pre-moon, day five
Time to talk about Friday. Yes, I know several Fridays have come and gone since the Friday we’re talking about—the day before the wedding back in March. Sorry about that.
Ah, well. Bygones.
The day was planned as a sort of smörgåsbord of downtown treats. Folks might be skipping a couple of activities, joining us for a few hours, and trickling off again. Kind of relaxed. Y’know, Portland-y.
We started with a morning bike ride along the river, but only my dad and I were awake enough to sign on for that part. We camped out at my usual waterfront starting line, the Little River Café, to see if anyone else might be as foolish eager as we. No dice, but the wait did give the day a chance to warm up a bit, as we sipped espresso at our outdoor table and chatted with another biker who was doing exactly the same thing we were.
We took our last sips of steaming morning procrastination and headed across the river to OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (Texas folk, it’s like the Science Place). We went to the more grownup-friendly exhibits, like the new installment about the Amazon. The best part of that one? The candirú, or canero, a parasite that swims up your pee-hole if you urinate while swimming. Ewwwwwwww! Talk about a great way to dissuade the neighbors’ kids from taking a leak in your pool. Anyway, they had a couple of the disgusting things preserved in formaldehyde. Candirú, that is, not the neighbors’ kids.
After getting our senses shocked at OMSI, we headed up the Eastbank Esplanade, a wonderful bike path that actually floats right down on the water in a kind of futuristic, artsy setup. We crossed my favorite bridge, the Steel Bridge, and headed to Stumptown Coffee for the town’s best espresso.
Lunchtime! I’d heard there was a satellite of the Full Sail brewery on the waterfront, but darned if we could find it. A bit of asking around revealed that the rumor was true, but that the microbrewery was cleverly disguising itself as a McCormick’s. Sneaky. But you can’t hide beer from us! Dad and I talked about band music in between bites of awesome cheddar-beer-bread soup and gulps of bitter.
From the waterfront, we biked into downtown to Powell’s, the multi-floor bookstore that takes up an entire city block. I think it says a lot about our town that one of our biggest landmarks is a bookstore. The gals caught up with us there, as did my pal Lou from work. We spend a couple of hours rummaging among the stacks and telephoning each other to say, “Oh my God, you have to hear this!”
We left the bikes chained up at the store and walked northward into the Pearl, one of Portland’s two main yuppie districts. We forgot our yuppie-watching binoculars, but I’m pretty sure I heard the call of a Prada-clad Martinisucker, a rarity this early in the day.
Aaaaanyway, we camped out at the Tea Zone, an awesome gourmet tea shop that has recently added a bar and café to itself. They’re picky about the tea they buy, they’re picky about how they serve it, and they’re even picky (in a good way!) about how you drink it. “Okay, wait until this timer goes off, then flip this bit over and pour it gently in here. Gently!”
We finished the afternoon off with a walk to Jamison Square, the park where Lynn and I first kissed. The biggest feature in the Square is a broad, flat fountain that has no distinct boundary. The water gradually rises as it fills up, and you can walk right up to it and splash around in your bare feet, until the water drains away and you do it all over again.
With the sun tipping its hat to us and sliding behind the buildings, we decided to head back home and finish cooking for the wedding.