Portland and Waterfront Blues, Oregon

Written by Johno, with edits from Wen!

I was excited to have Portland as a destination.

After a drizzly morning at Newport it was good to be on the road. After 20 minutes the drizzle left and another sunny day accompanied us for the trip, climbing up into pine and spruce forested ranges we came into a small place, Corvallis, where Wendy spotted a thrift shop (good for extra warm clothes to take to Alaska and then leave at the next thrift shop) so we stopped for a while….

Continuing on the journey we passed through the serious wine producing area of the Oregon where there are an amazing number of wineries and the assorted styles of architecture of their tasting facilities. The traffic became heavier as we approached Salem, the capital of Oregon……

This is “I 5” Interstate highway 5 - the main road north from California running all the way to Canada etc. so trucks are the order of the day, and I mean TRUCKS, racing along at high speeds on the six lanes jostling for the clear passage. So here we are, tootling along in “Freddy” our 27’ old  RV, totally intimidated by it all, WOW.

However we do not succumb to the situation but battle through and approach Portland with undamaged enthusiasm then KAPOW!!! Our first real freeway traffic jam extending from well south of the city to the north….six lanes travelling at 5mph on a Friday afternoon delayed our arrival time (according to Jill, the GPS) of 1 ½ hours. Prayer, cold water, and a patient wife help me to find enough tolerance to get through the four hour endurance till our exit appeared. PHEW!!

On the ‘up’ side, along the way we were able to observe Portland. What a city of infrastructure built along a river, they love building bridges and the freeways are an amazing three tiers of six lanes, one-north, one-south, and one local traffic……. I thought Brisbane worked their riverbanks well but this is mind-boggling. Some really good planning and engineering makes it all flow together, and it include an excellent pubic transport system.

We booked into the RV Park at Jantzen Beach to be told that we would have to pack up and move to a different site in 2 days as they messed up bookings. Ah-What does it matter – we are here now.  There is a shopping centre across the road and an outlet centre as well so we re-supplied the pantry from Target, which has groceries over here and bunkered down with an evening meal and de-stressed.

What a difference a night makes?  The office informed us that we can stay on the one site, yea; and there is public transport to downtown Portland available at shopping centre across the road. So we go to Portland to get our bearings for the next four days at the Waterfront Blues Festival only to find the bus can drop us just about the entry to the festival and take us home every night up til 1.00pm for less than $3.00 per day. So with all our accommodation, travel and festival arrangements taken care of we did as all happy women do, we shopped, found the parks in the city, checked out some beautiful historic buildings and enjoyed some tourist time.

Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival - This is a great spot for a music festival. The venue sits in a natural basin on banks of Williamette River with the two main stages set at either end allowing performances in sequence. There is another smaller stage set up under trees, mostly used for highlight acts, workshops and harmonica blow offs, etc.

Under the Hawthorn Bridge and a little further away, the Zydeco stage pumped all day. 

The thing that amazed me that the total festival was a fundraiser for the Oregon Food Bank in so much that all proceeds from ticket sales, beverage sales and merchandise sales go to the Food Bank. We had bought our tickets in Australia beforehand but watched the locals hand over $10.00 plus 2 cans of food to gain entry each day. That got me thinking about how they are able to make any profit, given the prices of tickets to festival back home.  After making enquiries I discovered that even the performers do this gig GRATIS. The sponsored ones are paid by the sponsoring companies e.g. Boeing, Miller Brewing plus others. All artists are flown free by airlines and accommodated by local hotels. The amount raised was something in the order of $900,000.00 and collected about 1,000 pounds of food. To me that was a blowout!

