Cruise West - Day 8

9/4/2010

Disembarkation! Enough said, right? Well, today we get to visit Portland. But, first we have to part company with Cruise West. Not as easily said as done!

Early Riser breakfast buffet was in the lounge again from 6 to 9am. Wake up call at 7am. Sit down breakfast in the Dining Room at 7:30am as usual with 2 specials of the day. The only real difference this morning was that when you left the cabin for breakfast, you were to put your colored tag suitcases in the hall outside your door and leave everything you want to hand carry off the boat on your bed. Easy enough.

The Captain and all crew lined up down the sidewalk of the park where we embarked a week ago and every one of them shook hands and said goodbye and thanks as we filed off to the buses. Things broke down a bit there. Hopefully, everyone made it to where they needed to be ontime. All luggage was stowed on both buses and they told us to get on either one and when we got off they would reunite us with our luggage. So it was a bit stressful for many. We were in no hurry, and were among the last to lay hands on our bags since we hung back to let those with a deadline rush ahead. Fortunately, our bags did get left behind for us and we were soon on our way to Avis Rental Car at PDX. We got assigned a Mercury Grand Marquis and it feels like driving a boat to me. Hopefully, I will soon get used to it, but driving in Portland with streets going every which way and avoiding the railcars that share the road has had its moments. We are staying at the Red Lion Inn at the Convention Center. It is across the street from 3 of the Max Lines so once we parked it was free public transit and walking for tourism for us. We are just across the river from Chinatown/Skidmore. So 3 stops away and we were at the Portland Saturday Street Market.

I didn't do that!

Massive bed, spacious room, yeah!

But first the hotel, Red Lion Inn/Convention Center has 6 floors and we are on 5. The rooms are clean, large and nicely furnished with king-sized bed. It is fairly quiet, there were some little kids down the hall and they ran and screamed for a bit before 10pm. Down the hall, there is a guest laundry and a fitness center. There is a fridge, a tv, a fan, a heater (in addition to central HVAC), an ironing board, an iron, a coffee maker with supplies, a shower in tub, a sink with a vanity. It seems downright palatial after getting off Spirit of ’98! We are very pleased with our choice here and look forward to trying a different Red Lion Inn the night before flying home. Oh, and free wi-fi Internet!



Portland Saturday Market



Fancy



Street Market at the waterfront park in Portland



line at Voodoo Doughnuts, downtown Portland

So, I think that covers the hotel. We checked some maps and the Fodor’s Portland guide I had photocopied out before leaving home and set off. So, we took Max and shortly after noon we were in the middle of a giant street fair. http://portlandsaturdaymarket.com/ I found a Polish food stand and ate pierogies that were yummy. Clay had an Italian sausage sandwich from a neighboring stand. Then we had delicious local ice cream. Smooth English Toffee for me (I was expecting some crunchies!) and Peanut Butter cup for Clay. We walked from the Paddle wheeler, to the Japanese American Park and then up Burnside to the Pearl District where they were having an annual Art Fair in the streets and parks. We ate snow cones there with local fruits! I had Willamette Valley raspberry and Clay had Oregon peach. The raspberry was infinitely better, we both agreed. Between the 2 street fairs, we found Voodoo Doughnuts but we were full and deemed the line too long. We would come back before returning to the hotel! On the way walking between the 2 fairs we passed a man getting a blow job next to an artisitic fountain and right on a street corner as we awaited the light change. When the light changed, we hurried along pondering the wisdom of returning this way after dark and decided we wouldn’t. In 2 blocks from there we crossed a street and found ourselves in yuppie heaven! We wandered the enormous and crowded Powell’s books and used their restrooms. We went in to Sur La Table for a quick, small purchase.


Chinatown



the infamous fountain



First Regiment Armory, 1891



ice and power plant, 1906

fancy!



Cool!



Dinner!

We wandered around a bit more looking at the great architecture and killing time until nearly 4 to have an early dinner at Jake's Famous Crawfish. It is the second oldest restaurant in Portland. The first oldest evidently serves Thanksgiving Dinner every single day! Clay had a half-dozen Little Creek Oregon oysters on the half shell and he enjoyed them. Then he had the grilled salmon and said it was delicious and the size portion he had hoped for on Cruise West. People that had the seafood onboard that spoke to us about it were uniformly disappointed in the quality and other than the day of Dungeness Crab clusters, disappointed in the size of the servings too. Oh well, I guess all lines are cutting back on food expenses. But back to Jake’s, I had spaghetti with marinara and sausage meatballs. So, we were back on the street and headed back to Voodoo Donuts with the thought of picking up a boxful for dessert and breakfast tomorrow. We got in line about a block away. We could see our Max stop from there, so we were no longer worried about being out at night, though sunset was probably 2 hours off by then. We were in line about 15 minutes when an employee came out and told us we would be delayed because they were getting ready to have a wedding. The bride and groom came by, and we continued waiting because they said they would keep selling doughnuts during the wedding! The line though stopped moving, so we left. We got on Max and were back at the hotel within 20 minutes.

