Portland, part 1
My trip to the Pacific Northwest in excruciating detail, part 3! ( Part 1, Part 2)
Off to Portland! ...But first, breakfast. This is me eating my sakura mochi (purchased the day before in Chinatown) with the (possibly) sakura trees in the background. Tasty.
After that, it was off to catch a bus so I could catch a train. Unfortunately, it was raining, but I managed to make it over just fine. Here's the station.
The train was leaving soon so I didn't even get a chance to sit around in the lobby before getting right into the line to get on. Not a long line, though, and everything was simple enough. If trains were faster and cheaper, I'd much prefer them over flying, but right now they're simply not practical for long distances in the States. :(
When I bought my ticket, I wasn't sure whether to take the Coast Starlight or the Cascades. They cost the same amount, so I figured I'd go with whichever was more scenic. Turns out, they run on the same track, at least in Washington and Oregon, and the name of the lines just refers to if you're getting on the old train (Cascades) or the new one with the fancy observation car (Coast Starlight). I opted for the Starlight.
The Starlight is nicknamed the Starlate, incidentally, if you're going northward, as like a doctor's office it just gets more and more delayed as the day goes by, but since I was traveling south in the morning it was all good.
The car my seat was in. I was at the very back of the train, and my seat was quite comfy and my seatmate very nice, but it didn't matter because you can wander all over the thing if you like, and it wasn't crowded so there wasn't any competition for anything I wanted to see/do/eat.
It is very dark because we have not yet left the station here, and also it is raining.
The train layout. Very handy. My eyes immediately zoomed in on the word "arcade," and discovering it became a top priority.
Don't mind if I do.
This is the observation car in the front/middle-ish part of the train. These seats aren't assigned; anyone can come up here and sit and watch the scenery go by. They do ask that you don't stay there forever, but like I said, it wasn't crowded while I was on so I spent most of my trip camped out in front of one of the windows.
Since this picture is kind of blurry, here's an exciting video of me on the train!
All of the cars had two stories (floors? levels?), and the observation area was the top part of its car. Immediately below was the snack bar, full of over-priced vending machine-type food for your consumption should you have not brought food and aren't interested in making a lunch reservation in the dining car. (Seriously, they come around and take reservations. You can choose one of three times. 'Course, you have to pay for it, but if I weren't getting off the train right when lunch started I'd probably have gone for it. After all, nothing's finer than ham 'n' eggs in Carolina Oregon.)
Speaking of the dining car, here it is.
The arcade was a disappointment, sadly, with machines that looked straight out of the eighties. Ah, well, was I expecting DDR?
Some scenery. It was grey for most of the trip.
A body of water.
My snack. I'd brought snacks, of course, but decided to supplement my dried fruit and jerky and granola bars with this cheese and crackers tray from the snack bar. Over-priced, yes, but quite tasty, and it was pleasant to eat and listen to my mp3 player and watch the scenery roll by.
No matter what this picture makes it look like, however, the train never seemed to be going very fast. Maybe 60 mph tops?
Oregon now.
Once the train arrived, I followed the directions from Hostel World and made my way via a couple buses to Hawthorne in Portland (I think that's the official name of the hostel). The hostel was nice enough, but of the three I've now stayed at it was my least favorite. The staff was usually hidden in a room off behind the desk, it wasn't within walking distance of much of interest (though it was right on the bus route), and the guests were mostly American, which is a hypocritical complaint but I've grown to like meeting people from around the world.
Anyway, I got checked in (pictures in the next batch, I think) and wandered out to check out Hawthorne street, on which the hostel is located and which has "character." That means lots of hole-in-the-wall restaurants, theaters, used book stores, clothing stores, etc. It's actually something of a tourist attraction, but for a different kind of tourist from me.
Anyway, the one thing that did catch my eye is that Powell's, the famous block-wide bookstore, had a branch a few blocks down the street, so in I went.
It was about on par with Half-Priced Books, but with funnier signs.
The matching display.
Back at the hostel, hanging out with some guys in the common area after dinner and watching The Daily Show on someone's laptop. Just like being at home!
Later in the evening, I discovered a copy of Apples to Apples on the games shelf and organized a game. (Just like being at home!) Shu, the Japanese guy in blue here, was handily winning despite needing definitions for a few of the words. However, once he left the game I started cleaning up and totally won. ^-^
In the background, by the way, is a large map with pictures and directions to a number of local attractions. This proved most helpful during my stay.
