This is the 4th of a series of posts dealing
with my 2015 trip to Portland, Seattle, and vicinity. I’ve made minor
corrections to these reports (typos, bits I don’t feel like making public).
Also, I’ve added additional thoughts with the hindsight of two years later or
to add further clarification. These are
indicated by “NOW”.
Sorry again about typos; Sleep deprived and ton of ground
to cover.
[NOW: Typos hopefully all corrected for the blog version].
At two for some reason my body decided it didn't want any
more sleep. I tried to fight it but gave up around 4:30. I think my body was
reacting to the last trip to Salem where I couldn't get a window seat so it
woke me early to get me on an earlier bus.
I walked downtown to kill time. I got a daypass at Pioneer
Square North Station and took a Blue MAX train (TriMet) to Beaverton Transit
Center Station in Beaverton, hoping to catch a 5:30 train to Wilsonville. There
was no such train so I wandered around the area a little and then took a 5:58
WES tain (TriMet) to Wilsonville WES Station and dashed to the 1x bus at
Wilsonville Transit Center (all buses to/from within Salem and Keizer,
Cherriots Transit). The 1x only had a couple windows seats left, one on each
side but one was one I might have chosen anyway if the bus was empty, so that
was lucky.
I took this 1x bus to the McDonald's in Salem near the
Capitol. I ate breakfast at this
McDonald’s and then walked to the capitol, where the fountains weren't yet on.
I walked to the downtown core where I noticed that the Downtown Transit Center
had undergone a mostly nice overhaul, with all the buses in rows together
instead of around the block. I bought a daypass. I say mostly above though
because I was waiting to use the bathroom, but there were two people before me.
When the first left the second reacted so badly to some mess, I decided to move
on.
[NOW: The fountains are actually at Oregon State Capitol
State Park, very close to the capitol].
It was still early so I crossed a bridge to West Salem,
part of Salem but in a different county. Around this time I noticed my memory
card was getting down. I started to wonder if these really do hold 128 GB. I
visited Wallace Waterfront part and found the empty space that had been Blockbuster
before Blockbuster went under. Or did it?
Hmm...
[NOW: See day 5 for my tease. I later determined that I was
indeed taking enough photos to fill 128 GB fairly quickly. The bridge I took
over was Center St Bridge].
I crossed the same pedestrian / bike bridge that I had
entered West Salem in 2013 back to the east end of Salem (Union Bridge). Some
outdoor market was setting up. I visited Book Bin. No DVDs there this time
around but there was a napping cat. At downtown Transit Center I took a 17 bus
east to Lancaster, visited the more spacious Book Bin East (they had a
hardcover telling of the bible using photos of Lego pieces that I might have
bought had I not bought so many DVDs). I also visited a f.y.e. (for your
entertainment) and took an 11 bus north to Keizer Station in Keizer (most
people got off at a college along the way).
There was a wait before my next bus and tried to find the Target in the
Keizer Plaza across the street but wherever
it was, it wasn't as close as it appeared given the sign, so I returned to
Keizer Station. One place in 2013 wasn't open at opening time so I was going to
go there after a further place but decided to take them in order. So I took a
189 to a stop by a DQ, recalling from my research that there was a stop near my
first destination in this area. Luckily it was the right DQ and my destination,
Tony's Kingdom of Comics opened as I arrived. A dog there was friendly until i took
its photo and then it didn't like me anymore. I got a seltzer at Rite aid and
walked to Mr Video where I bought more DVDs. I took a 19 south back into Salem
at the Downtown Transit Center and transferred to a southbound 6 bus.
[NOW: The bridge back was Union St Bridge. The college was
Chemeketa Community College in Hayesville. Book Bin East has closed. Both Tony’s and Mr Video, while
still in Keizer, have moved further south.]
I overshot a stop because Cherriots uses Google maps and
Google gave the wrong name for the stop, so I doubled back and found that Comic
Connection was gone. I ate at the McDonald's in the area and then took a 1 bus
(not to be confused with the 1x bus) north to a few blocks from Escape Fiction.
My next destination was a fair ways away but downhill and no bus coming immediately,
so I decided to jog eighteen blocks to the Paperback Exchange and from there Harvest
Music, which was a tight squeeze inside. Also the prices were okay by regular
standards but high with the dollar difference. Returning to the downtown core I
visited Northwest Comic Gallery and Borderland Games. I had forgotten to put Book Cellar but on the
list after a hard drive crash in 2014, but remembered it anyway.
[NOW: Paperback Exchange, Northwest Comic Gallery, Borderland Games, and Book
Cellar have all since closed down.]
I returned to the Capitol where the fountains were on, but
a group of teens asked me what I thought happened after you die (class project).
I was spooked because they sneaked up on me, I was hot, and I was in the mood
to enjoy my vacation not dwell on mortality so I declined to answer. Another
group started to ask me soon after. I moved to the second set of fountains and
set down. A third group started to ask
me. I took more photos as I started to leave and a fourth group came up to me.
I started getting testy in my response, suggesting that the groups not all
cover the same ground at once. I moved to a third set of fountains a little off
to the side where a fifth group approached me. I got even more surly and
repeated by earlier comment.
I visited Waterfront Park, switching memory cards as a
steamboat arrived (too pricey and too cutting it close timewise to go on the
boat). I was looked for a store I saw earlier and stopped at Rite Aid, where I
got a lime seltzer. I passed through Salem Center, which I had passed through
earlier looking for a restroom.
I wandered around some more looking for the store and a sixth
group approached me. By this time the seltzer had cooled me off and this group
was at least in another area, so when they asked me, I playfully speculated
with a smile that when we die we go to some purgatory where different groups
ask us the same question over and over. That settled that matter and I headed
to the Downtown Transit Center, ironically around there finding the store I had
been looking for, Ranch Records. I crossed the street to the transit center and,
after a short walk around took the 1x bus back to Wilsonville. The bus was hot
and packed so my mind started entering a dream state and I kept having to wake
myself to get photos. At Wilsonville Transit Center I walked to Wilsonville WES
Station.
[NOW: Ranch Records has closed.]
The WES train (TriMet) was air-conditioned and spacious so
I had no Trouble staying awake on the trip back to Beaverton WES Station at Beaverton
Transit Center. I took a Red MAX train (TriMet) downtown and had dinner at
Sbarro (sic) at Pioneer Place. I visited Mill Ends Park, Salmon Street Springs
(this time the water was shooting to the center, creating a half dome effect).
I wandered around downtown and saw art pieces such as a nude woman in cloak statue
(someone had stuck gum on a nipple), animal fountains, a giant egg beater, the
elephants from before on the north end, etc). I visted Powell's and Everyday
Music again before returning to the hostel.
[NOW: Sbarro has closed. The nude woman statue is Kvinneakt, the animal
fountains are Animals in Pools fountain, what I referred to as a giant egg
beater is probably Whistlestop for an Organ Teacher but not sure, the elephants
statue is Da Tung & Xi'an Bao Bao in North Park Blocks.]
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