Oysters! Bob is back in business!

Oh, yeah...

I checked the phone book while Clay walked a few blocks to Walgreen's for Diet Coke. I found Voodoo Doughnuts Too on our side of the Willamette River and only a short distance away. Too far to walk, but close enough to take a chance driving again. So off we went. There was about a 15 to 20 minute line there, and it was interrupted for a wedding too! Who knew it was so popular! There were 3 weddings listed on the menu board there (we could park in a lot and wait inside here!). There was a $25 Informal Commitment, a $225 Formal Commitment and a $5000 Voodoo Shebang that included airfare, so evidently Portland's Voodoo Doughntus is a destination wedding location! Soon, it was our turn at the display case and the doughnut names were so whimsical it was difficult to choose. We got 2 Voodoos, of course, the namesake!

pretzel-staked namesake - Voodoo Doughnut

It is a little chocolate iced man with cherry filling and a pretzel stick impaling him. Too funny! Sorry the photo of the little guy ogling the removed cherry-stained stake was too blurry to post. This was not my favorite however, I don’t know why I don’t like chocolate and cherry together. Clay gets those 2! We got 2 maple bars (without the bacon!). OK. We got a Portland Crème iced with maple. Delicious! We got a McMinnville cream iced with chocolate (haven’t tasted it yet!) We got a Dirty Old Bastard, chocolate iced with Oreos and peanut butter. A Butterfingering, chocolate iced with Rice Krispies and peanut butter. A Triple Chocolate Penetration, chocolate cake donut with chocolate icing and covered with CocoPuffs! Amazing! A Grape Ape, cake donut with vanilla icing dipped in Grape Kool-Aid and then purple sprinkles. My favorite, tied with Portland Crème. Clay worked out on the treadmill and I got caught up on here. Then by 10pm it was lights out. Tomorrow is Astoria!

Tommorow's breakfast and a snack!

Some final thoughts on Cruise West. I had given high praise on their handling of my dietary restrictions, but they pretty much dropped all effort and concern after the day we went to Pendleton. After that when I would ask about salt in something, they would act bothered by it and I may or may not ever get an answer. I got some big salt doses a couple of days and then I stopped asking, figuring that as soon as we hit the road alone that is how it would be anyway.

We have decided that this type of vacation is not really in our comfort zone. It was just way too much summer camp for adults for us. You could never find a moment to spend alone with your spouse or your thoughts without some other company intruded. There just was not enough space to get a little to yourself. If you wanted to be alone, you had to close yourself in your cabin with your No Knock Knot out and content yourself with the little window view. It was just way too much closeness for us and not enough luxury of silence. So, after a brief consideration of a May 28, 2011 12-day Jacksonville, VA to Alexandria, MD Intracoastal Waterway sailing that was on special pricing if booked and paid in full onboard, we declined to return. Alison basically talked us out of it by convincing us that we would only be happy by upgrading to the next to highest or highest priced category cabin. For the same reasons that we didn’t go to one of the highest level cabins for this cruise we declined. The boat doesn’t get any bigger with that extra money, the food no better, the cabin only slightly bigger, but mostly you are paying for a slightly bigger window. We decided that after having been onboard, we would not have been happy paying a substantially higher fare for a few more square feet and a bigger window. So, we don’t plan to return to Cruise West.

Here I am inserting some thoughts about road trips. Historically, Clay has driven and I have navigated. This always worked very well. Since the onset of my Meniere's Disease, I am rarely a passenger if I can help it. In my opinion, we are equally good drivers. However, I am an excellent navigator and I have just learned this because of comparing my abilities to those displayed by Clay today and in coming days. I hope I do not hurt his feelings by this, but What the h***? How did he ever become an Eagle Scout? Maybe I am misunderstanding something, but shouldn't an Eagle Scout be able to read a map and find North, in the afternoon!?! Was it the '60s? OK, I lived through the '60s too, but I was 6 when Clay was 16. Was it acid? I mean LSD usage... not by the scouts perhaps but by the leaders handing out badges. Did Eagle Scouts not have to earn a badge in orienteering? (I know Clay is going to ask!) How many times have I heard the story of 13-year old Clay's hiking trip to Cimmaron, NM. What was that about then? Honestly, how is it possible for a man to have the highest honor bestowed by a group whose motto is Be Prepared, not be able to find his way around, or read a map? I am really appalled by the dumbing down of society that I see, especially as evidenced, in my opinion, by GPS usage. But I swear, Clay has latched onto those GPSs like a drowning man on a life ring and I guess that imagery is apt because he would be a lost soul without a GPS. We originally started planning this trip to mark our 25th Wedding Anniversary. I guess after 25 years together, I can safely say that you can still learn something new about your partner...and I don't necessarily mean that in a good way.