As well the usual crowd drawers like Buddy Guy, Robert Cray Band, Maceo Parker, and Lucinda Williams, there were plenty of artists to keep you in the mood; some I had heard of, many not. We caught up with an Aussie blues artist, Fiona Boyes whom we knew from our ramblings within Australia. Fiona, when she heard the ‘G,day from Byron Bay’ she almost fell over and greeted us with hugs. This was on the first day, and we continued to cross paths all festival which boosted our spirits. New talent discovered…Robbie Laws Band, Sonny Hess Band, Ty Curtis Band, Steve Riley & Mamou Playboys, Dietra Farr, Demetria Taylor, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

The natural amphitheatre on which we sat was nicely grassed and was taken up early, by those in the know, with blankets [all types] and chairs. Many brought along mini flagpoles to mark their spots, making for a quite colourful setting, and there was a big screen set in the middle so everyone could see the happenings of both stages. We looked down on the river which boasted a collection of watercraft anchored at riverside, from the most luxurious of yachts to speedboats, even dingies, canoes and jetski’s. There was plenty of food available from multitude of vendors from Italian, Creole, American, Mexican, which kept the hunger pangs at bay while the army of volunteers guided everything along smoothly [it takes 1500 to run the festival].

We were sitting in the sun chillin’ to the Blues all afternoon, then someone on a fancy catamaran launched a remote controlled helicopter and  proceeded to entertain the crowd with an impressive acrobatic display-he/she is a very good operator. At 9.00pm, Robert Cray comes out for his set. As predicted I am impressed with a brilliant list of both new and old numbers. The sun sets about 9.30pm and guess what? the remote controlled helicopter re-emerges with fluoro lighting and zaps around for about thirty minutes.  It’s an easy walk back to bustop and ride back to our base.

           

Next morning no time for leisurely start, Wendy has heard that there are  markets on further  down the waterfront so we’re off and running over Starbucks for coffee then on the bus and into downtown Portland. We stroll further along riverside to find markets. We are impressed by the fact that is an artisan market – really good quality, no Chinese imported rubbish. Some things really intrigued Wendy such as skirts made from recycled men’s shirts, bird feeders made from cups & saucers, lovely felted  & hand stitched articles. She resisted purchasing because of her belief of finding better bargains further into the trip.

We had a beautiful meal at a very trendy restaurant called “Veritable Quandary” (worth a visit if you are ever in Portland) then headed to the festival mid afternoon and found our spot on the hill for the day, during a break I took a wander around market stalls--- found the “Blues Revue” and met the owner, made a friend. Turns out he will be aboard the ship on “Blues Cruise” in  October with us. I ran into Fiona Boyes again, another chat. The music kept on rollin’, some good; some I could’ve left behind. Tonight the radio-control man introduced one of the space shuttles and blew it up mid-air. Wendy made friends with a lady named Carolyn who wanted us to visit her home for drinks. She just wanted ‘us Aussies’ to be made welcome in her country. We tried to meet up with her on the Monday but didn’t quite connect.

On the bus home we met our neighbors from the RV park - three guys from different places who were having a boys weekend at Bluesfest. Friendly fellows who really knew their blues – fodder for good conversations over the next couple of days. The next day, one of them gave me a harmonica and said I needed to learn how to play the ‘blues’. He plays the harp himself and wanted to share his enjoyment. Nice guy, hey?

Day 3 started leisurely. We went into the festival and bought tickets for a two hour on the cruise on the river. Many of the performers were from a local college for musicians with disability…really great – they are so talented and were supported by blues artists who were already on the Bluesfest lineup. It was a taster for what we will experience later on this year when we go on the Blues Cruise to Mexico – can’t wait.

We arrived back from the river cruise  just in time to have early dinner and report for our roster of volunteer work. We loved the volunteering, meeting new people who were keen to talk to us ‘Aussies’ – everyone knows someone who has been to Australia. We were on the ‘Green Team’. As the name suggests we had to advise people where and how to dispose their waste responsibly ….4hour  shift.

For Wendy it was a bit like being back at Council and running an education program for the Waste Services. 

