The Hood

We have managed to find a great massage therapist who works out of this building, one floor above us! We are pleased with our good fortune and know we will need to adjust our budget. This will become a habit! She is sure I have steel cable running thru my shoulders and does her best to rub them out. Ouch – not the relaxing massage I was waiting for, but knew this was for my own good. She asks if I have ever had whiplash. Uh, no, maybe 25 years ago in a car accident, but nothing lately? I am in horrible shape, she never gets past my neck and shoulders. DC, the last two months have made a nice home there.
Our Doctors office is three blocks or so away and integrates Eastern health care with Allopathic health care, they have chiropractors and acupuncturists as part of their practice. We called to get appointments and are greeted by a happy, warm voice and were able to get in within days of calling. Not like DC where it would take months and the phone conversations were always as frustrating as the wait! Unless of course you want to pay extra for an expedited appointment. God I am glad to be out of there. My OBGYN damn near across the street, it is a place that specializes in women’s health care from ship to stern. Could it get any better, well yes it can…………………………..
Yoga studio a block away, sushi go round two blocks away and two brew pubs equally as close. Whole foods on the corner, PF Changs on the opposite corner and numerous cute little shops with clothes, things, flowers, furniture, salons, restaurants, and a theatre that serves adult beverages – you name it, it is here. The Pearl District does not disappoint!
Ya, I am going to like it here, once I get used to the rhythm of the city.

Portland or Bust

I think we are going to like it here!
The cats are finally settling into the place, we were worried that we had turned them into little Vagabond’s – days following our arrival they jumped out of bed in the AM as if to say OK- time to “load up”. Sitting by the door watching every move we made, waiting to be shoved into the carriers and on to our next destination. They now have their own favorite spots to chill and love eye-spying on people and cars 15 floors down on the street.
We have spent the last two weekends shopping, ug, I hate to shop. We pack the crown vic to the hilt with this and that, attempting to re-build a household, at one point having to tie the trunk shut with some random twine we found. Not sure this will hold, so we drive as slow as possible on the freeway and attempt make it home. Ner, ner, ner, ner, ner nerrrrrr – we hear banjos playing in our heads as we slump down in the seats, hats pulled tightly over our heads, dark sunglasses, grateful no one knows us here!
We have made a conscious effort to not over buy, but to just buy necessities, still it has been 3 full days of shopping, cramming, assembling, arranging. Shopping, cramming, assembling, organizing. I have worked two full pages of “things” to buy down to ¼ page. I will not have to work on the floor, using a box as a computer desk! The house is coming together.
We found a couch and had it delivered, the delivery shows up 5 hours early at 7AM. Luckily we are still on East Coast time and have been up by 5:30AM every day, I am in my pajamas, hair glued to my head, teeth brushed – BTW-my new hair style is quite a sight to see, gray, pulled back and in a bun – I look like an old school marm (sp?). Next week, priority hair dresser!
Our home resembles nothing of our “old life” no Asian influences, no antiques, no art – I think my art will be the cityscape – the views from the 15th floor can be stunning. Red/orange sunrises, making the vertical clouds look as if they are on fire, the full moon looked close enough to lasso and the skyline filled with buildings of all shapes and sizes. Mount St. Helens is visible, we know this is her – the top of the mountain is missing, blown off by a violent release of energy some years back, Mount Hood barely visible, blocked by an aforementioned building. We watch the storms roll in and snowflakes dance by the windows.
We are still not used to the street noise, our alarm clock today was bongos at 4AM, crazy crack heads – probably thought they sounded great, me I wanted to cram the bongos up someone’s a@$^!!! We both mumble, damn crack heads…………..get up throw on a pot of coffee, I settle in to write. Garbage is picked up somewhere between 4-6AM everyday of the week, I debate getting a movement started to push this to 8AM, a more civilized hour of the day. But know humans do not want to “see” the garbage we produce, collection has always been done under the cover of night – I wonder how this came to be? Hummmmmm. I think about garbage. I have become a fearless recycler, we have spent hours separating the trash, and flattening cardboard we have created in this move and deposited it in the proper receptacles. Recycle, Reuse, Repair – the planet, our life.

