Nancy in Seattle & Portland

Jordan's friend Nancy came from Modesto at 11 on Friday morning 9/26. They toured the local area on foot & had lunch at Wabi Sabi, a Japanese restaurant in Columbia City.  The next morning, Jordan, Nancy, Rusty, Steve had breakfast at Square Knot in Georgetown: Steve’s idea. Nancy had never been to Georgetown, even though she had been to Seattle many times.  She found it fascinating.  It is one of Seattle’s oldest neighborhoods.  

That afternoon Nancy & Jordan drove to Magnuson Park, at the old naval air base at Sand Point, on Lake Washington.  There were restored wetlands that were not particularly attractive or interesting.  But we support the re-creation of nature.  The views across the lake were nice.  On the way back, we stopped at University Village, an upscale, outdoor, lavishly landscaped shopping mall.  Gridlock from the Husky football game forced us to eat in the U District.  We ate Arab food at Shawarma King on University Way NE.

Nancy in downtown Seattle

Nancy went downtown to meet her niece & nephew & their kids on Sunday.  We ate at home.  On Monday we took light rail & the trolley to reach South Lake Union, a new development of tech-oriented office building mostly occupied by Amazon.  We toured Lake Union Park, the Center for Wooden Boats, then the new business district.  We ate at one of the several new restaurants there.  South Lake Union was once a warehouse district.  The transformation is astounding.

Nancy at Lake Union Park

The Center for Wooden Boats

South Lake Union above

On Tuesday morning, we rode the bus to Capitol Hill.  We shopped at Value Village, then had lunch at Ballet, a shabby Vietnamese restaurant on E Pike Street.  We walked down Pike street into downtown, where Nancy shopped at the Nordstrom Rack.  I had a drink on a balcony overlooking Westlake Plaza in the heart of downtown.  The view was amazing, filled with so many different things, many of them in motion.

Portland

On Wednesday morning, Jordan & Nancy took light rail to Chinatown, where we got the Bolt Bus to Portland, OR.  It deposited us in downtown Portland before lunchtime.  We encountered a farmer’s market as we walked the park blocks to Portland State University.  We got not very good baked goods, but ate them anyway.  We toured the small, leafy campus & discovered an installation of walls covered in plants & a man walking his pig.  We had lunch at a newly opened restaurant (First National Tap House) across the street.  It was good.  We spent several hours in the Portland Museum of Art. 

Portland State University below

Man with pig & curious dog

 Nancy at Portland State University

We took the Portland Streetcar to the Alphabet District & on to the Park Lane Inn, our hotel in Goose Hollow.  We walked to the small restaurant/entertainment district halfway between our hotel & downtown, where we ate at the Zeus Cafe.  Jordan liked his food, but Nancy didn’t really like hers.  She thought the waiter was quite handsome.  He talked with her at length.  The restaurant was fairly empty. 

On Thursday we had breakfast at Kornblatt’s, a Jewish delicatessen in the Alphabet District on 23rd Avenue NW.  Nancy loved her bagel with lox & cream cheese. Jordan felt queasy from the omelette.  Then we walked to the Lan Su Chinese Garden, which covers a city block on 2nd Avenue NW in an otherwise moribund Chinatown.  Nancy took the tour, but spent most of her time texting & paid scant attention.  Jordan walked around taking pictures.  Nancy was enthusiastic about the garden.  It was the 2nd time for Jordan.  It’s amazing. 

Chinese garden above

We walked through the Pearl District, an old warehouse district now filled with shops & large condominium buildings.  It was 80 that day & felt hot.  We spent the afternoon in the hotel room. The temperature went from a high of 67 on the day we arrived to 82 on the day we left, 3 days later.  (During that time, the highs ranged from 66 to 71 in Seattle.)  We had dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant on 21st Avenue NW in the Alphabet District called Blue Olive.  It was good.  The Alphabet District is named for the streets arranged in alphabetical order & was platted in 1865.  Portland is a significantly older city than Seattle.  Nancy walked back down to the Pearl District that evening for an art walk.  But she had the wrong avenue in mind & never made it out of the Alphabet District. 

 Pearl District above & Alphabet District below.

Alphabet District above

It was 82 on Friday.  We got bagels for breakfast at a shop on 23rd Avenue NW, near the hotel. We walked up steeply to the Portland International Rose Test Garden, then the Portland Japanese Garden, one directly above the other, near the top of the great hill that is Washington Park. Portland is in Washington County.  All of the western side of Portland rises from the Willamette River to the hills, 25 blocks above.  There are some impressive old homes near the park.  Nancy was enchanted with the Japanese garden.  She mentioned it several times afterward.  It is by far the finest Japanese garden we have ever seen & also the largest.  For Nancy, the beauty of the Chinese garden faded dramatically in comparison.  

Japanese garden above

We bought food at an upscale market near the hotel & ate in our room, conveniently furnished with a table & 2 chairs.  After lunch, we shopped at the William Temple House Thrift Store on NW Glisan Street in the Alphabet District.  Nancy was so loaded down with items that she bought a canvas shoulder bag to carry them.

Before we left Seattle for Portland, Rusty & Steve surprised us with a decision to drive down to Portland after work in Friday.  Since they wouldn’t make it in time for dinner, Steve offered to pay for our dinner out that night.  We went to Jake’s Famous Crawfish, a restaurant that has been operating in the same location since 1892: 122 years.  It looks as though it has never been remodeled since it opened.  The calamari was excellent & Jordan also enjoyed pan-fried oysters. Nancy was not content with the crab cakes.  We returned to the hotel & went to bed early.

Downtown Portland & Mt Hood from Washington Park

Rusty & Steve woke us later that night when they arrived at our hotel around 10.  They stayed briefly, then went to their hotel in the same business district as the Zeus Cafe & Jake’s Famous Crawfish, technically part of downtown, but which should definitely have a name of its own.  It used to be the gay entertainment district, but only one gay bar remains.  We had a drink there. 

On Saturday morning 10/4, we all had breakfast at Kornblatt’s again.  Jordan had French toast made with challah, much better than the omelette.  Since Rusty & Steve had come by car, we drove across the river to the Hawthorne District, where we looked around in shops.  Steve bought a hat in a large hat shop.  Rusty bought a sweater & a vase in a thrift store that was crowded with junk.  Jordan got the biggest burrito he had ever seen from a food truck in the parking lot there.

Hat shop

Steve & Nancy

Hawthorne District above

We ate again at a sidewalk table outside a nice restaurant, near Steve & Rusty’s hotel.  Jordan managed to eat half a sandwich with ham, apple & brie.  Nancy ate the other half that evening on the bus.  We saw Rusty & Steve’s crappy & expensive hotel room at the Mark Spencer.  Rusty & Steve drove us down to the center of downtown, where we got the Bolt Bus at 3:30.  We arrived in Seattle at 6:30.

Click here for more photos of Nancy in Seattle & Portland.