50 Before 60- Portland, Oregon June 23, 2016

The purpose of this trip is to let me visit my 50th state before I turn 60 next year. Since I don't turn 59 until the 25th, I technically achieve my goal 2 years early!

My husband went to bed last night at about his normal time, but I stayed up until 2:00, trying to get my body on Pacific Daylight Time. I decided to simply nap in the living room until 3:45. It was not a good sleep, but I did get up on time. My husband got up at 4.

We left at 4:44 EDT, only about 15 minutes later than planned. The highways had few cars and we made good time. We were at Payless at 5:10. We had to wait about 10 minutes for the van and another 5 for it to leave. We arrived at OIA at 5:30 and found few people in line at United. Our bags were checked at 5:38 and we headed for the TSA Pre line. We'd both paid for this service just recently. We felt we flew often enough to justify the $85 for 5 years of eligibility. We took off no shoes and took nothing out of our bags, not even my CPAP machine. We finished with security at 5:49. 

We took the tram out to reach Gate 46. We found that United has solved the line issue by putting up poles with the various group numbers on each. We got in the line for group 4 without having to fight our way through others standing around.

6:20 found us seated in 32B and C on Flight 759 to San Francisco. Pushback was at 6:40 and we were in the air at 6:50. By 7:35, beverage service started and they gave us a Stroop Wafel and we also had the bagels we brought.

I tried sleeping, but it was difficult due to leg pain. I was grateful for the excuse to quit, when they brought drinks at 10:50. I did doze off again, which was needed.

At 8:54 PDT, we landed at San Francisco International Airport. 5 minutes later we were at Gate 83. We deplaned 11 minutes later. We went off in search of our next gate after a pit stop. We doubled back to the Marketplace for a very early lunch.

There was quite a crowd, so I picked out what I wanted from San Francisco's own Boudin Bakery before planting myself at the first open table. My husband soon returned with my delicious small spring salad with a terrific balsamic vinaigrette and lots of Craisins and feta cheese. With that I had a tasty 1/2 Turkey Cranberry Sandwich. My husband surprised me by getting me a wonderful chocolate croissant. He got himself a box lunch consisting of a turkey and avocado sandwich, chips and a chocolate chip cookie.

We took our time with lunch and finally went off to Gate 71B at 11:25. There were very comfortable chairs that made it difficult to stay awake.

At 12:30, we were in seats 15 A and B for Flight 5800 to Portland. Since this was a 2x2 plane, the overhead bins were very small. I was quite aggravated to see that almost all the space in our bin was taken, even though no one was seated near us yet. I hate when people do that. All we could get up was my carry on. Luckily, there was no bar between the seats underneath and we were able to get all of the rest under the seats in front of us. That did make it difficult for my sore legs, though.

Pushback was at 12:50 and takeoff was at 1. We had a great view of San Francisco.

By 1:19, they were serving soda and a snack mix. They had to be that quick- we landed in Portland at 2:19!

Taxiing took a while and we didn't get off at gate E2 until 2:27. The luggage was the fastest I've ever seen. We had both pieces by 2:40. My husband then headed off to Hertz, while I went to the welcome center to find as many useful publications as possible. This sign says a lot about Portland:

Once I got to Hertz, it took a while to do the paperwork. Due to the price, we decided not to have me do any driving. Finally, after a long walk, we found our assigned Toyota Yaris at 3:10. We were not familiar with this car and, thus, said nothing when assigned it at the desk. One look told us it was too small, however. I checked the initial email reservation and saw we were to have a midsize. I read brochures, while my husband went back to the desk. He didn't return until 3:30, at which time I knew we would not get to the Oregon Historical Society as planned for today.

I took lots of pictures of the car to document its condition. It had 1123 miles on it and a keyless ignition. We were finally out at 3:43. We were struck by the incredible highway congestion for that time of day.

We missed the road for the hotel and had to go fairly far to be able to turn around. That turned out to be a good thing, because we spotted a place that looked interesting for dinner.

We checked into the Airport Hampton Inn at 4 and were assigned room 139, which was as close to the airport as you could get! I can hear them taking off now. We unloaded everything and decided at 4:40 to go to dinner. We'd looked up the restaurant we'd seen and this picture was the clincher:

The odometer read 1128 when we left and 2 miles later we were at Shari's Cafe. Along the way, we saw this really cool effect of water from the tires from this cup cab:

 I ordered ice tea, but I also had to try a Pie Shake, because, well it's a Pie Shake! I chose Northwest Berry Trio (5.98) and it really is a slice of pie puréed with ice cream. Such a purple! And delicious.

My Summer Berry Chicken Salad (10.49)was fantastic with balsamic over the chicken, grilled pita, and loads of strawberries and feta with the spring greens.

My husband ordered the Honored Citizen (read: Senior Citizen) Lemon Pepper Grilled Salmon, as he is 60. It was a smaller portion and cost only 10.99.

We watched the rain and the traffic, happy that we had found this place. We couldn't resist the pie made with the state berries, marionberries.

It was very chilly when we went back to our car at 6:02. I googled Powell's Books, but we wound up at the wrong one, but did see some very old store signs.

We finally found the right one, but had to go several blocks to find a parking lot. It charged a flat rate of $6 for the evening. The car odometer now read 1143. The first sign we saw for Powell's made it clear someone had been watching the Tony's and they cared about Orlando.

We walked down to Powell's and arrived at 7:10. I knew to pick up a map, which was invaluable. We checked out Languages, Crafts, Sci-Fi, Music, Humor. There was an author holding forth to a large crowd in one area. We had 10 items and decided life would be easier, if we took advantage of the flat $12.50 shipping rate and had them sent home. We left the store at 9, happy that such an institution still existed after 45 years.

It took 8 minutes to walk to the car, but I'm sure that's not why I had trouble staying conscious on the way back. We got here at 9:29 with 1155 on the odometer.

It had its frustrations, but it was a good first day. My husband went to bed at 10:30, but I am going to take a shower. I am desperate for a good night's sleep!