Day 4….. 4^th JULY - Armed with security passes to allow us entry to the RV Park on our return we headed in early and staked a claim to a good spot on the hill and settled in for the day. Good music, lovely sunshine. We should probably mention that it rains a lot in Portland and the locals were sun-worshipping while they enjoyed the festival. As the day wore on more and more families arrived with flags of stars and stripes and wearing patriotic shirts until the hill was packed sardine like. At about 10.00pm, they closed the festival with this big voiced African-American woman singing the national anthem….Every person (Man, Woman, and Child) stood up with hats off and hands on hearts and sang with her. It was very moving and Wendy had tears in her eyes. These people are fiercely proud and patriotic.

Then the FIREWORKS started. Several barges moored on other side of river just blasted the sky continuously for 30 – 40 minutes. It was so colourful and the crowds were really into it – noisy, happy, excited – a bit like our New Years but with a lot less alcohol and children very much included. This happened beside the triple deck freeway…. I would not like to be on that road while it was occurring. The traffic was brought to a standstill.

We thought we might have had a long wait for the bus, but not so – just walked up the street, waited for a few minutes, caught bus home and prepared to move on the next day.

Mount St Helens

After leaving Portland we drove straight to Mount St Helens, a volcano which still likes to blow her top from time to time. The last eruption was in 1980 but there has been activity as recently as 2004 – It’s a very impressive site, even from a distance. We were on a tight timeframe so couldn’t venture too close, we have to get to Seattle to pack our bags for the Alaskan cruise. 

Just Cruisin'

 Hey there dear readers! If you’ve travelled by ship before you may find this a bit ho-hum so my apologies if that's the case......

We have never been on a ship before so booking a 14 day cruise could have been a very bad decision.  We had seen the travel shows on television and both have wanted to go to Alaska to get ‘up close’ to the ice and the only real option is by ship – so here we are.

Our embarkation was easy and as soon as we had booked in, we began to understand that service was not just a word and we were ‘guests’ on board the MS Amsterdam, one of the Holland America Line.

The decor and presentation of the ship is 5 star, very tasteful and just beautiful; fresh flowers throughout all public areas and quality furnishings and fittings. No, this is not a paid commercial, just the reflections of some very satisfied guests.

Our room is larger than the RV and has a window, full size bathroom, queen bed, 3 seater leather couch, desk, chairs and loads of cupboard space.

The ship glides silently through the ocean and the night-time hours are extremely quiet. The very gentle rocking motion means I’m getting at least 10 hours sleep a night. We had one afternoon when it got a bit rocky but I just took a nap and that seemed to settle any vertigo that was threatening.

The most spoken-about topic on this cruise is ‘the weather’. Everyone from the Captain to the cabin crew has commented that ‘this cruise has had the best weather ever’ with moderate temperatures on deck, cool breezes, minimal fog, and next to no rain. For many passengers this is not their first or second cruise (in fact one couple told us this is their 30^th) and the consensus is that this trip has been blessed with excellent weather. We rejoice with them and give thanks.

There are about six different dining options from hamburgers and tacos by the pool (there are two) to bistro self-serve and five-star master chef formal dining.  The presentation and quality of food wherever we eat is excellent – amazing selection, fresh and tasty – and I don’t have to cook or clean up.

Every time we leave our room the ‘fairies’ come in and service it – linen is crisp, towels are large, white and fluffy; choccies on the pillow and an animal fashioned from towels is sitting on our bed each evening. The staff (mainly Phillipino and Balinese) are friendly, happy and keen to make our stay special. We have made many friends among the crew including Ryan – the Balinese barista in the coffee lounge who calls us Mr Jarhno and Missies Wendy. We have a standing order for grande latte every morning.

Ryan is so funny, always trying to crack jokes with Johno. He and his fiancé both work on the ship – they take on 10 month contracts which take them all over the world. We have been told that this company pays the best but expects the best from staff. Both nationalities put on an ‘entertainment’ show during the cruise and they are also able to have a lot of fun with themed dinners where they dress up, sing and dance in the dining rooms.