3,723 Miles

in total to drive from Washington, DC to Portland, OR, via Hwy 40 the southern route. Whew!!

We left the California/Oregon border at 6:50 AM Friday, the earliest departure yet! Like barn sour horses we jumped out of bed, bathed and shoved animals and luggage into our faithful Crown Vic, cheap bad coffee in hand and headed North on I-5. It is raining and we hope not snowing in the Mountain Pass?

We hit Oregon at 7:20AM as we crested one of many mountain passes, it is pouring-not snowing thank goodness, but still makes for a white knuckle few hours as we pass semi's that toss up so much road spray it is next to impossible to see until safely around them. My feet are pressed into the floor, working invisible breaks - hands clenched on an invisible steering wheel as we motor on. The cats are now road worthy little beasties, they settle right in and take a quick meditation with the rain droplets streaming on the windows. This is something new, that keeps them occupied for hours.

Oregon is really pretty in this part of the state, green, green green. You can tell we are out of the California drought. The Oak trees are covered with magnificent green lichen - my sister would love these for her flower shop. Keith comments- "Can you tell how much rain they get here?" Yes, but it beats DC, hands down! Cows lazily graze in green fields - unlike the feed lots of California. Sheep out number cows here, I get a quick lesson in animal husbandry. Do you know why sheep are herded around constantly? Neither did I, well apparently they don't just bite grass like cows, they pull the grass up by the roots, ruining the grass lands. Which apparently was the reason for fences in the West. Not to keep the cows in but to keep the sheep out! Back to the road trip........

We parallel the Willamette River, pronounced Will-am it- like damn it as we begin to enter into the greater Portland area. The rolling green hills, farm animals, trees and lazy driving start to disapear and are replaced by strip malls and freeway interchanges with cars buzzing around. Well buzzing as they do here in OR, 55 miles per hour on the nose. We have been warned that "the man" is death on speeding so we attempt to change gears from the 70+ driving we had been driving at over the last 6 days - this is not easy and catch ourselves back at 70! Remember the barn sour thing? It is worse now, we just want to get there, maybe with a speeding ticket in hand?

Ug, I rather liked my country views. The black crows are still traveling with us. I have seen them from the 15th floor of the apartment. O yes, our digs.

We arrive to our new home about 12:30PM (no speeding ticket), Keith looked for a Portland City limits sign for a photo opp, he wanted a picture with him kissing the ground - sign in the background. Never got that opportunity-drats! It is sunny but the air is crisp, we make our way thr0ugh numerous road changes, in a screwy looking spaghetti bowl of sorts and over one of Portland's many bridges into the downtown area. The traffic is horrible, just like DC. We find our new home with very few missed turns and park in a gigantic parking garage and make our way back out onto the street. I am worried I will never find my animals again!

We have leased an apartment from The Louisa, we are one of two that arrive at the very same time and the guy ahead of us beats us in by 30 seconds - crap! We are ushered into the "social room" with a big screen TV on the second floor , sports blaring and where the deck is located, looks nice with what will surely be tall grasses and flowers come spring, complete with huge stainless steel BBQ's - we discuss how great it will be to grill fresh fish in the summer while sipping on a great glass in wine. It takes about 30 minutes for our turn to sign 20+ pages of this and that, words that make up the content of a lease. We are so rung out, we just sign, whatever it says, we are now committed to for 6 months. Ya, ya ya whatever just give us the damn keys. We have animals and "stuff" we need to bring in. Just as we finish, the 8 boxes of "stuff" arrive that I had shipped before leaving DC, perfect timing! For two people that have lost just about everything we own to a fire, we marvel at just how much "stuff" we have! More on the fire later, I have an update on this!

We live now in the heart of the Pearl District. http://www.explorethepearl.com/ . Our 15th floor view takes in all of the city, bridges and faces south/east - I think? The cats are just mesmerized by the views, as we all are.

Our bed arrived on time, earlier that morning and was waiting for us. At least we will have a bed to sleep in tonight.

Peace Out from Portland, OR

xo