Portland, OR 2013 - Day 4

Us at the Portland Saturday Market

Our plan was to wake up this morning and meet Mike and Nicole for breakfast.  Instead, we lay in bed and texted them that we weren’t going to make it.  “Neither are we,” was Mike’s reply.  Okay, good; the day was ours.

We ended up at a little dive called Bagel Bistro because every place we wanted to go, either had people overflowing into the street with wait times of over thirty minutes, or didn’t open until lunch.  I won’t go into detail about how annoying the entire experience was, because I’ll get all riled up and then start calling people names.  Specifically - the people that took an hour to make two breakfast burritos.  That’s it...  Just two...  With no sides or anything.  Anyway, avoid eating there if you’re in a hurry.  Or if you're not.

From there we walked to the Portland Saturday Market.  If you’ve never been, make it a point to go—it’s located in the Old Town/Chinatown neighborhood, and it is, hands down, the coolest open-air market around.  There are an exceptional number of artists and vendors, and you’d be hard-pressed to see them all in one visit. There was a lot of talent, including the LoveBomb Go-Go Marching Band.  They’re a band of people who dress all in white and silver funky costumes, and drive around in a big silver school bus.   They are so talented.  The market also boasts a large number of freakazoids that will provide free entertainment for hours on end.  I received a fortune cookie and my fortune said I'd won a prize.  I went to the information booth and was given a bag full of goodies.  A shirt, stickers, magnets, coupons, all kind of things I will probably throw away.  It was rad.  I do love the shirt though.

"Under the bridge downtown..."

When we got in the car to leave, I asked Chad where we were going.  “It’s a surprise,” was all he said.  We turned on the Wicked soundtrack and belted out show tunes as loud as we could while we drove west.  Together, we make a perfect Elphaba and Fiyero.  By “perfect” I mean, “Chad lets me believe it because he doesn’t want to be the crusher of all my hopes and dreams.” After the last song, we took our final bow, and soon we arrived in Seaside.  I love it when he surprises me.  Although, I figured it out about 30 minutes after he told me it was a surprise.  Granted, most people would've figured it out in 5, but I'm slower than most people.  It's because I'm an aspiring Broadway star.

We parked in front of an antique store, and walked to the beach.  The sidewalks were crowded and every shop was full of people.  We smelled caramel corn, waffle cones, and corn dogs.  We heard the bells and whistles of the arcade, music playing, and kids shrieking (sometimes I hate that sound).  As we walked down the steps to the beach, we were surprised how absolutely packed it was.  We stepped over a pair of underwear, an empty bag of chips, and various wrappers on our way to the water.  The water was so icy cold it was painful to our feet.  We didn’t even go in past our ankles—that’s how much we couldn’t stand it.

Seaside, OR

It was just too painful to go any deeper.

On our way back to the car, I looked in the window of an antique store and experienced a weird flood of nostalgia as I saw a lunch box from my childhood.  We went inside and Chad told me to buy it, but no way was I going to plop down $75 for a rusty old lunch box.  But I held onto it for a while.  I opened and closed the latch a few times, recalling that sound of metal on metal.  I hit Chad in the stomach with it, reminiscing about how old school lunch boxes make fine weapons.  I opened the thermos and remembered what it felt like to drink out of the little spout.  Then I noticed 30 year-old black mold inside the spout, and I was ready to go.

Good ol' Sandy!

We had a lovely drive home.  We listened to sweet music, and I read some more to Chad.  Driving up the coast, listening to Van Morrison sing, "Hark, now hear the sailors cry.  Smell the sea and feel the sky.  Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic..."  There is just no way to describe it.  Go for a long drive with music you love.  It's almost like medicine.

We decided that since Chad had to practice drums tonight (he has to learn four songs by tomorrow morning), and I have a baby shower to help with at Leah's tomorrow, that I would stay there with the kids, who were not quite ready to come home yet.  When we arrived in Olympia, Chad dropped me off at the blueberry farm and said hi to our babies.  There is something really special about having the kids run out of the house to hug you. 

Chad ate some pizza with us and then left.  The rest of us got ready to head out to Woodard Bay to watch the bats.  There is an old abandoned train trestle out in the water that provides a home for thousands of bats, and in the summer, every night at sunset, they come out and fly to Capitol Lake to catch bugs, and we love to go watch.  Tonight, Leah and Kenny’s friend Greg (they call him Batman) was there to net some bats.  He’s a bat biologist and he was going to tag one bat so they can track its nightly path.  

Walking to the bay - great trails out here, if you're interested

Waiting for the bats - that's the trestle on the right

We settled in our spots and watched the sunset and waited for the bats.  They are tiny little things, no bigger than mice with wings, but  when one of them flies by your head, you gasp for air and can’t help but duck.  And you sort beat at the air around your head with your hands to make sure one didn't land on you.  It's a very weird experience.  We heard quite a few women scream tonight as bats went buzzing by.  Click here to see what you THINK it'll be like...  It's nothing like that scene at all, but don't you love the Goonies?

Leah asked the kids bat trivia questions while we waited:

One had just flown right over them

“What are baby bats called?” Leah asked.

“Batlings?” said Ashley.

“No.  They’re called batttywhacks,” said my mom.  She then later wondered out loud if bats also have a queen bat like bees do. 

So cute I could eat it

Batman giving us a quick lesson 

Turns out, baby bats are not, in fact, called “battywhacks.”  They are called “pups.”  And, they are are almost as cute as real pups.  Batman had caught one, and we were able to get a close up look of a mama bat.  Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of her teats - he was showing them how the babies nurse and somebody was in my way.  I'm sorry I couldn't show you bat teats.

On our walk back to the car, once we had our fill of bats, we were talking about Olympia.  I believe I live in one of the most beautiful towns in one of the most beautiful states in the country.  And I can go a lot of places, but there’s no place like home. 

One short day in the Emerald City

One short day full of so much to do

Ev’ry way that you look in this city

There’s something exquisite

You’ll want to visit

Before the day’s through.

                              “One Short Day” from Wicked

- The Niemeyers