So what do we do for entertainment, you ask? Well, there is certainly no need to be bored. There is a very well stocked library, board games room, gym, pools, decks for sitting, walking, sleeping, resting, lots of lovely little nooks fitted out with comfy lounges, live music can be found somewhere almost any time of day or night, and there is a full size concert room where you can see a show, comedian, or performer every night. Musicians include a solo guitarist, four piece strings group, piano man, a cabaret band and a jazz band. When they all come together they become a Big Band that supports the eight singers and dancers who present the ‘shows’.

Every evening there is a new bulletin delivered to our cabin with all the planned activities of the next day listed – from bingo to bridge or blackjack, tai-chi to travelogues, creative crafts to circuit training, trivia games, chess, jig saws, movies on the big screen, etc ,etc. And we don’t miss out on the news of Australia either as a condensed version of the Australian (downloaded from the Internet) is delivered to us daily.

There are about 1,400 passengers on board and we’ve met many of them, mostly Americans. The atmosphere is so relaxed and people are very friendly. We have also enjoyed meeting a smattering of Aussies, some of whom are sure to remain friends into the future.

Hubbard Glacier

Although we are thoroughly enjoying shiplife, the real reason for this cruise was to see Alaska; the fiords, the wildlife, the snow-topped mountains and the icy glaciers. The ship has docked six times along the way and we have also visited two glaciers.

I have taken some amazing photos and put together shorter stories about the places we visited and the people we met. Look out for it when I get ashore and have more time and wifi access.

Same, Same But Different!

Whenever I travel and meet new people I am always interested in their way of life, the things that are important to them, how they communicate, and generally how they live their lives. You would think that it’s that same for all of us. We have somewhere to call home, we eat, drink, work, play, cook, clean, love, and pray. We have family or friends (both if we are blessed), we have bills to pay, people we care about, people who care about us, plans to make, dreams to realize, ambitions, hopes and goals to achieve.

So what could be so different about Americans? They speak the same language, have a similar history, both have Indigenous residents, both are primarily Christian countries, our laws are basically the same, our countries are nearly the same size (mainland) but there are some obvious differences.

• Our drinking age is 18 throughout the country. In the USA it is 21.
• We drive on the left hand side of the road. They drive on the right.
• In Australia, you can't drive anywhere with a blood alcohol concentration of more than .05 and seatbelts are compulsory for everyone in a car – different US States have different rules.
• Firearms (for personal use) are prohibited in Australia and handguns are illegal without a permit and it's very difficult to get one. All other types of guns are strictly controlled. In the US there is a strong belief that everyone who wants to has the right to own a gun - we have seen firearms on sale in the supermarket.
• Australia is completely metricated - we use Celcius instead of Farenheit for temperature, litres instead of gallons, kilograms instead of pounds, metres instead of yards, etc. The seasons are the complete opposite. 
• Most of Australia’s population lives within 100km of the coast and the population density in the inland is very low. In the US, many, many people live in the deserts.
• We celebrate Christmas, New Year’s and Easter just like in the US but we don’t traditionally celebrate Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, Memorial Day Weekend or Halloween. However, we Aussies know about those holidays as we watch a lot of American television and movies and tend to know a lot more about the USA than they know about us.

Some of the other everyday observations.

We say            tom’ar’to                    They say         tom’ay’to

                        bonnet                                               hood

                        pedestrian crossing                            crosswalk

                        fuel                                                    gas

                        paddock                                             meadow

                        carpool                                               ride share

                        mobile                                                cell

                        odd (different)                                   weird

                        boot                                                    trunk

                        motor                                                  engine           

                        hire car                                               rental vehicle

                        ring                                                     call

                        grill                                                     broil

                        holiday                                               vacation

                        chips                                                   fries

                        biscuits                                               cookies

                        scone                                                  biscuit

                        capsicum                                            pepper

                        nappy                                                 diaper

Cheese is orange

Bread is sweet

Iced tea (unsweetened) is a popular drink

An Entrée is a main meal size

Artichokes and Capers are popular

Can’t find curry powder or green / red curry paste

Vegemite is $8.50 for a small bottle

We haven’t seen a newsagency or  travel agency yet – nearly 7 weeks. Newspapers are found at news-stands - you put in your dollar and take out your paper. It’s hard to find a magazine. Most people have them home-delivered by mail. Sometimes we see them in bookstores.

