Hello Everyone,
It’s been a lovely week here on the road, spent mostly in Greater Portland. The roses are in bloom here in “Rose City” and the weather has been lovely. Despite this part of Oregon’s omnipresent overcast mornings, the days have generally been cool and sunny. I’ve spent much of the week catching up with old friends and taking a little bit of a breather from the journey, but I’ve also gotten out and seen some great new things in Portland which has been nice. I had planned to be heading east from here, but a minor van issue has kept me from moving on for the moment. I’m hoping it’s fixed and that I can get going in another day or two. It’s been a great few weeks here in Oregon, but it’s definitely time to be moving on down the highway. I’ll hopefully be eastbound before the weekend.
After finishing up this post last week, I headed back to Salem to catch up with my friend, Erin. We met for a lovely dinner at a little downtown spot called Venti’s. After dinner we just carried on our conversation and it was a fun and wonderful night. I took the day off on Thursday to spend with Erin, who had just recently moved to Salem. She didn’t have any favorite spots to show me but we had a fun day anyway, mostly just hanging around her place and chatting.
On Friday I said my goodbyes and headed back to downtown Salem for the morning. I wanted to make a quick visit to the Willamette Heritage Center which preserves some of the area’s oldest buildings. The centerpiece is the old 1889 Thomas Kay Woolen Mill, which is a marvelous industrial brick building. Also at the Center are the houses of some of the Methodist missionaries who came to Oregon long before anyone set off down the Oregon Trail. These buildings had all been transported to the Heritage Center over the years for preservation (one got stuck under a bridge for several hours – always check your clearance). After my visit, I said so long to Salem and headed up the road to McMinnville in time for the start of the McMinnville UFO Festival. Way back in 1950, a local farmer named Paul Trent took two photos of supposed UFOs from his land just outside of McMinnville. These are some of the earliest and most famous UFO photos ever taken. They were printed in Life magazine and in newspapers across the country and around the world. Every year McMinnville hosts a UFO festival which is equal parts serious lectures and discussions at the convention center and tin foil hats and ray guns at the street party downtown. The whole downtown area around 3rd Street was closed to traffic and it was definitely a fun atmosphere. There were several bands playing at different spots around town and I really just spent the evening wandering around and enjoying the revelry.
Saturday was the main day for the UFO Fest and the streets were full of people in their best alien costumes. Some people went all out with their costumes and others, like me, settled for some alien antennae. The parade started at noon and it was significantly bigger and better than I imagined it would be. The street was completely packed with observers and the parade lasted almost an hour. There were marching bands from the local schools, floats from local businesses and a lot of people in costume walking the route. It was a ton of fun and it really put a smile on my face. The festivities continued through the day and into Sunday, but I had had my fill of aliens for the weekend, so after the parade I hit the road.
En route to Portland, I made a quick stop in the little town of Newberg to visit the Hoover-Minthorn House. Future president Herbert Hoover was born in Iowa. His father died when he was 6 and his mother died when he was 9. When he was 11, his family put him on a westbound train headed for Portland where his uncle, Doctor John Minthorn, met him and brought him to his new home. Herbert lived with his uncle, aunt and cousins for the next six years before joining the inaugural class at Stanford University. The Hoover-Minthorn House is the only presidential house museum in the Pacific Northwest and one of only a very few in the western United States. It has been lovingly restored to how it would have looked when Hoover lived there, and he was on hand when the museum was dedicated in 1955 on his 81st birthday. Apparently on that day he enjoyed sitting in one of the fancy chairs in the parlor which had been off limits to him as a child. I really enjoyed the guided tour of this site and even though this was a doctor’s home and therefore one of the nicer houses in the area at the time, it was still incredibly humble.
From Newberg I headed on up the road to Portland. I parked in one of my favorite spots and hopped on the train to go downtown for a couple of hours. My first stop was Kelly’s Olympian, a neon filled bar which has been around since 1902 and is one of my favorites in town. In addition to all of the neon and old motorcycles, it is one of the few places in the country where you can still get a $1 beer. I might have had more than one. From there I went just up the street to Huber’s, Portland’s oldest restaurant having first opened in 1879. Huber’s is known for its roast dinners and its Spanish coffee and I enjoyed both in this absolute gem in the heart of the city. I sat at the bar and struck up a conversation with an older gentleman sitting next to me. We ended up chatting for several hours and I really enjoyed talking with him. He had played college football with Clint Didier who was a tight end for my hometown Washington Redskins when I was growing up. His life had taken him in many different directions, but he had recently lost his wife of many years and was thinking about doing some traveling. We had a remarkably civilized conversation about politics where we agreed on most things despite having voted for opposing candidates for many years. I enjoyed our chat and I could tell that he did as well since he was missing his wife and needed a night out of the house. It was good to be back in Portland and to hit up some of the city’s old haunts.
