June 3, 2025
Double date
Clinton Street Coffeehouse
So today is the real Coffee Date with Bruce day, and I'm out the door at seven with generally the same plan I had yesterday: I'll bike over there, we'll have a great visit, and then I'll just keep biking somewhere. I've got ideas on where I'll go next, but I'm not committed to any of them yet, as long as I end up finally biking farther than Rachael walks today.
I'm surprised at how chilly it is as I bike along the waterfront this early in the morning. I could have waited another hour for it to warm up but I thought that by getting out early I might see some bird life on the water. I thought wrongly though, and all the way down to Tilicum Crossing the only bird life I see on the river is a small family of Canada geese. There's not even a mallard, much less a gull or cormorant or grebe. I'm not often here at this time of year, and I'd forgotten how little activity there is on the waterfront birdwise in the summer.
Still, I take my time so I don't miss anything and don't arrive at Clinton Street until around eight. The same redhead is at the counter, I place the same order, and she gives me a funny look. When for a second I can't find my wallet this morning either. What do I have on me this morning - seven pockets? It's easy to misplace something with so many places it could have been stashed.
It's 8:58 when I feel a hand on my shoulder and look around to see Bruce, punctual as usual. It's been just over two months since we talked last, but a lot has happened in both of our lives in that time and we're still getting caught up when it's time to move on. We'll be here in town for two months at the minimum, so there's plenty of time to pick up the thread.
As we leave together I look back at the front door to the coffee shop and ask him to wait while I get the phone out. For all the times I've been here now, this morning is the first time I've ever noticed the front door. I took a photo on the way in, but it's a better shot with my friend in the frame.
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As we left, I told Bruce that I planned to bike down to the Sellwood Bridge and then up through the cemetery, maybe eventually climbing up to Council Crest again. As I ride south though my idea gradually evolves, and now I'm thinking I'll continue on to Oregon City, cross over through Lake Oswego, and then home along Terwilliger. It's roughly a forty mile loop with a decent amount of climbing, but I've got the whole day and feel up to the challenge.
First though, I'm on a bird hunt, certain that I'll find a reason to haul out the Canon when I come to Oaks Bottom. Here too I'm disappointed though. I don't see a single bird out on the pond, and only a towhee when I detour through the woods and past the frog pond. There are a few song sparrows along the river by the amusement park and some crows and rock doves, but that's it. Very disappointing.
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1 week ago
I continue as far south as the Sellwood Bridge and scan it carefully hoping to see the peregrine falcon I saw perched here a year and a half ago. It's like other unusual bird sightings I've come across in the past - every time I come here now I'm always on the lookout, but I'll bet I never see him again.
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At the bridge I lowered my sights considerably and decided to just bike home by the direct route, up the west side of the river. One reason for this was that Rachael called to let me know that she decided to walk over to Nuestra Cucina and requested that I show up with the car at 4 to give her a ride home after we have dinner there. So that time boxes me tighter than I'd been thinking.
Also though, I started thinking about the list of tasks back home that I really need to fit in today. Item one on the list is to call my insurance gent and get a policy that will cover me as a driver now that we no longer have car insurance. Also though I need to get back to reassembling the Bike Fridays so Rachael will have a ride ready once she's ready for a break from her twelve mile days.
Nuestra Cucina
So it's a double date day - coffee with Bruce in the morning, and a Latin meal with Rachael in the afternoon. I time it just about perfectly, leaving home t 3:30 and arriving at the restaurant at 4:02, just after it opens. I'm lucky in the timing - if I'd left five or ten minutes later I'm sure I'd have been forced to. by the leading edge of rush hour.
We enjoy our usual fine meal at this place, which we've been coming to off and on for probably twenty years now. Today we're served by Colleen, a woman who's worked here nearly as long as we've been coming. I ask her about this and she says it's only been fifteen - still a long time though, which is the case for a couple of others here. It's obviously a place that treats its employees well. As well as its customers - there'd be food photos, but I was embarrassed by the size of my pork chop serving.
Over dinner Rachael talks about her fine walk - her third 12 miler in as man6 days - and excitedly shares her photos with me. She saw a mallard! The real highlight though was the nutria she saw swimming in Westmoreland Park. There are so many things I love and admire about Rachael, but this is one of them - how many folks get excited about seeing a nutria swimming around?
Today's ride: 18 miles (29 km)
Total: 977 miles (1,572 km)
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