

they crowned

Queen Susan!

 The garden was incredibly fragrant and roses of all colors and sizes surrounded us.

A perfectly sunny day for
tiptoeing, uh romping
through the roses!

Roses to the left of us, roses to the right of us, well you get the picture or pictures.

Wonderful world of roses?

The colors!

The aroma!

The diversity!

The Storied PEACE ROSE

My favorite was the Peace Rose.

And finally a rose bush that
dates back to the discovery of Newfoundland by Lief Ericson

A tip of the hat from
The Royal Rosarian
and the Resches

A Rose Hip from a very old bush

Royal Rosarian &

I bid the roses

adieu & head

out for our

next tour.

And that next tour is of the Lan Su Chinese Garden.

This entire garden of Chinese tranquility occupies one square city block in downtown Portland.

This civic marvel was built overseas, taken apart piece by piece & meticulously reconstructed in Portland in Sept 2000.

     Note the city just beyond the outer wall.

You almost feel as though you need a passport to enter but luckily just a ticket, prepaid by RST. Out of our fee of course.

Several objects are strategically placed to give a peaceful feel to the garden.

Another panoramic view of Lan Su for you 

 Exotic artwork and architecture abound.

Not sure what they did to warrant a

lineup but Hey, It's Chinatown, sort of.

Some of the beautifully carved wood panels depict scenes from the city where the Garden was constructed

Gorgeous Jade creatures guard some of the fine furniture.

Lunch was at the Portland Grill WAAAY up (31st floor of the "pink" building) overlooking, well everything.  Large windows basically offered a 360 degree view of Portland.  Several mountains including Mt Hood and Mt St. Helens, what's left of it were visible to the north but hard to see with the camera.

You'll just have to take my word for it!

Next up was a quick visit to Columbia Gorge and it's very expensive Rest Stop/Visitor's Center.

The dot all the way on the upper
right is the Visitor's Center.

The Rest Stop is on the left and it's interior ceiling just because I felt like taking the photo on the right. Hey, it's my camera and my blog so tough!

Off to the famous (to many) Multnomah Falls for a delightful dinner at the lodge.

Enjoying my 'Fisheye' Lens again.

First view of the falls walking
from the parked coach

We hiked up to that bridge in the background to work up our appetite. As if we needed to walk some more!

A few of the wonderful people on this RST

And believe it or not this was just the first day!

To be continued

WWLS

Surely everyone has heard the acronym WWJD.
It stands for: "What Would Jesus Do?"
And I believe it is fair to say that were he alive today the man of peace would not approve of anything the current GOP candidate for President of the United States says or does.

But Jesus is a figure from over 2,000 years ago and in some ways irrelevant today.
So how about someone from our recent history?
Someone with a fairly high approval rating among both or most political parties?
Sadly the man of whom I speak is also long gone but his thoughts are not.  They are preserved in quotes passed down from generation to generation.

Ladies and gentlemen I give you a new metric upon which to measure Donald Trump:

WWLS

What Would Lincoln Say?

Actually what DID he say?
(Click the link to read a litany of the 16th President's sayings.)

What Would our 16th say?

Abe's actual quotes are in bold red italics:

Firstly and perfectly:
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. 
Sorry Donald but that ship has sailed!

And how about the people who are thinking of placing this dangerous man in the White House?
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
PLEASE DO NOT!

And what about all the statements that spew from Mr. Trump's mouth that seem to contradict themselves?
No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.
But he sure as hell tries!
Sadly he succeeds in fooling far too many which should lead all of us to realize we need a better educational system in America! (No more books printed in, edited and distributed by Texas!)

I like this one too:
What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.
The Trump stench has not yet harmed the publicity hounding con man's poll numbers!

And then there's the most famous:
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
Well so far he has fooled enough to be a YUGE threat to the future of our great Democracy!

And also famously:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Well not exactly ALL men, right Donnie boy?

And speaking of ALL MEN he is threatening to prove the following painfully correct!
A house divided against itself cannot stand. 
He has created a divide from which may not soon heal!

And if you still think you wish to have the Donald as the leader of the free world and in control of America's nuclear football:
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
And then make sure your fallout shelter is well stocked.

And finally in Lincoln's own words he directs us, no begs us not to believe in the likes of Donald Trump but to reject him, shun him and keep him and others like him as far away from power as is humanly possible!
We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

The party of Lincoln approved this message, albeit quietly so as to not incur the wrath of their current standard bearer!

Lincoln would've loved me.
I'm the greatest leader that ever lived!
The best leader!
The only leader that can...