Tuesday, June 11

I left Steve’s at about 10 AM to drive to Karen Martin‘s in Portland. Karen is a biking buddy who used to live in the Bay Area, but moved to Oregon four years ago to be near her son and family. This is my first opportunity to visit her since she moved, and we had a fun time! Her neighborhood and the surrounding area is beautiful this time of year, full of huge green trees, beautiful older homes and lush landscaping. Karen‘s house is charming, with arches between rooms, built-in cabinets in the living room and dining room, and the original hardwood floors. The bathroom is complete with black and white tiles and old-fashioned hardware. Fortunately, Karen has preserved the period look of the house

We did a walk around Ford’s Rose Park, filled with every color rose you could possibly imagine.

In the afternoon, we went to a wine bar close to Karen‘s house where we sat outside on a beautiful afternoon. Portland seems to be a very friendly town, and we met several new friends while sipping our wine. It seems to be a place that caters to people in the neighborhood, so I’m sure Karen will meet these folks again.

We stopped at a Thai restaurant to order food to take back to the house where we sat on the back porch and enjoyed the cool evening, the big trees, and lots of noisy crows.