On another wall was this world map and an invitation to put a pin in for where you're from. I found space in Iowa, but Shu couldn't even fit one onto Japan.
After that, it was off to bed - I had a big day ahead of me on the morrow.
Something-or-other square (Pioneer Square?) in downtown Portland. I was here pretty much every day while I was there, because it conveniently was where the various metro train lines all stopped. I mean, they stopped other places too, but this is where they all crossed, so it served as a hub of sorts. Handy.
I was off to Washington Park, which is quite the complex up on the hill west of the city. Approximately, the black on the map is the zoo, the tan is the parking lot, the white in the middle of the tan is the metro station (actually, many, many feet underground - they had a cool display of the rock core and how old the different layers were as you rode the elevator up to the surface), the red dot is where this sign is by the Forestry Center, and most of the rest of the green is the outdoor tree conservatory.
There's also a memorial, assorted gardens, some other museum, and more in there, too.
Anyway, my first stop was at the World Forestry Center, because the Things To Do In Portland website said they were having a chocolate exhibit, and I like chocolate.
Inside, they had many displays set up about trees (of course). For example, these crazy robots are now used to log. You probably wouldn't want to get a hug from one.
Oh god it's the LEVELER!!!
Sure, why not?
Okay, it turns out trying to cut down trees by remotely swinging around a robot on a cable and then properly commanding it to climb and cut is hard. I succeeded in cutting down one practice tree out of three, and even then I couldn't figure out what to do with it and just sort of swung it around. I am a modern-logging failure.
A clearer picture of the screen. Also, this guy is totally doing better than I did, as you can tell because he actually got the yellow robot to cling to something instead of wildly flinging it from one side of the clearing to the other.
Speaking of simulations at which I was not good, here you could try parachuting. Why? I don't really remember, but I'll give anything interactive a shot, especially if it looks like a video game.
A six-year-old took this picture, by the way, since that's his mom busy on the phone in the background. He did pretty well, no?
Here we go!
You're supposed to aim for the big red target.
Oops.
I have new respect for people trained in parachuting.
Out the back doors (the place was arranged in a circle with a big tree in the middle, and two stories) was this garden. Nothing was going on at the time, but it looked nice. I imagine this is where school kids listen to lectures about trees and they set up buffets when they have fundraising parties.
Foreshadowing: this is not the prettiest waterfall I would see that day, despite looking quite restful.
::insert Junjo Romantica joke here::
There was a fire back in the sixties, which wiped out the old center and everything in it. This table was saved by dint of being out for restoration, and is legitimately a lovely and precious antique.
That said, I still think "Do not place anything on this table" is hilarious.
The chocolate exhibit, sadly, wasn't nearly as interesting as I had hoped it would be. It was mostly just signs on the walls talking about cocoa plants, some videos about harvesting, and this fake cocoa tree. I did think the tree was neat, because it's never really sunk in for me before just how odd cocoa pods look when they're growing, but overall it really wasn't worth the hype.
I mentioned this later in the giftshop (nicely, and I was talking about other museum stuff too), and they said that they were going to be giving out free chocolate samples on the last day (Sunday). Of course, that was the day I was going home, but ah well. At least I learned about trees.
Me driving the LEVELER. (Okay, okay, "Timberjack.")
The big (fake) tree in the middle of the building. They had a rather neat gig going with it, with a camera that was mounted such that it could go all the way up and down one side of the tree and turn about 180 degrees. The idea was that you were supposed to use the camera controls and video monitor to identify various animals (and one person) that hang out in trees.
But enough about flora, let's talk fauna! (Merriweather has been excluded on account of the cloud cover.) This here is the Oregon Zoo, since I'd skipped the one in Seattle and what's a vacation without a chance to see a tiger?
The zoo was just a five-minute walk from the center, and not crowded at all. Very nice staff, too, of course.
Me riding a goat statue outside of the mountain goat pen. I am perhaps a little big for this photo-op. Plus, I'm not really sure how that kid is supposed to stay on its mother's back without passerby holding it on.
Unfortunately, this section was closed because they were busy remodeling it to make room for - I think it was bears? Sure, let's say it was the bears.
Interestingly enough, by the time I was leaving the zoo they'd removed the barriers keeping you from wandering in, so... I went in. (A few other people were wandering around, too, so it's not like I didn't have company.) Most of the animals were off display, of course, but it was fun to see what was in progress and how they were theming everything. Mom probably would have liked it. ^-^
Plant love story. Awww. (A closeup so you can read the text.)