Speaking of bookstores, we came across this really quaint book store in Poulsbo, Oregon, the other day. Many of the books had a card sticking out of the book like a bookmark. On closer inspection we found that members of the local book-club read the books and provide their comments. So you get a readers review before you buy the book and as it is only a small place it’s likely that you would know the reviewer. They also had a readers lounge, espresso coffee, comfy chairs, and a children’s corner. We reckon if they just included a CD / music room (preferable blues says Johno) then they would have captured the market for the ‘baby boomers’. Anyone want to invest in one in Australia – we could look after it for youJ…..

Drive-thru is popular and varied. You don’t have to get out of your car, in fact the signs say – ‘do not leave your vehicle’.      We have seen drive-thru……..

Pharmacy

Liquor

Smokes (cigarettes)

Fireworks

Pancakes

Ice-creams

Burgers, tacos, etc (all sorts of foods, esp Mexican)

Dry-cleaning

Loans

Insurance

Coffee

Banking

ATM

Check –in at National Parks and Motels

Another thing that has been missing from our trip is the ‘humble clothesline’ – Oh Mr Hills Hoist, you have been sorely missed. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, has a clothesline.  Everyone has a drier and uses it all the time. RV Parks will not permit ‘the hanging of washing’ on makeshift lines and no lines are provided. We have asked about this in many places and people look at us like we’ve got two heads.

I guess it makes sense in areas where it rains a lot – in Ketchikan they don’t call it rain, they call it ‘liquid sunshine’ because there is more rain than fine weather. One man from Tacoma, Washington told me that he does use a line but hangs it out then brings it back in because ‘if you don’t the line goes mouldy and then stains your clothes’.   But what about sunny States like California, they don’t use clotheslines either? Just not the done thing, eh!

Anyway just a few of my thoughts and observations for you to consider.

Til next time,

have funJJJJ

(The most popular saying in the USA)

Highway 101 from Arcata, CA to Newport, OR

a bit like a travelogue but here goes anyway..

A couple of years ago we flew to Melbourne, hired a little van and travelled the Great Ocean Road in Southern Victoria. We had a ball - a bit like when we were young doing road trips in an old panel van - we just stopped whenever we felt like it and generally soaked up the beautiful scenery including the Twelve Apostles – a group of rock formations just off the coast . It was great!!

But Highway 101 is greater!! The road is excellent even for the RV. It runs right by the rugged coastline, alongside mountains that seem to only stop when they reach the ocean.  Forests of old growth conifers and redwoods line the horizon to the east and the ocean spews forth huge sea stacks jutting out of the water like soldiers guarding the coast to the west – and it goes for hundreds of miles. We would just get past one awesome sight, drive around a headland and ‘there you go, there’s another one’ all the way up the coast.

Sea Stacks

The drive is peppered with little villages and seaside townships – each one unique in its own way.

One of the first places we stopped at was Trinidad. It is so cute with a little lighthouse at the top of the main street and all the houses built to make the best of the weather and views. There is a lovely walk down to a beautiful, protected cove, sheltered by the headlands and offshore rocks.

We stayed just up the road at Patrick’s Point where there is a massive sea stack sitting on the very edge of the North American Tectonic Plate.  It’s called the Wedding Rock and about 50 couples get married out there every year.

Tsunami sign

The tectonic plates are located right along the shoreline at Patricks Point so we took a walk , 250 steps down and 250 steps up,  to tidal pools just to say we had been there. A bit of exercise and it sure lifted the heart rate.  This is an amazing coastline with scientific studies / information stations on every headland. It put us on notice as we cruised further up the coast we saw sign  posts saying  “You are entering a Tsunami Danger area.” These are erected all along the coast wherever it was low lying or any river flats or estuaries, followed by “You are leaving tsunami danger area” along with escape routes signposted. They all take it very seriously and most campgrounds we stayed at near the water had ‘tsunami evacuation plans’ – yes, you guessed it – head to high ground fast!!

