Saturday Market, Sky Tram

Saturday in Portland, the day we have been waiting for since we got here on Sunday. First, Bill had the day off. Second, the kids and I have been excited to go to Saturday Market to see what interesting objects de' art (or craft) awaited us there.


The best part about the market is not the booths, it's not the food, it's not even the fact that it is steps away from the waterfront. The best part is definitely the people watching. Lots of interesting, non-conforming, un-boring people hang out at or in the vicinity of this market. I aspire to be as fearless with my fashion when I qualify for AARP and senior discounts as this woman. Sparkles on her glasses. Sequins on her newsboy cap. Hot pink and black faux animal print tunic. A vision! And not in the slightest ennui inducing.



Traveling and souvenir shopping are syno-
nymous in our clan. Romney has been saving for months to have souvenir money for this trip, and when William went into debt, we warned him he would be out of luck as far as souvenirs go. My favorite souvenirs are photos (at least that is what we tell the kids when they catch me taking their photo) and jewelry from our destinations. Each piece I collect then has a story to remind of when I wear it. It is always not very expensive, but has to have some sort of meaning and preferably made by a local. This trip, I think I nailed it. After much deliberating and hemming and hawing, I chose a ring made by local artisans who recycle used bike parts and turn them into jewelry. The form of my ring is from an upcycled bike spoke and features a beautiful green stone (whose name I can no longer remember). PDX is *supposed* to be super bike friendly. It is totally it's reputation and I say *supposedly* because we are having a very hard time finding trails we can bike to from our rental home without having to be on roads with no sidewalk or shoulder and not having to load them onto the car.

Bill, be a very basic kind of a dude, just wanted this t-shirt with a silk-screened bike and the words "infinite mpg". It doesn't take much to make him a happy man.




"Zero car usage" was our goal for the day. We all rode the bus in together and then took a train to the market. After we finished at the market we headed to the Pearl for some lunch. To get there from the waterfront, we had to transfer at Pioneer Square. This next part is especially for our ECAR loving friends back at home: On the square was a special convention for the Oregon based EV vehicles. All lined up in the square where tons of different makes and models, from old sports cars and VW beetles, to newer Nissan and Teslas. Even if we had access to an EV, we wouldn't have swapped riding around in the traffic vs. exploring on public transport. Because our stop was around the block from lunch, we fortuitously ran into the Bastille Day celebration. We got a quick peek and some yummy smells and sounds for a minute before heading back on the street train to the Skytram.


Romney was excited to try the Skytram until we got there and he took one look at it and said "NO WAY! I'm not going!" Little known Romney fact: Romney is totally fearless in so many ways, but due to his mother and father traumatizing him 2 years ago during a family outing to Busch Gardens Williamsburg by making him ride the BIG BAD WOLF roller coaster, he is not fearless when it comes to any type of activity that could be deemed a "ride". He hates them. Even the most benign baby rides, he freaks out and won't ride. So we were nervous when he said he wouldn't go.



He trepi-
datiously got on the tram, holding tight to Bill and sat down saying he "just wouldn't look". But once it started he was a pro--smiling, looking over the edge, even letting go of parental physical contact. (He was probably just excited when he realized there would be no sudden death involved in his journey today.) He begged to ride it down again, and once down wanted to go back up again. Maybe there will be roller coasters in his future. One day.


To celebrate we headed to the newly renovated Voodoo donuts location downtown. The line was 30 minutes long. It was so long, they had this Voodoo donuts monkey van driving around the block to entertain people as they waited. Suckers, we thought! We will just take a quick bus ride to Voodoo Too to bypass all these tourists. (As if we aren't 4 of them). Joke was on us, for the second location, out of the downtown tourist nonsense was almost as busy. But, as always, worth it!


Our last stop of the day was the Central Library downtown. The boys are working on their summer reading charts from the Multnomah County Library system, for which we have a card, because we are just cool like that and have a signed lease proving we are residents (at least for this month.) WIlliam had reached the first prize and had carried his chart around all day "just in case" we could make it to a library location to redeem his spoils. The boys checked out some Manga graphic novels and were completely satisfied to catch a bus home so they could read. Mission accomplished- No car was used today-- oh wait, spoke to soon, for as I was working on this blog, I got a phone call from Bill who was out biking after dinner and got caught too far from home too close to sunset. WIlliam, Romney and I headed out in our pajamas, me with my sunglasses on (I forgot my normal glasses in another purse back at home and only have my prescription sunglasses to drive with. It hasn't been an issue- until now. I think I may score a very hip Portland pair for my mistake. It may make me want to make mistakes more often.) and William as our navigator to rescue Bill.