On Sunday I had a nice breakfast at the Nite Hawk, a fun little bar/diner north of downtown which has been around since 1931. In the old days it was also a service center so you could get your oil changed while you ate. After breakfast I had a little wander around the Hollywood District to check out the fabulous circa 1926 Hollywood Theatre which is just gorgeous. I hit the gym and popped into the library for a while and then went and had a beer at Holman’s, one of the older bars around Portland having opened immediately after Prohibition. Holman is the last name of one of my best friends at home, so I enjoyed sending him some photos of this wonderfully divey bar. From there I went to another of Portland’s unique watering holes, the Roadside Attraction in the Central Eastside, to meet my old friends Andrew. Andrew is one of my fraternity brothers from Penn State who has lived in Portland for many years at this point. We had a great time catching up and people watching and were there pretty late into the night which was fun.
I spent some time on Monday morning wandering around the neighborhood, stopping for breakfast at a food truck at the Hawthore Asylum food cart pod for a waffle sandwich. I had a delightful cup of coffee at Tiny’s and then hit the gym for an hour or so. I spent a decent chunk of time trying to find a mechanic who could see me on short notice and finally found a place called Lomeli’s out in Gresham who promised to take a look. With that appointment in the books, I drove north to the old Kennedy School out by the airport. This old school is now one of the wonderful McMenamins properties which are quite prevalent in Greater Portland. It’s another amazingly well done refurbishment with several bars and restaurants, lots of outdoor seating and tons of art and old photos to peruse. I had a beer and spent about an hour wandering around and having a look. From there I headed out to the old St. John neighborhood to meet up with my friend, Josh. Josh lived about an hour up the road from me when I lived in Japan and it was great to see him and catch up. While a night out is always fun, sometimes a night in is really amazing when you’re constantly on the go. We hung out at Josh’s place, listened to some tunes from his vast vinyl collection, played some games, ate pizza and drank a few beers. It was most enjoyable.
After coffee the next morning, I headed out to see more of St. John which is one of Portland’s more historic neighborhoods. There were some really neat old buildings and businesses around, and I loved going down under the St. John Bridge. Portland is full of bridges, and the St. John Bridge is probably the nicest. Leaving St. John, I made a quick stop at the White Eagle Saloon, a truly classic Portland bar and music venue. From there I headed across the river to pay a visit to the Freakybuttrue Peculiarium and Museum, one of the city’s more unusual museums. It was a lot of fun to visit, with old movie props, cryptid statues, optical illusions and things of that nature. Most people seemed to move through it pretty quickly, but I probably spent a solid hour there and thought it was pretty cool. From there, I wandered up the street to Salt and Straw, a well-loved local ice cream parlor. I was pleasantly surprised by their olive oil flavor which was rich and delicious. I stopped for a quick beer at a McMenamins Tavern which was right nearby and then made a beeline for Tigard. My old college friend, Cristen, lives in Tigard with her family and it’s always so good to see them. Their daughter is 12 now and edging closer and closer to teenage-dom. We had a delicious home-cooked dinner and then Cristen and I went out to grab a drink and catch up.
This morning I said goodbye to those guys and headed out for my car appointment in Gresham. Unfortunately, the shop I went to couldn’t fix the problem. My air shocks, which were recently replaced at no small cost, were not holding air which is definitely not good. Thankfully, Carlos, who was running the office, started making some phone calls and found someone nearby who could help me out. The shop was called Goin’ Straight and I was quite pleased with how much they helped me out. They kept me informed every step of the way as to what they were doing and what was going on which I very much appreciated. When they were done, we went out and had a look under the van so that they could show me the work they had done and answer any questions. It wasn’t quite as cheap as I had hoped, but it was also more work than I imagined it would be. They asked if I could bring it back in in a day or two so they could check it and make sure everything was holding up, which I really appreciate. Hence the reason I will be sticking around for another day or two to put some miles on it and make sure everything is good before I start out across the state again.
So that leaves me here in the Gresham library, finishing up this week’s post. I had been debating going back into Portland for one more day to see some of the spots which have been closed the last couple of days, and this has sealed that deal. I’m going to hang around here tonight and then head back into the city for a nice, long day of exploring. I’ll stop by the shop on Friday morning to let them have a look and then I’m on my way back to Idaho. It’s Memorial Day weekend, so I’m hoping to get moving early and avoid as much traffic as possible. I don’t think I’ll make it all in one day, but I might depending on what I stop to see along the way. Barring any issue with my van (fingers crossed), I’ll be well on my way into exploring central Idaho by this time next week. I only plan to spend a week or two in central and northern Idaho and then I’ll be off and running into Montana which I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. I hope you’ll check back with me next week to see what I get into as I think it’s going to be a fun week ahead. Have a wonderful week out there and thank you, as always, for reading.
-Mike