Randomly scattered around the zoo were these bronze statues of rodents. They were cute, but I wonder how that sort of thing gets approved at the meeting? "...And how about a bronze squirrel with a lunch box taking up bench space?" "Yeah, I like it!"
The monkey exhibit.
Down in the farm area, which was also blocked off in the back (since it connects to the lower half of the closed Northwest exhibit), I learned that there are way more kinds of Shetland Sheep than I would ever have guessed.
I also met these very nice people, who were minding the goat pen (you could go in if you wanted). We chatted about the goats, the work being done of the exhibits, the howling coming from the wolves (!) an exhibit down, and so forth. Very pleasant. I was getting out my map to make sure of my directions when...
Chomp!
The culprit, not looking guilty.
Apparently goats really do eat everything. I apologized profusely for not feeding him only approved pellets from the goat-food machine, and they apologized profusely for letting him eat my map. Fortunately, he only got part of the key, so it was all good.
Wait a minute, did I mention wolves?
The goat people had told me you rarely got to see all three wolves at once, but you could often hear them howling. Well, joke's on them, because I not only got to see all three out and about, but also making poses straight out of a New Mexican gift shop.
The third's not pictured because I've already got enough photos in this set, but this guy totally looks ready to sink his teeth into Little Red Riding Hood, doesn't he?
I think someone got sick of making signs after a while. "Seriously, what do you want from me? There's more zoo, okay? It's over there."
Oh yeah, and the elk pen was right next to the wolves. I always wonder how the animals feel about that kind of set up.
After that it was off to see the polar bears. I didn't see the bears right away, but they did have up this fimo exhibit illustrating the effects of global warming that I thought Alan might like to see.
The bear! ...Haha, no, of course not. Someone just stuck a polar bear arm in the ceiling, trying to catch a seal. As one does.
The bear! For reals this time.
There were two bears, both doing their absolute best to be adorable. This one was chilling in front of a big glass window, constantly changing his lounging pose to allow tourists to get different angles.
This bear, for whatever reason, really liked to walk backwards - was famous for it, in fact (the goat people had told me to watch for it).
After a while, the lounging one got up to join the other, which had managed to get a red ball stuck inside the plastic iceberg. This was enormously entertaining, as there was an amount of water inside the iceberg and the ball was hollow, so it floated, so every time the bear would push down on one side and reach in to get the ball, it would float to the other end. Eventually, he did get it - by puncturing the ball and pulling it out. There were cheers in the audience who'd been watching the intense struggle.
So hey, here's something I definitely did not know: Portland has a major history with elephants. There's even this little museum at the zoo devoted to them.
So, anyway, back in 60s, baby elephant Packy was born at the Oregon Zoo. This was the first elephant to be born in the entire western hemisphere for decades, and it was kind of a major deal. Not content to rest on their laurels, the zoo then established itself as pretty much an elephant breeding capital (see family chart above).
There were actually quite a number of neat exhibits, including a giant mastodon skeleton (click the link above if you're curious) and this vintage printing advertisement.
I suppose it says something about me that I found the advertising to be the more interesting of the two, picture-wise.
Speaking of elephants, here are some elephants.
This is the indoor barn, in case it's raining or something. This is Portland, after all.
Here are some more elephants.
And here is me sitting on a small hippopotamus.
Totem pole. They cropped up every now and then as decorations in both Seattle and Portland, but this was probably the most dramatic one I saw.
I don't have a good picture of them, but if you would like to be vaguely creeped out by a video here's one of some bats walking across the ceiling. Rats with wings indeed.
Leopard. Cheetah.
Lynx.
Tiger.
This is an Amur Leopard, one of the most endangered big cats in the world. :( It was very pretty, though, and liked to walk around and pose.
After touring the zoo and hitting the gift shop (I bought a tiger t-shirt), there was still plenty of daylight left so I was trying to figure out what else might be good to do as long as I was up in Washington Park, and studying the map, decided to visit the Japanese gardens. I hopped a bus that was going down there (I'd gotten one of the $5 passes that was good for all day that morning) and off I went.
Even the parking lot of the gardens was pretty.
"Unprotected water"?
So anyway, the gardens were gorgeous, and one of my favorite things about the whole trip. Since I was there at 5:30 on a Thursday, I also quite nearly had the place to myself. There were a few other visitors, but by the time I left it was pretty much just me, the guy on duty, and the cleaning crew. (This is in part because they graciously didn't kick me out at seven, when they were supposed to close, and I didn't have my phone to realize what time it was.)
