Tillamook > Portland: 73 Miles (by bus)
I didn't mention that the night before I left for Portland, I was working on were to stay in the city. After a night of fitful sleep, I got up and I still hadn't found a place to stay. It was worrying me a little more than a little bit. I had put out a bunch of last minute messages on Warm Showers (a site like CouchSurfing but for cyclists) after finding out that the few friend-of-friend leads weren't going to work. I also called the few hostels in town to see if they had any space and unfortunately they didn't... at that moment. One of them told me to call back around noon and as luck would have it, they had an opening! I reserved it as fast as possible and felt infinitely better about the day. Skirted that one. Phew.
That previous night I was also looking at the route to Portland and the more I studied it, the more I really didn't want to ride the 70+ miles it was going to take to get there some for reason. After a few hours I remembered Yaniv told me about a bus that goes from Tillamook to Portland for $20 round-trip. I looked into it as fast as my shoddy internet connection would allow and figured out I could get up, pack, dawdle and eat breakfast all before the bus left at 12:25pm. I showered, got my bike packed, checked out of the motel and rolled around town for an hour while I waited for the bus.
Most of the busses that I had seen so far have bike racks on the front and this one was no different. The only hitch was that there were four people, including myself, with bikes traveling to Portland. It was minimally problematic because the bike rack on the bus could only hold two. I postulated to myself that this wasn't the first time this situation had occurred because the driver just put the other two bikes inside. That took up some seating room though and the bus was already filled to max capacity with people. Anyone who got on later had to stand. The one-way was $15 and the ride took about 2.5 hours because was about half an hour delayed getting to the bus station in Tillamook and we hit early Friday afternoon rush-hour traffic once we got into Portland. I was fortunate to sit right in front of a young couple from Portland and they gave me a laundry list of things to do and see once I got there. Perfect!
Most of the busses that I had seen so far have bike racks on the front and this one was no different. The only hitch was that there were four people, including myself, with bikes traveling to Portland. It was minimally problematic because the bike rack on the bus could only hold two. I postulated to myself that this wasn't the first time this situation had occurred because the driver just put the other two bikes inside. That took up some seating room though and the bus was already filled to max capacity with people. Anyone who got on later had to stand. The one-way was $15 and the ride took about 2.5 hours because was about half an hour delayed getting to the bus station in Tillamook and we hit early Friday afternoon rush-hour traffic once we got into Portland. I was fortunate to sit right in front of a young couple from Portland and they gave me a laundry list of things to do and see once I got there. Perfect!
It even comes with a toasted marshmallow! Once off the bus, I made my way to my hostel, the Portland Hawthorne Hostel. I rid myself of all my gear and headed out to start on the list of to-do's I was recently given. The first stop was the Cascade Barrel Brewing House, which is known for having great sour beers. I got a pint of their favorite/most popular regular beer and followed up with a taster size of what might be the best beverage I've ever had regardless of classification. This drink was their Honey Ginger Lime sour. It was unbelievable. I think it was enhanced by the description of the drink too. But all of them sounded great and I had to take a picture of the menu for posterity's sake.
My next stop was a place called Base Camp. I had check out all these places on Yelp before I left my hostel and learned that Base Camp has a beer called the S'Mores. I had to get it as my dessert beer before my next stop...
My next stop was a place called Base Camp. I had check out all these places on Yelp before I left my hostel and learned that Base Camp has a beer called the S'Mores. I had to get it as my dessert beer before my next stop...
Bagdad Theater Lobby. ... which was the Bagdad Theater, an awesome run-down-theater-turned-into-movie-house example. It's a dollar theater that serves a full menu of food and drinks (including beer and cocktails) and has couches for seats in the upper-level balcony. I paid $3 for the movie and $4 for my large popcorn and sat down to watch the most recent rendition of the Great Gatsby. It was a good time! I forgot it was Friday though and didn't think about lines. I missed the first 5-10 mins because of them... oh well.
By the time the movie ended it was around 10:30p and I was pretty tired. Not tired enough though to skip getting a half gallon of milk at SafeWay and bag of Kit-Kats and blog for a bit. I did almost fall asleep on the hostel couch for the night... the only reason I didn't was because the office phone rang at 2:30am. I quickly gathered my stuff and went up to my bunk.
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