That's what's wrong with a weekend away. It's just not enough time. I had a difficult time getting anything meaningful done on Friday morning. I've started planning a trip for next April which is six months away, but these days many things have to be reserved that far in advance. So I did a little sleuthing and then headed out to the train after lunch. It's very easy to get to the train station from here and I was not carrying any luggage, which made it even easier. I had purchased business class seats, so I got my seat assignments and headed to my car. All was nice and quiet and I was starting to relax when there they came -- mom, dad and chatty toddler. D'oh! I had forgotten to ask for the child free business class. That child would not shut up for the entire 3 plus hours of the trip. I heard the father say more than once, "I though you said he'd go right to sleep. I have work to do".
The hotel in Portland was just perfect! A boutique hotel in the Pearl District. There were plenty of great restaurants around, the Saturday market was easy walking distance as was everything else, actually. Unfortunately the room opened up right onto 11th so it was noisy with the window open, but the streetcar does not run all night, so it was tolerable.
Portland is an interesting city but in this particular area there are quite a few homeless people - mostly young - hanging about and sleeping on the streets. Not the crazy, forgot-to-take-my-meds type of sad homeless people. No, the nomadic, almost hippie kind of street people. Grubby and annoying. I don't feel sorry for them.
Saturday after a swing through the outdoor market I stopped by Powell's Bookstore and spent WAY too much money on guide books to help me plan my trip - one on Venice and the other on Florence and Tuscany, and then an early lunch at a sandwich shop that came highly recommended. The Husky game was on at 7:45 on ESPN, so the plan was an early lunch so we could get to a particular fancy place for an early supper before the game. But the lunch, even shared, was such that there was no way I was going to be able to eat any nice dinner at 6 pm and enjoy it. Ah well ... a picnic and some good wine is a fine way to watch a football game. It would have been much better, however, had the Huskies found some offense and a won the game.
The trip back home was in a quiet car, thank goodness. I just wanted to get home, get the dog and watch the recorded Seahawks game. There had been a storm Saturday night and quite a few people were without power. It wasn't looking good on the way back, you could see the smoke in the air, indicating people were using their fireplaces, but there was power. And after some quick unpacking and a shower we got to watch the Seahawks win finally! I tried to knit as well, since I was feeling the need for the comfort of it. But the pattern changed drastically at row twenty and after about three repeats I could see I had made a mistake, so I put it down and I'll have to sit in a quiet place tonight and tink back and start over.
And here we are back at Monday. I had the Sunday night blues something awful last night! I got my running clothes washed though and I am looking forward to getting outside at lunchtime and having a nice run and finding my happy place again.
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