Spring Break 2024

Day 7 of 7

For our final day of vacation we were just hoping the rain would hold off long enough to not get drenched while outside. Luckily, while there were a few sprinkles here and there, for the most part it only lightly sprinkled and there were even points when the sun came out.

I let everyone sleep in an extra hour this morning, which gave me time to make a very tasty corned beef brisket hash, which was quickly gobbled up.

We headed out at 1030 for an 1130 launch. After circling a few downtown blocks a couple times we found parking and headed to the dock. On the way I pointed out Mills End Park, the smallest park in the world, according to Guiness Book of World Records.

We arrived at the Portland Spirit and quickly were boarded, along with the 20 or so other guests.

We were provided a menu to select our main course option from and within a few minutes the boat left the dock and we were underway. B3, Tatiana and I all opted for the chicken and Kay got the yellow curry. All felt the food was actually very good.

Once we ate we all explored the boat and I headed up to the upper deck to check out the Bridges of the Willamette River.

There was an audio track playing throughout on the upper decks that provided the history of the geography of the area and of Portland itself. The Floating Homes of Portland were interesting, but looked like they would be a lot of work logistically.

I also knew that the building down the hill from our house on the waterfront with the beautiful blue roof was an Old Spaghetti Factory. What I didn’t know until today was that the first store of this chain was opened in 1969 in Portland and that in 1984 it moved to this location along the river. Equally interesting was the history of the Waverly Country Club, established in 1894 (and supposedly the location where the first Masters green jacket was awarded).

The ride down river and back lasted about two hours total. We had a 3pm reservation slot for entry into the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival and I knew it would take at least an hour to get to the site, so things were working out well. We made it to the tulip farm with time to spare, but with it being the first day of the festival there were probably only about 50 people meandering through the tulip fields, food trucks and other vendor tents so they let us in early. I fully expect with Spring Break starting next week in the Portland area that this place will be hopping with thousands of people per day.

We walked through the fields, took pictures and checked out the food tents, B3 and I settling on a couple corn dogs with Tatiana and Kay trying out the Esquita with Flaming Hot Cheetos dust.

Thus ended an action-packed week. Billy heads back to Chico tomorrow and it will be several months before we see him again. The week gave me a lot of exposure to points all over the city and generated a lot of ideas for additional short travel ideas…. Until next time.