They were divided up into a number of different areas, showcasing different types of gardens. There were also some authentic buildings, where I assume they hold events for people who like beautiful things. And tea ceremonies.
There were no signs anywhere, since that would detract from the natural beauty, but you did get a highly informative yet concise map at the entrance, which had brief explanations of what you were looking at and suggestions as to the order in which to see things.
I don't remember what this is called, but it's an authentic whatever-it-is from Japan, like most of the gardens.
Beautiful pond with koi.
The same pond from a different angle, this time with some crane statues in the foreground.
It was lovely being at the gardens in spring, but I wish I could have also seen them in the other seasons, too.
I think this was the tea garden.
And this is the tea house. I am amused by the incongruity of the electrical outlet. ^-^ Electric kettles and CD players when the tea master and musicians get tired, do you suppose?
Moon bridge.
Zig-zag bridge.
Waterfall.
Seriously, how beautiful was this place?
The thing that goes doink.
Speaking of anime, I admit my imagination kept picturing assorted characters (the casts of Saiunkoku, xxxHolic, and Natsume, the Tsubasa gang in their traditional outfits, etc.) strolling about the gardens, leisurely relaxing in the shade or perhaps talking about plot twists nothing in particular by the pond. Nerdy, oh yes, but an fun additional layer to enjoy.
Traditional sand and stone garden, tucked away in a corner with benches.
The place was on a hill, so there was a little minor hiking involved depending on which direction you were going. Here's looking down at the sand and stone garden.
In case you forgot, this is still Portland.
See, it's right over there!
One of the volunteers told me that on a clear day you could see Mount Hood, but it never cleared up that much while I was visiting the city.
A belated picture of the entrance/exit way.
Note the chipmunk scurrying away towards the bushes.
Ever since that Natsume Yujincho episode, I've had a fondness for guardian dogs.
The gift shop. I may or may not have acquired a few things here, including tea for my grandmother, pretty butterfly earrings, one of those chimes with the paper hanging down that you always see in anime (it's on my balcony now - I had to move it a few times before figuring out where to put it so it would chime occasionally but not always in the near-constant Iowa spring winds), and a sumi-e board (you use a brush dipped in plain water and it paints like ink, only to disappear as it dries and leave you with a blank board again, perfect for practicing kanji or just messing around).
The lady working at the gift shop was very talkative. She also did tours of the place, and was filling me in on assorted details as I looked at everything in the shop.
After that, I asked if it would be alright if I left my bag at the front while I toured the gardens again, since they were so pretty I didn't want to be distracted by constantly taking [more] pictures, and they said that was fine, so I went back and toured the place again, periodically pausing on a bench or, once, to play peek-a-boo of sorts with a nervous squirrel who kept poking its head out from different sides of a tree to see if I was still there.
After that, it was (finally) starting to get a bit dark, but I wanted to get just a few more pictures in, so I ran back and got my camera.
Someone had left a crane in this... whatever-it-is.
A walkway.
The moon was out, just in case the place couldn't get any better.
Incidentally, I was talking about the trees with the gift shop lady and she laughed and said those were "borrowed scenery" from the tree conservatory.
Neat fact: the gardens are located where the Oregon Zoo used to be before relocating to its current, bigger location. The sand and stone garden used to be the duck pond, and the big centerpiece waterfall was the bear cave. In honor of this, the flag stones in front of the waterfall are in the shape of the big dipper - Ursa Major.
Much as I loved them, though, I couldn't really stay at the gardens forever, so it was back to the hostel for me. The bus I'd taken down had stopped running (I'd caught it on its last circuit of the day), so rather than walk up to the train stop I decided to just walk down to the city until I got to a bus line. Hey, it was downhill.
Just a little bit beyond the Japanese Gardens was the International Rose Test Garden. I had no idea such things even existed, but it was neat. Would have been cooler if it hadn't been April and the roses were actually blooming, though.
They had quite a number of rose beds, including ones for all the yearly winners of the best new rose contest. Really, really wish everything had been blooming.
The garden FAQ, should anyone be interested. (Closeup so you can actually read it.)
After that, I finished walking down the hill to find a bus (all I had to do was make sure it eventually went downtown, since I could easily find my way from there), and got dinner at a Q'doba, where I explained away my indecision over which burrito to order as it being my first time at the restaurant (true) and they gave me free guacamole (score!). Then it was back to the hostel, where I read a bit and turned in early, since there wasn't much going on and believe it or not, I was kind of tired at that point.
