only with my luck - a SEA CAVE at a forestry museumThe evening improved when we decided to bail on the museum event and head downtown for dinner. We decided on Rock Bottom Brewery and after tasting tempura battered Anaheim chile peppers, my life is never going to be the same.
It’s rather miraculous how the timely clouds clear, or at least become more translucent, over the weekends, and the brightness of the sky is nearly blinding to my pale, unacclimated eyes. That was the case on Saturday, when Clara and I ventured downtown to explore the Lan Su Chinese Gardens on “free admission” day.
We first parked near a lot full of food carts, only some of which were open. Fortunately, Brunchbox, a burger cart I’d heard glorious things about, was one of them. I opted for the Black & Blue – a burger patty grilled with blackened seasoning, then topped with a healthy serving of melty blue cheese. Add lettuce, grilled onion, and barbecue sauce for good measure.
Clara decided on Thai food, and we found a park bench on which to dine. That’s an ambiguous sentence, isn’t it? The cold wind was funneling down through the tall city buildings and my fingers froze as I gobbled up my tasty burger.
We headed to the Gardens, apparently along with every other person in Portland, and strolled around through beautifully shaped doorways and over delicate stone mosaic pathways, inspired by things like “Plum Blossoms and Cracked Ice,” which varied from outdoor room to room. Winter’s harshness was reflected in the nearly geometric pattern of bare branches, the choppy wind passing over the mirrored surface of a central pond, and the tightly sealed, hibernating buds of myriad bushes and trees.
When we were done there, our lunch had settled enough that we were ready to take our place in line at Voodoo Doughnuts. After a 10-minute wait, we each selected 3 doughnuts to take home. (It was pretty difficult to pass up the $8 bucket-o-doughnuts.) In my quest to be a good wife, I picked up a Bacon Maple Bar for Jesse. I got a cinnamon raised doughnut with maple and bright pink sprinkles for immediate consumption, and a lemon/marshmallow crueller for the next day’s breakfast. Mmm. Unparalleled tastiness.
We then headed just over the river for a brief stop at Redux – where, of course, I couldn’t find a single piece of jewelry to commit to. For some reason I never purchase anything there, despite a very large and varied collection of lovely accessories and art.
For our last stop, we navigated (well, Clara navigated, I pointed her in the wrong direction) to the 23 Sandy Gallery to check out a book arts exhibit called “The Assignment.” We were pleasantly surprised to be told upon entering that we could handle each and every one of the books on display. This, in my experience at least, is a major rarity. I was excited to see a book about Rochester (specifically the race riots of 1964) in the show, as well as a flag structure book about Elvis. I’ve seen very expensive classes offered on this particular structure, but I studied it well enough at 23 Sandy that I can start experimenting on my own.
That evening, I headed back downtown with Jesse, where we got dinner at The Virginia and saw The Road at the Fox Theater. Those activities completed a lovely day for me, spent almost wholly in the midst of a city that always offers something new and novel
I also managed to watch The Life of David Gale (again) and Gran Torino over the course of the weekend. So far, I really am doing better about not being lazy (in the sense of doing things mindlessly), with the exception of sleeping in too long on the weekends. I’m really enjoying getting out more often and being a “consumer” (borrowed from Jesse) of food, sights, media, experiences.
The length of this darn entry (and the possible necessity for a second entry to cover Sunday) helps me realize that I need to blog more often – particularly over the weekends. I’m still waiting for my little, easily transportable computer to go on sale so I can finally initiate the habit of blogging while doing 30 other things!