Redwood Forest

After a couple of days at Patricks Point, we headed to the Redwood National Park. We couldn’t get all the way into Fern Canyon as the RV wasn’t allowed on the unsealed narrow road but we still got to drive through the National Park and take a couple of walks We were ‘kind of’ reminded of home – all the mossy dead trees and ferns, tall trees and our rainforests. Get out there guys and have another look – don’t take it all for granted – we live in an amazing world.

The National Parks people are very good at educating visitors about God’s handiwork and the continuing life cycles of the forest floor. 


Everything has a purpose – living or dead.

The weather all the way along the coast was fine, with cool breezes and fog every morning til well into the day. There was a very wintery feel to this part of our trip.

Brookings, Oregon was no different. The sun eventually came out at 3.00pm in the afternoon and stayed around til about 9.30pm at night. 
We had great visits / chats with people in the RV park here and saw our first deer in the meadow.

Somewhere along this section we stopped at a very distinctive tourist centre - Trees of Mystery and there was Paul Bunyan and Babe, his Blue Ox. This guy is about 15 metres tall and is very entertaining.

Little children were climbing over his shoes and, as he is interactive, he started chatting to them. Every question those kids asked was answered. It is the most clever tourist attraction I’ve ever seen and it’s FREE.

 I can’t ever imagine kids letting dad drive past and not say ‘hi’ to Paul the timber getter. Google it, it’s fun

We also made a stop at the Sea Lion Caves to see America’s biggest sea cave. It’s 125 feet high and covers two acres

To get to the cave we had to take a ride in a 200 ft elevator and there they were – lots and lots of Steller sea lions and California sea lions and their cubs. I tried to take photos but it was too dark inside the cave.

At the camp fire - Eel Lake

We took out time getting further up the coast and stopped over for couple of nights at Eel Lake, Oregon. We met a lovely lady  - Terri who lives, most of time, in the forest in her tent with her dog. She has a great philosophy for life, a mountain of friends and little worldly goods – happy and content with what she’s got.

I so love what we are learning from the people we meet. I read this on the back of a bus seat in Portland – Capture Life’s Unpredictability. 

There’s a message there! We can get too caught up in the predictable and miss precious moments in time.

Anyway, back on the road to Florence (I could live there – it is sooo cute, colourful, quaint, cultural, artsy and good coffee) and then on to Newport for three days to catch up on the washing, etc before going into Portland.

Our neighbours (Dennis and Mary) at Sasquite Bay RV Park in Newport invited us to visit and over fruit salad, ice-cream and green tea we spent hours solving the world’s problems (in theory, that is). They have an interesting lifestyle as many do on the Oregon coast. They live in the park for the summer and drive their RV down south to Arizona for the winter - Mary makes beautiful jewellery using natural stones and rocks (yes – I now have a piece) and Dennis creates amazing tie-dye shirts, scarves, etc that they sell at local markets. They tie a marble into every piece they make as their trademark – it forms a little circle and as Mary says, “What goes around, comes around.” More words of wisdom!!

We had trouble with the hot water heater at Newport and found a local ‘mobile’ repairman living in the park who could fix it. Lee is ‘retired’ but probably works harder than most . His services are in high demand as things often go wrong in an RV. He has three RV’s himself - one in Newport, one in Utah and one to get him from one place to the other. Many, many people move south for the winter – it gets very cold here.

In saying that, the summer is very temperate and visitors flock to the cute little beach, the great surf and the lovely old town wharf area – very popular.

From Newport, we headed to Portland for the Waterfront Blues Festival and that’s another story.

They build good bridges over here!

cute little lighthouse

Birds nesting at the Sea Lion Caves

Foggy morning, actually lunchtime!!