July 8, 2025
Kelley Point
The day begins early at around two when I waken to a curious dream. Rachael and up I are above the terrain somehow - floating, gliding, standing on a ridge, it's unclear - looking down at the lay of the land below and puzzled about how we or I are going to navigate it. It fades quickly as I come to, and I can't quite get it back even though I took the iPad to the bathroom with me (of course) intending to record it. There was something in there about model trains, I'm sure, and maybe my American Flyer layout I often played with as a child back in Charleston, but what occurs to me now is the two of us trying to get to the MAX station for a ride home on the day we were discharged from the hospital. It's one of the Madlandia gaps I've got to fill in still, and this prompts me to think that I should give priority to that episode. Maybe I'll go there today on the bat channel.
I reach for my iPad where I always place it on the end table on my side of the bed, but it's not there - because the end table isn't there either, because I'm not in bed. I'm on the couch, where I decided I needed a brief nap last night because I kept nodding off whenever I would try to focus on anything, the result of a sleep deficit I've need accumulating for a few days. Rachael sat at the opposite end of the room reading her book on her own iPad, happy from a day that's been so full of excellent news. She suggested that I not take a nap because then I'd be more likely to just wake up in the middle of the night but I assuredher that it wouldn't be like that. I'll just take a quick one, just enough to refresh me, and then put Frank's symphony in D minor spinning; and soon it was lights out and now it's five hours later. She was right, as usual.
Before clocking out though I told her of my plans for today: I'll bike south to JoLa cafe for an early breakfast and then bike up through the cemetery and home along Terwilliger - I'll get some hill work in and then come home to tackle the backlog of tasks I'm chipping away at. But when I open the map this morning to see when JoLa opens I'm reminded of what my real plan is supposed to be instead - I've got an errand at the north end I need to fit in - so I jot down some notes about that and a few other ideas that come to me while I'm sitting there, set the alarm because I have reason to want to get an early start today, and then go back to bed - the real bed, lying next to the woman I could lean over and give her kiss to because today is our wedding anniversary, but don't because I know that a whack could come from it - and then quickly doze off for another hour.
After I wake up, I take my morning meds and then start taking notes about the next post I plan to write, and before I know it it's nearing six and time to head over to Ovation. In the meantime I've been sitting at the table working on my iPad with my back to the window, and the morning sun is so bright I have to pull the blind shut to cut the glare on my screen.
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And here I'm going to make an effort to shorten the narrative - because this was a remarkable day in many respects, with one interesting or surprising or exceptional or laugh-out-loud funny moment that if I try to describe them all I'll never get through this. So let me do this: I'll outline the day's agenda in bulletin points, and then I'll have a second set of bullet points for topics I'm suppressing for a later day, and then I'll just pick the one or two most essential parts of the day to describe in detail here.
Agenda:
- Bike out to Kelley Point by way of the Columbia Slough for some early 😶🌫️morning birding.
- Stop in at a coffee shop for breakfast on the way home.
- Stop at Kaiser to order a new set of shatterproof glasses to replace the pair that you sat on just a few weeks after buying them.
- Head home and spend the afternoon chipping away at the pre-departure task list.
- Drive up to the Chart House at the crest on Terwilliger to celebrate our 37th (!!) wedding anniversary.
Deferred stories:
- Mississippi Avenue
- Albina Press
- The raptor photographer
- New glasses
Pretty disciplined! That really just leaves us with our anniversary dinner, which is plenty of story enough. Also there are the minor points that I'm nearly blinded biking east into the sun, to the extent that I have to walk my bike up the Broadway Bridge. It's one of the reasons I'm getting a second pair of glasses, to see if there's any option for cutting the glare or managing transitions between light and dark, when at times I'm literally completely blind until I break through the light lock to the other side.
Also, there was the surprise discovery that my phone camera has a time delay function and it somehow got set on at a five second delay. I didn't see how it got set on, and how I can't figure out how to set it off again (although I figured it out later). In other words, every shot I took this morning came with a tedious piece - a five second delay.
OK - let's just zip through now and label all the photos and get ready for our big night out. And then let's plan on leaving home a little early and avoid some traffic.
