Tuesday, August 28th
These Art Deco-looking pylons support the roof of KC's Convention Center (Bartle Hall). Each pylon is topped with an aluminum sculpture (collectively known as "Skystation"). The pylons support the roof, meaning that the exhibit space inside has no columns and giving Bartle Hall the largest column-free convention space in the world. The entire building is situated atop the 6 lanes of I-670. Though the columns look deco, they were actually erected in 1994.
This is what $225 worth of fried chicken looks like. I wish you could smell it... The Styrofoam dishes in the foreground contain potatoes, green beans and gravy.
Vera, Steve, Ryan and Keith dig in.
Arthur Bryant's Barbecue
Cuz and our mountains of barbecued meat.
This sign is near the light rail tracks in Portland. I think it's supposed to communicate that the train tracks are dangerous for bicyclists, but all it said to me was: "take a picture."
Boomer the Portland Beaver's mascot.
Portland's Union Station. They run relatively frequent service up and down the West Coast.
The streets in the NW portion of Portland are arranged alphabetically, the "E" street is named for me!
My birthday dawned clear, bright and warm in Portland. I took the MAX light rail up to Washington Park. On the map, the Washington Park MAX stop and the Portland Rose Gardens aren't that far apart. The city runs a shuttle bus between the two, but it seemed like it might be a nice walk. What the map doesn't indicate very well are the many changes in elevation... I had quite a nice hike through the arboretum and the hills of western Portland. The walk was definitely worth it when I arrived at the Portland International Rose Test Garden. Situated on 4.5 acres, the garden features more than 7,000 rose plants on tiers in the hillside. The view is breathtaking; roses upon roses in the foreground, Portland's skyline in the middle distance and all of it backed with the Cascade Mountains and Mount Hood. New varieties of roses are sent from all around the world to the garden, where they are planted and tested for color, fragrance, disease resistance and other attributes. The variety in the roses is amazing. There are roses of every imaginable hue (except blue - roses currently have no gene for blue, though there are pale lavenders), size and habit. It was an amazing place.
Right next door to the Rose Garden, is the Portland Japanese Garden. Like the Chinese Garden I visited on Tuesday, the Japanese Garden is built to be an authentic recreation of a traditional garden. It is bigger than the Chinese Garden, giving people an opportunity to spread out more and making it feel more peaceful. Built into the side of the Portland West Hills is a towering waterfall. The sun was behind and filtered through the trees when I visited, which lent a beautiful quality to the light. The waterfall splashes down in several levels and into a big pond full of koi and irises. I sat at the base of the falls for a long time and just took the place in. The garden also has a natural section which should win an award for best use of lichen. It features many meandering streams and plants in a more natural, less formal, arrangement. There are also rock and sand gardens, flat gardens and a tea garden. Throughout the garden are examples of traditional Japanese architecture, decorative arts and even a haiku.
For dinner, I went to Dan & Louis Oyster Bar with Piper, Graham and Callie. In business since 1907, Dan and Louis specializes in oysters from the local Yaquina Bay and the Northwest. Though we didn't sample the famous Oyster Stew (we all have a list of things to try on a second visit), we did try all of the local oysters on offer. My favorites were the tiny Kumamotos. The oyster meat was barely bigger than my thumbnail, but very flavorful. We also shared an order of almost unbearably rich artichoke and dungeness crab dip. The dining room looks like the hold of a sailing ship and is decorated with all kinds of oyster and ocean related stuff: old oyster dishes, paintings of ships, even portholes. Roadfood steered us in the right direction once again!
At intermission, the Spamily had three kinds of ice cream cake for me. (We have an ingenious set up for birthdays here. The last person to celebrate their birthday, buys the next person's cake. We can turn in the receipts to Company Management and get reimbursed. This way, no one person gets stuck with birthday duty!) Darryl and Angelina picked out a traditional chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream as well as an "Oreo Pie" and a "Mud Pie". The whole Spamily was on a sugar high for the first half of the second act.
After the show, Elaine arranged a Spamily outing to Thatch Tiki Bar in my honor. Thatch's ad read: "No Lottery. No Karaoke. No Smoking. Just Good Tiki." These people took their tiki very seriously. From the outside, Thatch doesn't look like much: just a regular store front. The interior is a very different story. You pass through the front door and onto a bridge over a water feature of a staged ocean scene. The bridge ends at the front door of the tiki hut. The restaurant is completely enclosed by a tiki hut built inside the building complete with a thatched roof, wood plank floors and walls made of woven mats. It's amazing! The chairs and booths are authentic space age antiques in the "googie" style. The menu held drinks with names like Mai Tai, Chi-Chi (served in a ceramic coconut), Blue Hawaiian and (my personal undoing) the Volcano Bowl. The Volcano Bowl is described on the menu thusly: "Flaming drink of goodness, a Thatch original creation: vodka, white rum, coconut, pineapple, lemon, cranberry, banana. Minimum three people." It is served in a giant ceramic bowl with a half dozen straws. In the center of the bowl is a hollow volcano which the bartender fills with rum and sets ablaze. Awesome. There are some photos of me sipping from my second volcano bowl wearing a pith helmet and a lei - I will try and get a copy to post here. Thatch also served up a mean PuPu Platter (also, of course, in the old school tradition). The Spamily invaded and took over the place. Lots of folks turned out - many of us in Hawaiian attire. Thank you to Elaine and Steve for picking out the place and arranging the whole affair. I had a blast.
One of the puffer-fish lights that hung above the bar at Thatch.
Saturday I went to the Portland Farmers Market. I came back with fresh corn, beets and berries. They're still getting small, sweet, fresh strawberries here! I also picked up a bunch of gladiolas for my hotel room. They also had several prepared food merchants at the market so I ate breakfast and came back for lunch at the market. I sat eating my gazpacho and tamale, sipping on a mango lemonade and listening to a jam band in the middle of the park. As I walked to work, I passed the PSU Campus Christian Mission. They had a sign out front that read: "May your day be filled with peace and joy." I smiled all the way to work.
Sunday between shows, Karl, Ken, Geoff and I hit the Portland Italian Festival in Pioneer Square. Their food court was great! In addition to the expected sausage with peppers and onions, they had representatives from many of the local Italian restaurants serving up their specialties. I had an artichoke and prawn ceviche and a spinach lasagna with shredded beef. The desserts also proved irresistible: Karl had a pistachio gelato and I shared my tiramisu. All the while we were serenaded with live music sung in Italian.
Yesterday, Nate (our flyman) hosted us all at his home for a cook-out. He has a lovely corner of the world to call home. His backyard is surrounded by the pine and fir trees that are so prevalent here. He set up a badminton court and we threw boccie balls all around the yard. Everyone brought their dogs and his friends brought their kids - it was a perfect summer backyard barbecue. Nate spent days preparing the food! We enjoyed grilled carne asada tacos, local crabs, grilled polenta, grilled portobello mushrooms, corn and potatoes - the bounty seemed endless. He also made up two enormous coolers of margaritas: mango/cilantro and watermelon. Delicious. It was the perfect way to spend a late summer day off and to wrap up a wonderful birthday weekend!
JV
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