#7--First Days in Portland, Oregon

First Days in Portland, Oregon
September 9th, 10th, 11th, 2008

As the city of Portland came into view and we crossed the Columbia River, there was an air of expectancy and excitement knowing that at last we would be together with our daughter, Carolyn. Since she now uses the name she chose for herself when in college, we will call her Maia in our blog. We gathered our belongings, which we had tried to keep to a minimum for our cross country train journey. Yet, we found ourselves going down the narrow steps inside the coach with two backpacks, two fanny packs, one laptop computer, and lastly, Maia’s guitar, which Judy tried to wrestle down the steps. The angle of the steps made it impossible to carry it by the handle, but Dick came to her rescue by holding it upright in front of him. We claimed our two suitcases inside the train station and were ready to be picked up for the drive to Hillsboro.

Tucked in the case with the guitar was a large bottle of Cincinnati’s Montgomery Inn Barbecue Sauce made from a famous recipe known the world over. We knew that Maia would savor this treat. Unfortunately we couldn’t bring Graeter’s Ice Cream, a treat that’s equally famous in Cincinnati. One of our many international friends over the years, Angelina Au, actually did take Graeter’s all the way home to Hong Kong in a box of dry ice

What a great feeling it was to see Maia pulling into the street in front of the train station in her silver Scion XB! For us as parents, it was a wonderful reunion to see her once again. We enjoyed lunch at a 50’s diner and dinner at a Thai restaurant. Where she lives in the city of Hillsboro is within walking and/or biking distance of many places including restaurants, a theater, a hospital, doctors, the grocery and various shops.

On the following morning we found ourselves heading out of Hillsboro driving East through Portland toward another of nature’s wonders—Mt. Hood, and its historic Timberline Lodge. On the way we decided to enjoy some huckleberry treats--huckleberry pie or a huckleberry shake at the Huckleberry Inn. The menu claimed that they have “world famous homemade huckleberry pie.” Huckleberries are similar to blueberries but a little smaller and grow wild in areas like this.

There were many spectacular photo ops as we approached the lodge, with Mt. Hood towering over all that was down below. Mt. Hood, the highest mountain in Oregon at 11,235 feet, is one of many peaks with perpetual glaciers and snow fields which mark the Cascade Range across Oregon and Washington. Only small amounts of snow remained on the mountain, but within the month, considerable snow is expected, and skiers and snowboarders will be coming up the long and curving road from the valley below.

We were able to get probably the best table in the lodge to view Mt. Hood while we were having lunch there. When we asked our server if they are a able to keep the road open through the winter, she told us that even if snow is covering the lodge, there is never an excuse to be late or not to come to work because the road is always kept cleared.

As we caught our final glimpses of Mt. Hood, we drove back through Portland and on to Hillsboro with many fresh impressions of this majestic mountain.

We had the opportunity the next day to see some of the interesting parts of Hillsboro, which is a city on a mission to revitalize its downtown area. Many entrepreneurs are investing in the future here, which bodes well for the city in the years to come.

We met some of Maia’s friends, people whom we have heard her talk about over the time she has lived here. It helps to meet people face to face. At one of Maia’s friends’ favorite Indian restaurants, we experienced new dishes and had fun getting to know two of these friends.