Well, we arrived today in Portland, OR - moved in to our 1905 cottage across the river from downtown after 5 days of "overland" (non-aircraft) travel to get here. Sunny when we got here (still clear and warm) - after leaving a restaurant from dinner this evening heard people remarking "wow, it's NOT raining".
As I have come to loath winter, especially trudging through snow, we decided to skip a bit of Yukon winter - so we are hiding out in Portland, Oregon for 6 week. Why Portland? I don't know, but what I do know is there is no snow here! Also, I wanted to practice "post-peak-oil-living," so we are doing all of our travel without flying. Took that Alaska ferry from Skagway to Bellingham - three days, four nights on the ferry. Was very nice, clear, calm, sunny in Sitka and Ketchikan.
Apparently, Ketichan only gets 2 clear days of the year, and we got one! I was a bit disappointed with the seas though - I was hoping for big storms, big waves, etc. Just a little windy and rolly one night, but nothing to write home about.
Finn was great, and the time past pretty quickly. 'Course Finn spent many hours starring at the arcade games, which was very dull for Mom and, to a lesser extent, Dad.
Got off ferry today at 8am - made a run for the Amtrak train at 8:30 and made it due to the heroic ticket efforts of Bellingham station agent Mary (who was muttering under her breath the whole type "God damn Alaska ferry, God damn ferry, scheisse ferry, etc...). Although we ended up with tickets only as far as Seattle, we managed to arrive in Portland anyway.
We have yet to meet a Portlander other than waitress at Memphis-Blues type BBQ place we had dinner at tonight. First human contact in Portland was Croatian cab driver that spoke no English and got lost trying to find our place (less than 2km from train station). Then, it seems we are in the Ethiopian quarter of the city, so picked up milk at the Ethiopian grocery store.....
In closing, our house is nice, there is no snow here, kid is asleep, trains horns wailing in the distance, and having a beer in what is unofficially known as Beervana.
UPDATE: Georgi has posted some of the pics to-date - here is the link
Friday, February 5, 2010
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