Off to Portland! ...But first, breakfast. This is me eating my sakura mochi (purchased the day before in Chinatown) with the (possibly) sakura trees in the background. Tasty.
After that, it was off to catch a bus so I could catch a train. Unfortunately, it was raining, but I managed to make it over just fine. Here's the station.
The train was leaving soon so I didn't even get a chance to sit around in the lobby before getting right into the line to get on. Not a long line, though, and everything was simple enough. If trains were faster and cheaper, I'd much prefer them over flying, but right now they're simply not practical for long distances in the States. :(
When I bought my ticket, I wasn't sure whether to take the Coast Starlight or the Cascades. They cost the same amount, so I figured I'd go with whichever was more scenic. Turns out, they run on the same track, at least in Washington and Oregon, and the name of the lines just refers to if you're getting on the old train (Cascades) or the new one with the fancy observation car (Coast Starlight). I opted for the Starlight.
The Starlight is nicknamed the Starlate, incidentally, if you're going northward, as like a doctor's office it just gets more and more delayed as the day goes by, but since I was traveling south in the morning it was all good.
The car my seat was in. I was at the very back of the train, and my seat was quite comfy and my seatmate very nice, but it didn't matter because you can wander all over the thing if you like, and it wasn't crowded so there wasn't any competition for anything I wanted to see/do/eat.
It is very dark because we have not yet left the station here, and also it is raining.
The train layout. Very handy. My eyes immediately zoomed in on the word "arcade," and discovering it became a top priority.
Don't mind if I do.
This is the observation car in the front/middle-ish part of the train. These seats aren't assigned; anyone can come up here and sit and watch the scenery go by. They do ask that you don't stay there forever, but like I said, it wasn't crowded while I was on so I spent most of my trip camped out in front of one of the windows.
Since this picture is kind of blurry, here's an exciting video of me on the train!
All of the cars had two stories (floors? levels?), and the observation area was the top part of its car. Immediately below was the snack bar, full of over-priced vending machine-type food for your consumption should you have not brought food and aren't interested in making a lunch reservation in the dining car. (Seriously, they come around and take reservations. You can choose one of three times. 'Course, you have to pay for it, but if I weren't getting off the train right when lunch started I'd probably have gone for it. After all, nothing's finer than ham 'n' eggs in Carolina Oregon.)
Speaking of the dining car, here it is.
The arcade was a disappointment, sadly, with machines that looked straight out of the eighties. Ah, well, was I expecting DDR?
Some scenery. It was grey for most of the trip.
A body of water.
My snack. I'd brought snacks, of course, but decided to supplement my dried fruit and jerky and granola bars with this cheese and crackers tray from the snack bar. Over-priced, yes, but quite tasty, and it was pleasant to eat and listen to my mp3 player and watch the scenery roll by.
No matter what this picture makes it look like, however, the train never seemed to be going very fast. Maybe 60 mph tops?
Oregon now.
Once the train arrived, I followed the directions from Hostel World and made my way via a couple buses to Hawthorne in Portland (I think that's the official name of the hostel). The hostel was nice enough, but of the three I've now stayed at it was my least favorite. The staff was usually hidden in a room off behind the desk, it wasn't within walking distance of much of interest (though it was right on the bus route), and the guests were mostly American, which is a hypocritical complaint but I've grown to like meeting people from around the world.
Anyway, I got checked in (pictures in the next batch, I think) and wandered out to check out Hawthorne street, on which the hostel is located and which has "character." That means lots of hole-in-the-wall restaurants, theaters, used book stores, clothing stores, etc. It's actually something of a tourist attraction, but for a different kind of tourist from me.
Anyway, the one thing that did catch my eye is that Powell's, the famous block-wide bookstore, had a branch a few blocks down the street, so in I went.
It was about on par with Half-Priced Books, but with funnier signs.
The matching display.
Back at the hostel, hanging out with some guys in the common area after dinner and watching The Daily Show on someone's laptop. Just like being at home!
Later in the evening, I discovered a copy of Apples to Apples on the games shelf and organized a game. (Just like being at home!) Shu, the Japanese guy in blue here, was handily winning despite needing definitions for a few of the words. However, once he left the game I started cleaning up and totally won. ^-^
In the background, by the way, is a large map with pictures and directions to a number of local attractions. This proved most helpful during my stay.
On another wall was this world map and an invitation to put a pin in for where you're from. I found space in Iowa, but Shu couldn't even fit one onto Japan.