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Well, there are a few quick words I could add about Albina Press, a place I've been to once nearly a decade ago back in my Coffee during heyday. I stopped here for a shot of this gorgeous mural and then looked back at the interesting building behind me but didn't take a shot because I didn't care to wait another five seconds for the time release to hold me up yet again.
Six or seven blocks later I came to Killingsworth and realized I must have missed Albina Press and Ty Pune back, only to discover it was that building I was standing beside. Typical.
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The Chart House is one of Portland's iconic restaurants, standing at the high point on Terwilliger and offering stunning views east across the city and up along the river. We have a window table this evening so we're nearly perfectly seated to enjoy those views, which are spectacular enough now even though we're here too early for the best show, one that will come when the sun drops lower on the horizon. It's intentional though - we purposefully came early because I don't do well driving during low-light conditions.
Wanting to beat some of the rush hour, we leave home around 20 minutes earlier than needed. Let's just admit though that we didn't ace the navigation test and end up turning uphill on Broadway instead of Terwilliger, and don't come to a spot to turn around until we're at the top just below Council Crest. We handle it good-naturedly though and finally use the map from the phone to find our way back, arriving precisely at 5:00.
And the iconic Chart House is one of those places - an elite spot with valet parking and with Porsches and Beamers littering the lot. When I enjoy a brief exchange with the attendant before stepping out of the great white whale with the keys left inside, I mentally part ways with the Abe I'll be handing over in exchange for getting my keys back when we return. And the first thing I do once we get seated is to consult my wallet to see if there is any suitable tip change in there but all I see is a small sheaf of Jacksons staring up at me. Rachael checks her purse and finds the same situation, save for a single George. Not enough, so we'll have to get change when we leave the table at the end of our meal.
Rachael orders the bronzed salmon with shrimp and I have the miso sake glazed black cod, both of which are savored slowly as we sit admiring the views, enjoying each others' company, and reminiscing over one favorite memory of our journey together after another. It's about the most enjoyable anniversary dinner I can remember.
As we sit, the light on the hills and mountains steadily gets clearer and sharper. Oregon really is such a beautiful place, and as I look east I'm reminded of similar settings around the world we've been blessed to take in over our travels together. Tasmania and the Grampians come to mind tonight, which sweeps in a whole new set of reminiscences for us to share,
Finally though it's time, if we don't want to drive home staring at headlights. Rachael heads down the hall while I call for the bill and then I go through my eternal routine of taking inventory of my belongings, one I've nearly perfected by now but still screw up with some regularity. Like this evening, when I'm halfway to the exit when the man clearing our table taps me on the shoulder and suggests that I take my newly recharged Android with me. Thanks! And maybe I should have tipped him too?
Thinking of tipping makes me think ahead to the car, and then there's a real moment of panic when I can't find the keys. I frisk myself carefully without success before finally remembering I left them with the valet. Out of sight, out of mind seems to be a tenet in my new credo unfortunately, one I'm trying with little success so far to expunge.
On the lot, we ask the attendant from before to make change for me while we wait for his shift partner to pull up with the Whale. He can't with the bills he has on hand but his friend chips in when he returns, and they give me a small stack and keep the five I leave with them. It's a pleasant, good natured exchange. They're appealing, bright young men enjoying the evening and maybe bringing in enough to help them through nearby PSU or Lewis and Clark, two of the fortunate lottery winners of life like I so obliviously was at their age.
We part to seat ourselves in the car when there's an awkward but good natured moment when I absent-mindedly pocket the twenty I'd asked for change for, and a minute later valet #1 asks for a point of clarification over whether that one's his or mine. Good trick!
And then we get in the still-idling car and there's a few minutes of real frustration and exasperation when the car shuts off and I can't restart it and the gear shift lever is locked. I've never seen this before, can't figure it out and Rachael is just consulting the manual in the glove box when there's a rap on the door and an embarrassed valet #2 hands me the keys he forgot to leave with the car. It's locked because the keys weren't in proximity.
Hey, I want my five back, I shout out as we drive off. A totally excellent night, one perfected by a sunset that's the icing on the cake, one for the memory book.
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Today's ride: 40 miles (64 km)
Total: 92 miles (148 km)
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