Friday the 13th Not Unlucky

[kevin_standlee]

I did not skip posting yesterday just because it was Friday the 13th, but because Lisa and I spent the entire day away from computers, which was not necessarily a bad thing. We got away from Mehama later than we wanted on account of sleeping in (I'm still on a time-shifted schedule), and thus had to battle bad traffic in Portland, but eventually we arrived at the Portland Japanese Garden, which I've wanted to visit for a long time but never had the opportunity. This is a very pleasant place, and I only wish that we'd arrived earlier so we wouldn't have felt rushed. You shouldn't visit a formal Japanese garden when you're in a hurry. I would have liked to have had a couple of hours to more slowly contemplate the place. It's also somewhat regrettable that they have a tea house, but no tea -- there is no food service there, unlike the one in Golden Gate Park. But still, I liked the visit, and may go back again.

After that, we walked around the adjacent International Rose Test Garden, which was also a nice relaxing thing to do. We would have rode the train that connects these parks to the Portland Zoo, but the train is not running at this time of year.

We had dinner at Chang's Mongolian BBQ -- another thing I miss from the Columbia River Hotel having closed -- and did some shopping before heading home. We were in no hurry, and stopped to play pinball along the way, where we found a couple of new-to-me games: World Poker Tour and Pirates of the Caribbean. We found the latter more entertaining than the former.

This afternoon, Lisa sent me off to check the e-mail while she investigated a gate on her father's property that appears to have been knocked over. Looks like I'll be put to work sometime during the next few days driving a post to re-mount that gate.

I was supposed to bring my camera with me on this trip, as there are things Lisa wanted photographed up here, but despite having set it in a box with other things to be carried up here, I seem to have left it behind. I must have set it aside when I was actually packing the bags and then forgot it, because all of the other things that were in the "box to bring" made the trip.

Comments

[tkunsman.livejournal.com]

Hopefully while in Japan you will be able to make some time to visit the Yokohama Sankeien Garden http://www.sankeien.or.jp/

The garden in Portland seems like a neat place to visit, and have now placed that on my ever growing list of places to visit.

Found this interesting side article also: http://www.usarj.army.mil/archives/archives/2003/feb/14/cultural/story01.htm

Seems like about a nice of a place as the Kokoen Himeji Castle garden which I was able to visit in 1997 - http://www.ryokka.jibasan.or.jp/kokoen/index_en.html

[danjite.livejournal.com]

1) Reminder to ask jaylake about those private sidings.

2) As I recall, the Portland Zoo railroad- in addition to the usual scale steam-styled engine- has a train styled- vaguely- after the 20th Century Limited, circa 1927!

Have fun!

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

What good is a tea house if they don't serve tea?

[tkunsman.livejournal.com]

In my visit to Japan, they do not serve tea in tea houses. Mostly because you are visiting to see the architecture, the flowers, etc. In very rare occasions, the tea room at Himeji castle would serve tea, but is very rare.

If one wants tea, one would go to a tea shop.