After that, it was off to bed - I had a big day ahead of me on the morrow.
Something-or-other square (Pioneer Square?) in downtown Portland. I was here pretty much every day while I was there, because it conveniently was where the various metro train lines all stopped. I mean, they stopped other places too, but this is where they all crossed, so it served as a hub of sorts. Handy.
I was off to Washington Park, which is quite the complex up on the hill west of the city. Approximately, the black on the map is the zoo, the tan is the parking lot, the white in the middle of the tan is the metro station (actually, many, many feet underground - they had a cool display of the rock core and how old the different layers were as you rode the elevator up to the surface), the red dot is where this sign is by the Forestry Center, and most of the rest of the green is the outdoor tree conservatory.
There's also a memorial, assorted gardens, some other museum, and more in there, too.
Anyway, my first stop was at the World Forestry Center, because the Things To Do In Portland website said they were having a chocolate exhibit, and I like chocolate.
Inside, they had many displays set up about trees (of course). For example, these crazy robots are now used to log. You probably wouldn't want to get a hug from one.
Oh god it's the LEVELER!!!
Sure, why not?
Okay, it turns out trying to cut down trees by remotely swinging around a robot on a cable and then properly commanding it to climb and cut is hard. I succeeded in cutting down one practice tree out of three, and even then I couldn't figure out what to do with it and just sort of swung it around. I am a modern-logging failure.
A clearer picture of the screen. Also, this guy is totally doing better than I did, as you can tell because he actually got the yellow robot to cling to something instead of wildly flinging it from one side of the clearing to the other.
Speaking of simulations at which I was not good, here you could try parachuting. Why? I don't really remember, but I'll give anything interactive a shot, especially if it looks like a video game.
A six-year-old took this picture, by the way, since that's his mom busy on the phone in the background. He did pretty well, no?
Here we go!
You're supposed to aim for the big red target.
Oops.
I have new respect for people trained in parachuting.
Out the back doors (the place was arranged in a circle with a big tree in the middle, and two stories) was this garden. Nothing was going on at the time, but it looked nice. I imagine this is where school kids listen to lectures about trees and they set up buffets when they have fundraising parties.
Foreshadowing: this is not the prettiest waterfall I would see that day, despite looking quite restful.
::insert Junjo Romantica joke here::
There was a fire back in the sixties, which wiped out the old center and everything in it. This table was saved by dint of being out for restoration, and is legitimately a lovely and precious antique.
That said, I still think "Do not place anything on this table" is hilarious.
The chocolate exhibit, sadly, wasn't nearly as interesting as I had hoped it would be. It was mostly just signs on the walls talking about cocoa plants, some videos about harvesting, and this fake cocoa tree. I did think the tree was neat, because it's never really sunk in for me before just how odd cocoa pods look when they're growing, but overall it really wasn't worth the hype.
I mentioned this later in the giftshop (nicely, and I was talking about other museum stuff too), and they said that they were going to be giving out free chocolate samples on the last day (Sunday). Of course, that was the day I was going home, but ah well. At least I learned about trees.
Me driving the LEVELER. (Okay, okay, "Timberjack.")
The big (fake) tree in the middle of the building. They had a rather neat gig going with it, with a camera that was mounted such that it could go all the way up and down one side of the tree and turn about 180 degrees. The idea was that you were supposed to use the camera controls and video monitor to identify various animals (and one person) that hang out in trees.
But enough about flora, let's talk fauna! (Merriweather has been excluded on account of the cloud cover.) This here is the Oregon Zoo, since I'd skipped the one in Seattle and what's a vacation without a chance to see a tiger?
The zoo was just a five-minute walk from the center, and not crowded at all. Very nice staff, too, of course.
Me riding a goat statue outside of the mountain goat pen. I am perhaps a little big for this photo-op. Plus, I'm not really sure how that kid is supposed to stay on its mother's back without passerby holding it on.
Unfortunately, this section was closed because they were busy remodeling it to make room for - I think it was bears? Sure, let's say it was the bears.
Interestingly enough, by the time I was leaving the zoo they'd removed the barriers keeping you from wandering in, so... I went in. (A few other people were wandering around, too, so it's not like I didn't have company.) Most of the animals were off display, of course, but it was fun to see what was in progress and how they were theming everything. Mom probably would have liked it. ^-^
Plant love story. Awww. (A closeup so you can read the text.)
