New Coast, New City, New Adventure: December Drought...

Over the last week, Mother Nature has blessed the Pacific Northwest with unseasonably and uncharacteristically dry and sunny weather. Let's just say I'm not complaining! I was definitely getting used to feeling perpetually soggy, and I'm sure it won't be long before my rain coat and I are inseparable again.

We've taken advantage of this "drought" in a few ways.

1. The other night, while walking to meet a friend at happy hour, we spotted a middle aged couple gazing at the heavens with a large telescope. I asked if they were seeing anything good, and they insisted we take a look. We looked at the moon and its beautiful craters. I swear, if the moon had buildings, we would have seen them through this telescope.

2. After Lindsay's interview last Thursday (she now has a second PT job--this one at a private practice), we took advantage of the remaning 30 minutes on her zip car and drove to the Pittock Mansion. According to its web site, the mansion was home to Portland pioneers Henry and Georgiana Pittock from 1914 to 1919. During the late 1800s and the early 1900s, their lives and work paralleled the growth of Portland from a small Northwest town site to a thriving city with a quarter million population.

On this particular day, I saw mountains I hadn't seen since being in Portland. In total, I think we saw five in the Cascade Range: Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, Mt. Jefferson, and Mt. Rainier. Nestled high in the west hills, the mansion is over 1,000 feet above the city's skyline and boasts a spectacular 180 degree view of Portland.

The marvelous Pittock Mansion, built in 1914

Spectacular view of the city and snow-topped Mt. Hood from west hills lookout.

3. Portland is home to a number of brew festivals throughout the year. (According to Lindsay, there is one basically every weekend in the summer.) On Friday night, we went to the Holiday Ale Festival in Pioneer Courthouse Square, where hundreds of other revelers indulged in tastings of 50 plus boldly potent winter ales. We met up with a friend of my longtime childhood friend, Julia. She and Andrew completed their Peace Corps training together. I figured any friend of Julia could be a friend of mine, and I wasn't proven wrong. We enjoyed the beer tasting, the smell of roasting nuts, and I was especially amused by the ugly holiday sweater photo shoot we did with Andrew's friends.

Not sure where they found those gems of sweaters, but we had a blast.

4. After the morning fog burned off yesterday, we ventured to the Portland Japanese Garden. We walked about a mile from our apartment south to Burnside Avenue, where we climbed a few hundred stone stairs in the woods. Soon, we were well above the city in Washington Park.

As we wandered along a winding road through the hills, we unexpectedly came across Oregon's Holocaust Memorial. Its lone visitors, we walked through it mostly in silence, contemplating and reading the history and quotes from survivors. The memorial contains scattered bronzes of shoes, glasses, a suitcase, a doll, a violin (which instantly reminded me of Juliek--from Eli Wiesel's memoir Night--whose playing of a Beethoven concerto fills the night with rare beauty, humanity and poignancy), and other items to represent everyday objects that were left behind. A cobblestone walkway with inlaid granite bars, simulating railroad tracks, leads to a wall that offered a brief history of the Holocaust and quotes from survivors. I recognized a number of the quotes from a documentary I used to show my students, and was reminded of the resilience and strength of the survivor who spoke to my students, Lily.

Bronze violin

Cobblestone path leading to wall

Although thinking about the Holocaust is haunting, the physical space was tranquil and moving. I am glad we came across it.

We continued our walk and soon passed the International Rose Test Garden, where over 7,000 rose plants of over 550 varieties bloom April through October. I am very much looking forward to visiting the garden in the spring and summer!

FINALLY, we arrived at our destination, the Portland Japanese Garden. Hailed as the most authentic Japanese garden in the world outside of Japan, the garden is a 5.5 acre haven of peaceful beauty in the west hills.

The garden is composed of five distinct garden styles. According to its web site: "When we enter a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. In a deep sense, the Japanese garden is a living reflection of the long history and traditional culture of Japan. Influenced by Shinto, Buddhist, and Taoist philosophies, there is always 'something more' in these compositions of stone, water, and plants than meets the eye."

The garden's designers achieved their desired effect. The whole experience was incredibly peaceful and welcomed deep reflection.

Lindsay and Tea Garden's exit