summer in the city

Hello everyone!

My weekend started with an after work hike in the Gorge. This is something I had been trying to do once but this week had been full so I opted to go on Friday right after work. I drove down to the Subway where I met up with Gina and we got sandwiches to eat out on the trail for dinner. It’s not far to Eagle Creek from where I work. We started up the trail and were surprised to see two Multnomah County Sheriffs, heavily armed, on the trail in front of us. We caught up with them as they were talking to a woman coming down the trail. Apparently some yahoo on the trail had a gun and had fired it into the creek. Idiots! Eagle Creek is one of the most popular trails in all of the Gorge. I never did hear if they caught the culprit. We stopped first at Punchbowl Falls before continuing on. The trail is relatively flat and if we’d had more daylight we would have gone all the way back to Tunnel Falls but the fading light certainly didn’t leave time for a 12 mile hike. We stopped to eat our sandwiches at High Bridge. It is just as it sounds, a very high bridge over a narrow gorge lined with moss and ferns. It was a fantastic place to eat. We reluctantly turned around knowing even more waterfalls were down the trail. We made it back to the car just as the sun was dipping below the trees. The light goes a lot faster in the canyons. In the Gorge it was a beautiful sunset over the Columbia with cotton candy clouds looming behind us. I went home and showered before going over to Gina’s porch to enjoy a cold drink and hang out a bit before calling it a night.

Saturday was a beautiful summer day. I ran some errands and then went over to Melissa’s house in Sellwood to hang out in her backyard. We ate raspberries and drank cold white wine while talking. It was a lovely afternoon. I had to head home to get ready to go over to Jess’ house. Saturday night was her bachelorette party. Some of us met at her house then took a cab downtown to the Boiler Room where we met up with more friends. Our big plans for the night was at Darcelle’s. We watched the drag show which was very entertaining. Jess had been provided with ample dollar bills with which to tip the dancers and she happily went up to the stage. At midnight it changes over from female impersonators to male strippers. I’d never been to a male strip club before (I’ve only been to a female strip club once). I was rather blown away by the whole thing. A girl got a lap dance for her friend that was getting married (the place was 95% bachelorette parties it seemed) and it was altogether obscene. Poor Jamie and Camille were sitting right next to this spectacle, laughing and cringing. It turns out though you don’t have to buy lap dances, the guys just give them away. I made sure to stand up when they came in our area as I was not interested in getting a lap dance from some anonymous man. We left the club, dazed and baffled from what we’d seen. We went to Bar XV to have one more drink before taking a cab back home.

Sunday afternoon I went over to Elaine and Gina’s house. They were having people over for a big dinner. We started first with fresh oysters and crab. Delicious! We all hung out in the backyard with some people putting (they have a disc golf basket) and the rest of us sitting around talking. Dinner (grilled flank steak, fresh pasta with alfredo, beets, fresh peas from their parents garden and of course a huge Caesar salad) was fantastic as usual. There was a big clean up afterwards then more hanging out. Elaine started a fire in the chiminea. It’s hard for me to pull myself away from fire but I had to go to bed early since I was starting my 10 hour days and needed to be to work at 7. It was a wonderful weekend! Hooray for summer! This would be my last weekend in Portland until Labor Day (possibly longer if I decide to skip town that weekend too). Please let me know how you are and what you’re up to. I hope summer is treating you well!xoxo,
carolyn