Randomly scattered around the zoo were these bronze statues of rodents. They were cute, but I wonder how that sort of thing gets approved at the meeting? "...And how about a bronze squirrel with a lunch box taking up bench space?" "Yeah, I like it!"
The monkey exhibit.
Down in the farm area, which was also blocked off in the back (since it connects to the lower half of the closed Northwest exhibit), I learned that there are way more kinds of Shetland Sheep than I would ever have guessed.
I also met these very nice people, who were minding the goat pen (you could go in if you wanted). We chatted about the goats, the work being done of the exhibits, the howling coming from the wolves (!) an exhibit down, and so forth. Very pleasant. I was getting out my map to make sure of my directions when...
Chomp!
The culprit, not looking guilty.
Apparently goats really do eat everything. I apologized profusely for not feeding him only approved pellets from the goat-food machine, and they apologized profusely for letting him eat my map. Fortunately, he only got part of the key, so it was all good.
Wait a minute, did I mention wolves?
The goat people had told me you rarely got to see all three wolves at once, but you could often hear them howling. Well, joke's on them, because I not only got to see all three out and about, but also making poses straight out of a New Mexican gift shop.
The third's not pictured because I've already got enough photos in this set, but this guy totally looks ready to sink his teeth into Little Red Riding Hood, doesn't he?
I think someone got sick of making signs after a while. "Seriously, what do you want from me? There's more zoo, okay? It's over there."
Oh yeah, and the elk pen was right next to the wolves. I always wonder how the animals feel about that kind of set up.
After that it was off to see the polar bears. I didn't see the bears right away, but they did have up this fimo exhibit illustrating the effects of global warming that I thought Alan might like to see.
The bear! ...Haha, no, of course not. Someone just stuck a polar bear arm in the ceiling, trying to catch a seal. As one does.
The bear! For reals this time.
There were two bears, both doing their absolute best to be adorable. This one was chilling in front of a big glass window, constantly changing his lounging pose to allow tourists to get different angles.
This bear, for whatever reason, really liked to walk backwards - was famous for it, in fact (the goat people had told me to watch for it).
After a while, the lounging one got up to join the other, which had managed to get a red ball stuck inside the plastic iceberg. This was enormously entertaining, as there was an amount of water inside the iceberg and the ball was hollow, so it floated, so every time the bear would push down on one side and reach in to get the ball, it would float to the other end. Eventually, he did get it - by puncturing the ball and pulling it out. There were cheers in the audience who'd been watching the intense struggle.
So hey, here's something I definitely did not know: Portland has a major history with elephants. There's even this little museum at the zoo devoted to them.
So, anyway, back in 60s, baby elephant Packy was born at the Oregon Zoo. This was the first elephant to be born in the entire western hemisphere for decades, and it was kind of a major deal. Not content to rest on their laurels, the zoo then established itself as pretty much an elephant breeding capital (see family chart above).
There were actually quite a number of neat exhibits, including a giant mastodon skeleton (click the link above if you're curious) and this vintage printing advertisement.
I suppose it says something about me that I found the advertising to be the more interesting of the two, picture-wise.
Speaking of elephants, here are some elephants.
This is the indoor barn, in case it's raining or something. This is Portland, after all.
Here are some more elephants.
And here is me sitting on a small hippopotamus.
Totem pole. They cropped up every now and then as decorations in both Seattle and Portland, but this was probably the most dramatic one I saw.
I don't have a good picture of them, but if you would like to be vaguely creeped out by a video here's one of some bats walking across the ceiling. Rats with wings indeed.
Leopard. Cheetah.
Lynx.
Tiger.
This is an Amur Leopard, one of the most endangered big cats in the world. :( It was very pretty, though, and liked to walk around and pose.
After touring the zoo and hitting the gift shop (I bought a tiger t-shirt), there was still plenty of daylight left so I was trying to figure out what else might be good to do as long as I was up in Washington Park, and studying the map, decided to visit the Japanese gardens. I hopped a bus that was going down there (I'd gotten one of the $5 passes that was good for all day that morning) and off I went.
Even the parking lot of the gardens was pretty.
"Unprotected water"?
So anyway, the gardens were gorgeous, and one of my favorite things about the whole trip. Since I was there at 5:30 on a Thursday, I also quite nearly had the place to myself. There were a few other visitors, but by the time I left it was pretty much just me, the guy on duty, and the cleaning crew. (This is in part because they graciously didn't kick me out at seven, when they were supposed to close, and I didn't have my phone to realize what time it was.)
