One of the things I was looking forward to in Portland was the availability of mass transit in many forms. There are buses going every direction, light rail that has recently opened a new line on the east side, and a cute little street car that runs through the most popular districts near downtown. I haven’t had much time to play with Trimet what with the demands of job and apartment searching. Last week the apartment was settled but not ready to occupy and I had a day off from the new job. It was a cloudy day but dry so, with time suddenly on my hands, I decided this was my chance to visit Max. I packed my bag with essentials (wallet, phone, Kindle) and set off to walk to what I thought was the nearest station at 205 and Powell. Turns out there is a station at Division as well that would have been about a half a mile closer. It was an interesting walk anyway. Sometimes it seems to me that Portland, at least East Portland, has been built with no zoning laws whatsoever. Old farmhouses are next to brand new townhouses that are next to used car lots. Sort of weird but it makes for interesting walking.

The closest track to Vaugh and Karina’s house is the new green line that runs south to Clackamas Town Center. I considered going that direction but I was not ready to start shopping for the new apartment yet and there’s not much else to do down there so I opted to go north and west to downtown. I used a credit card at the automated ticket machine to buy an all-day, all-zone pass for $4.75 that works on trains, buses and streetcar. The trains are nice although there’s more room to stand than to sit. They do have lots of room to carry bicycles which is good. Even on a non-crowded, middle of the day train there were four bikes in my car. This is really a bike town. The track runs along the side of the highway so the scenary is nothing special. We did pass a Fred Meyers location that I carefully marked for future reference just as the train was making the looping turn toward downtown. I kept an eye out for stops close to the new apartment as we sped alongside 84. Looks like the one at 60th is as close as I’ll get. We passed Lloyd Center Mall, the Convention Center and the Rose Center Coloseum where the Blazers play. Crossing the Willamette River was fun. The train slows down and creeps noisily across the Steel Bridge giving both good views and a sense that you might fall to the water below at any second. We made the curve by the train station (you can take Max to the airport, too) and headed southwest through downtown. It was lunchtime so I jumped off the train around Oak and beelined to the food cart pod (that’s what the locals call the groupings of food carts usually located along the edge of parking lots) at Stark and SW 4th. I had a taste of some South Carolina barbeque and considered the many Asian options but ended up choosing a tasty looking slice of sausage and mushroom pizza at Give Pizza a Chance. It was tasty, especially the flat bread crust, but it could have used a more liberal hand with the toppings. For $3.50 a slice there should have been a few visible mushrooms.

I walked through downtown munching, window shopping and trying to decided where to go next. I just missed a red line train heading off to Hillsboro so I caught a yellow train to the end of the line on the southwest edge of downtown next to Portland State University. I had never ridden the streetcar and the stop was just across the street so I decided now was the time. While I was waiting I was assailed by a strong perfume. No women nearby, where could it be coming from? I tracked the scent to a large clump of Daphne on the other side of a chain link fence. This used to be one of my favorite plants in Seattle but two years in Dallas had wiped it from my memory. It was an exciting rediscovery. It’s a fantastic scent that carries quite a distance from the plant and the flowers are some of the earliest in the spring (obviously).

The streetcar arrived and I picked one of the single seats in the narrow car. It’s really cute and modern but not very fast. The route to the south waterfront stop takes you past the lower end of the Portland Aerial Tram, a part of the transit system that I decided to save for a more photogenic day, and on to an area of new construction that brought to mind the towers of Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires. They are obviously trying to encourage residential density in the new high rises being built here. It looked nice and it would be convenient to be right on the streetcar line but with no grocery stores or coffee shops in the neighborhood yet, it wouldn’t be my ideal residence even if I had the money.
At the end of the line, I stayed on the car, pulled out my Kindle and read for a few minutes while waiting for the return trip. We then trundled back along the river (although you can’t actually see it), through the middle of the PSU campus, past the downtown ball park, and through the trendy new construction and fancy restaurants of the Pearl district, finally winding up in the Mecca of local hipster culture at NW 23rd. I got out and walked along past the large number of stores and then down the hill along Burnside. Around PGE Park, my foot was really starting to hurt (sprained ankle from a couple of weeks ago) so I hopped back on the Max and rode to the 6th avenue transit mall. I decided to get home a different way and went looking for the bus stop for the route 4 that runs along Division. When I found it, I realized it was the stop going the wrong way and I needed to be on 5th. Sigh. Getting tired now. At the proper stop, I checked the video display which said I had ten minutes to wait so I pulled out the Kindle again. Almost immediately, a 4 pulled up. It was a little crowded but I found a seat. Unfortunately, so did the annoying drunk/crazy guy who had been harrassing people at the bus stop. As we made our way east and the bus got more crowded at each stop, we could hear occasional near altercations in the back. Somewhere around 30th, an entire class of 5th graders squeezed on. If it hadn’t been raining, I might have gotten off and walked even with the sprained ankle. Two stops away from my destination a near fight broke out in the back with other passengers demanding that the crazy guy be removed and a little girl crying. A slight delay ensued before I finally got to my stop. A short trudge through the rain took me back to V&K’s house.

My reviews for the day: train — very good, streetcar — excellent but doesn’t go very far, bus — good service but oh so crowded and slow, Give Pizza a Chance — B, maybe a B+, Trimet — fun way to blow five bucks and entertain yourself for the day.