Portland Recap

Well, I must admit that I had a good time while I was in Portland.

Monday was an exhausting day. Life really was difficult in functioning with no sleep.

Tuesday was really nice as I checked into my hotel, the Crowne Plaza. It was also nice to settle into one location for the next 4 nights.

Wednesday was a great day to wake up when I desired. I borrowed a 'cruiser' bike from the hotel. A crusier bike is made for casual cruises. The seat is big, its slightly lower than mountain bikes. Its also bigger, bulkier, 3 speeds, and has wide handle bars. I took it on the MAX to the Chinese Garden where Ralph joined in the siteseeing. It was a really beautiful place. Very relaxing. We ended up leaving and I was going to bike around town. I don't think I could have been more wrong. Here I am beinga person who typically bikes in solitude in locations not populated, trying to fit in on the crazy streets. The bike was not made for city biking. Also, to boot, I didn't have a helmet which made me exceptionally nervous. I decided that bike there, with that bike wasn't for me. I ended up going to the Chinese garden where I closed the place down. I just stayed there reading my book until I was kicked out.

For dinner, I was invited to Ralph's place to eat with him and his roommate (Sandy), and 2 Korean exchange students that she was hosting. It was a low key dinner, where it was nice to chat. I made connection with the Korean gents, and offered to take them on whatever adventure I was going to do during the weekend. They were happy to hear this, as Sandy really doesn't have time to devote to hosting (she was thrown into it). I left it open ended as I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to see. To end the evening I invited everyone over to the hotel for some swimming- Ralph was the only one who took the offer.

Thursday was an early morning for the conference. I greeted the registration at 7am with Maryam, the district psychologist. We had a little bit of work, as we were not registered. Luckily Maryam had her computer with the faxed in registration (Silly thing for me not to bring my laptop, I'm not sure my internet tablet is enough technology to me- especially when the information for EVERYTHING is on that (registration and travel). Well we got it taken care of and attended the lecture. The first speaker was a bit difficult to follow, but had some relly great information. During this time, I was in Skype conversation with a person representing the anchorage conference that I applied to get a scholarship. Great news resulted- more on that later. Maryam invited me to join her at a bar that has happy hour. This bar as on the 30th floor in the middle of Downtown. The scene was brilliant and the food was delicious. One of the things that I ordered was something called a 'mango avocado, cucumber stack.' It was like a particle mound of the three items, so good. The rest evening was a bit relaxing until I was invited to go to an 'underground band type concert' with Ralph and his friend. This was definitely no my crowd nor my type of music. I ended up making friends with 3 drunk people from Boise. They went by the names of Scurvy Manuevers, Magdaline Manuevers, and Baruka Salt. Hilarious.

Friday was a great day too! I saw Temple Gradin speak. Although she was also difficult to follow, she provided great insight. Dr. Tony Attwood, a famous gent from Australia, presented. I was floored at the examples, the information he provided and his ability to communicate. Sadly, his information was directed toward Asperger's. However, some information can be generalized to my student. I plan to email him inquiring about the bush of Australia- maybe he can help direct me with my desire to teach out there.

In the evening, I made my way to the Portland Brewers Festival. I wanted to go to say that I went, but I was hesitant as I'm not a huge beer drinker and honestly who wants to taste beer by themself? Fortune/Misfortune (your choice), that when I made it to the gates, they were closed- at 9. Oh well. I decided I'd have dinner at a patio restaurant. I found one on a relatively busy street and happy hour. I ordered a burger and sweet potato fries. While I was just waiting a group of 5 sat down near me. They were unaware of the happy hour and enjoyed the news that I shared with them. In a mutual manner, moreso my end, they invited me to join them. One more lady ended up joining them. Come to find out that they were 3 married couples with kids. The outdoor family events they do were interesting to me, a 3 mile hike with a 4 year old and rafting. It was pretty good conversation. When my burger and fries came the lady next to me started eating my fries (as it was on a different plate than the burger). I didn't tell her they were mine. She thought they were hers as she ordered her own. She found out that they were mine when the server came with her fries. I also tried and oyster. It wasn't anything that was too grand. I was indifferent.

Saturday I woke up and enjoyed a $18 breakfast compliments of the hotel. They also drove me to the airport to pick up my car. I got a red focus. I took a scenic drive to mount hood. Picked up raspberries and boysenberries and ate a pint of eat on the trip. I traveled around mount hood and even did a bit of off-roading on unpaved and unidentifying roads into the woods. It was fun and quickly got the car dusty. I then continued on my way to the Columbia Gorge to see waterfalls. In Hood River town I went to 2 wineries for taste testing. They weren't amazing. Nothing as good as back in Michigan, not to mention that I didn't have good company. Regardless, I continued on and saw some amazing waterfalls. One of the sad things was that the weather was that the temperature was too hot for me to get out and wander.

To finish the days experience, I stopped at a gas station to fill up. As soon as I did a gentleman came out to my car. Shocked I said "Oh, where is the self-serve?" He responded with, "You're in Oregon." So apparently all of Oregon is serviced. That's so unfair when comparing nation gas prices ;) That also sucks for younger people who leave OR and don't know how to pump.

Sunday I picked up the Koreans for our day of travel. We started out the day with food from Jack in the Box. It was good food, but thy forgot to include my two tacos. Today, not only was the landscape to Tillamook and the Oregon Coast was pristine, but I had good company. I learned a bit more about Korea and shared my thoughts of her. The two that were in my car were 16 (David) & 17 (George), speaking more than Master Lim, our TaeKwonDo instructor in Stebbins.

In Tillamook we went to the Tillamook cheese factory. One would have thought it was Disney Land as it was packed! We wacthed the production of the cheese and tasted them. George didn't like cheese so we were going to get ice cream. But there was too huge of a line for the ice cream station. Since I was getting cheese curd, I had George pick out a half gallon of ice cream. Instead of paying $4 a bowl of ice cream a person, we got 2 bowls each at $4.50. It was a brilliant idea (and faster). We continued our trip up the coast to Rockaway Beach were we took photos. It was a bit erie as there was a fog on the water. We then made our way to Cannon Beach. We spent more time here and enjoyed the time- still eerie. I also toyed with some settings on my camera. We then decided to continue up to Astoria. What a great drive. The destination, the Astoria Column was beautiful! It was atop a hill and then you climb the column. You could see all around the area. It had such a unique landscape. We made our way back to Portland through Washington in no time. We finished our trip by picking Ralph up at a friend's and going to VooDoo Donuts. It was sweet. I hope to share my photos very soon.

One of my favorite places to visit was the Rose Garden. It was so beautiful and free to boot.