They were divided up into a number of different areas, showcasing different types of gardens. There were also some authentic buildings, where I assume they hold events for people who like beautiful things. And tea ceremonies.
There were no signs anywhere, since that would detract from the natural beauty, but you did get a highly informative yet concise map at the entrance, which had brief explanations of what you were looking at and suggestions as to the order in which to see things.
I don't remember what this is called, but it's an authentic whatever-it-is from Japan, like most of the gardens.
Beautiful pond with koi.
The same pond from a different angle, this time with some crane statues in the foreground.
It was lovely being at the gardens in spring, but I wish I could have also seen them in the other seasons, too.
I think this was the tea garden.
And this is the tea house. I am amused by the incongruity of the electrical outlet. ^-^ Electric kettles and CD players when the tea master and musicians get tired, do you suppose?
Moon bridge.
Zig-zag bridge.
Waterfall.
Seriously, how beautiful was this place?
The thing that goes doink.
Speaking of anime, I admit my imagination kept picturing assorted characters (the casts of Saiunkoku, xxxHolic, and Natsume, the Tsubasa gang in their traditional outfits, etc.) strolling about the gardens, leisurely relaxing in the shade or perhaps talking about plot twists nothing in particular by the pond. Nerdy, oh yes, but an fun additional layer to enjoy.
Traditional sand and stone garden, tucked away in a corner with benches.
The place was on a hill, so there was a little minor hiking involved depending on which direction you were going. Here's looking down at the sand and stone garden.
In case you forgot, this is still Portland.
See, it's right over there!
One of the volunteers told me that on a clear day you could see Mount Hood, but it never cleared up that much while I was visiting the city.
A belated picture of the entrance/exit way.
Note the chipmunk scurrying away towards the bushes.
Ever since that Natsume Yujincho episode, I've had a fondness for guardian dogs.
The gift shop. I may or may not have acquired a few things here, including tea for my grandmother, pretty butterfly earrings, one of those chimes with the paper hanging down that you always see in anime (it's on my balcony now - I had to move it a few times before figuring out where to put it so it would chime occasionally but not always in the near-constant Iowa spring winds), and a sumi-e board (you use a brush dipped in plain water and it paints like ink, only to disappear as it dries and leave you with a blank board again, perfect for practicing kanji or just messing around).
The lady working at the gift shop was very talkative. She also did tours of the place, and was filling me in on assorted details as I looked at everything in the shop.
After that, I asked if it would be alright if I left my bag at the front while I toured the gardens again, since they were so pretty I didn't want to be distracted by constantly taking [more] pictures, and they said that was fine, so I went back and toured the place again, periodically pausing on a bench or, once, to play peek-a-boo of sorts with a nervous squirrel who kept poking its head out from different sides of a tree to see if I was still there.
After that, it was (finally) starting to get a bit dark, but I wanted to get just a few more pictures in, so I ran back and got my camera.
Someone had left a crane in this... whatever-it-is.
A walkway.
The moon was out, just in case the place couldn't get any better.
Incidentally, I was talking about the trees with the gift shop lady and she laughed and said those were "borrowed scenery" from the tree conservatory.
Neat fact: the gardens are located where the Oregon Zoo used to be before relocating to its current, bigger location. The sand and stone garden used to be the duck pond, and the big centerpiece waterfall was the bear cave. In honor of this, the flag stones in front of the waterfall are in the shape of the big dipper - Ursa Major.
Much as I loved them, though, I couldn't really stay at the gardens forever, so it was back to the hostel for me. The bus I'd taken down had stopped running (I'd caught it on its last circuit of the day), so rather than walk up to the train stop I decided to just walk down to the city until I got to a bus line. Hey, it was downhill.
Just a little bit beyond the Japanese Gardens was the International Rose Test Garden. I had no idea such things even existed, but it was neat. Would have been cooler if it hadn't been April and the roses were actually blooming, though.
They had quite a number of rose beds, including ones for all the yearly winners of the best new rose contest. Really, really wish everything had been blooming.
The garden FAQ, should anyone be interested. (Closeup so you can actually read it.)
After that, I finished walking down the hill to find a bus (all I had to do was make sure it eventually went downtown, since I could easily find my way from there), and got dinner at a Q'doba, where I explained away my indecision over which burrito to order as it being my first time at the restaurant (true) and they gave me free guacamole (score!). Then it was back to the hostel, where I read a bit and turned in early, since there wasn't much going on and believe it or not, I was kind of tired at that point.