From the Rose Gardens to the Japanese Gardens. Hop, hop, skip.

That's right, I finally made to to these heavenly gardens, which are located near Washington Park, in NW Portland. It was a nice day so we decided to venture up to the Portland Rose Gardens (actual gardens, not to be confused with the Rose Garden Arena) for a little stroll.
Parking was a little bit of a nightmare, and after driving up the hill and pretty much back down to the bottom, we found a spot that I was able to fit my car into (after much maneuvering, let me tell you). The instant we got out of the car, the sweet aroma of the gardens overcame us, and my nose was in heaven. Once we got to the top of the hill and saw the view of the city (Mt Hood perfectly in view in the background) my eyes were thanking me as well.

I hadn't been here since I was kid, so I didnt really know what to expect. Everything always seems so much bigger in childhood memories as compared to reality so I tried to think of it as tiny as to not be disappointed, but it is a nice size park! With tennis courts, gazebos, pavilions and even a stage, there was plenty of space for everyone (and also the location of my next picnic).
Since it was so warm we decided to get some Shaved Ice before we headed down, what I didnt realize that this was going to hamper my picture taking greatly..

One of the only shots I got of the actual gardens and it is indeed lacking. Its hard to tell that everything was in full bloom! And gorgeous! But this gives you a basic idea.
We were about to leave to go downtown for something to eat when I decided to check out the map to make sure that we didnt miss anything. This was when I saw that the Japanese Gardens were only 300 feet or so away! I have been wanting to go to the Japanese Gardens forever, even once went to the Chinese Gardens in the Pearl thinking they were the same (I know, I know..)
The Rose Gardens are free to get into, the Japanese Gardens do charge a small admission fee (up to $8 for an adult) but its worth the charge. The only thing that I would change would be an addition of a tea house or something that serves Japanese food/drinks. It would really add to the ambiance and lets face it, this is America, we get hungry!

It looks like a painting rather than an open window.. a view from inside the "bamboo" (which smelt mysteriously like pine) house. A great place to put that tea house I'm thinking... :)

I'd love to go back here on a day that wasn't so nice, thus making it not so busy I'm sure. There is something about being in such a serene place, yet bumping into people constantly. Something that slightly takes away from the serenity.. but just slightly.

Mountain Fun

This last Wednesday I was finally able to make the trek up the Mountain to test my skiing abilities… and I would have to say that I had a great time.

We got there around 9:30am, just in time to check in, rent skies (for me) and get out on the slope for my lesson. This was the second time in my life that I had ever even tried skiing, and the first time (about 4 years ago) I actually started the day off by running into a crowd of people waiting to get on the ski lift on the bunny slope…… so you can say that I was a bit apprehensive.
I was in a group of three people; the other two people were a couple on holiday from England one of which had the goal of going skiing before they turned 40 (it was great talking to them). The instructor was great; she was very helpful, at one point even held my skies for me and skied down the hill backwards to give me a feel of what skiing correctly feels like. I didn’t fall once! Until 10 minutes before the end of the 2 hour lesson when I was talking on the ski lift and didn’t realize we were so close to getting off of it…. Yeah… Quite embarrassing……. Haha. At this point I meet D and R and the instructor specifically tells D that although I have excellent balance to not take me on any steep slopes until I get my form down… “Ok!” he says and off we go.
The first run we made was called “West Leg Road” which, as R pointed out, is because you pretty much ski the entire thing on your western leg. This run is very easy.. although I did end up almost doing the splits one time… and after some…. not so nice… words emitted out of my mouth I made it back up and was good to go. We get to the bottom and take the express lift back up to the top.
In order to not have to go back to the lodge and start all over again D decides to take a “short cut” to a different green slope. This “short cut” is not a trail, and I couldn’t get on it with my skies on so I ended up having to take them off. Now I am walking in ski boots, carrying my skies and my poles (which I was calling my sticks), the snow was up past my knees and my body is so tired I was literally shaking. But on I must go! With each step I would inadvertently fall down and would have to strain to get back up again. This went on for about 15 minutes when we finally found the trail! But wait, this was no green trail!! This was a BLACK trail (Black = Expert) with the specific name “The Bone Zone”. Not only was it steep but it was nothing but zig-zag 90 degree turns! Suffice to say, I was screaming the whole way down, but I didn’t fall once! Hehe (I have to admit that going down this run was actually quite fun, and is something that I am sure I would enjoy had my experience level been past my first real time skiing….)
After we finally made it to the bottom (we never found the green run mind you) we rode the lift back up and I took R, sent D off to do his difficult runs on his own, and had no problem finding a nice and easy green run to go down.
The time is now 3 o’clock, the lift closes at 4 so down we go. We make it to the bottom maybe 10 minutes later, get on the lift, and are enjoying the quiet ride back up. The lift stops. That is typical… 5 minutes later it is still stopped so I get out my phone and start communicating with all those I left at the bottom of the mountain (and took some the only pictures I could being that I left my real camera on my desk at home).
10 minutes later we are still sitting there, suspended in the air! Ok, this is fine, but now it is almost 3:30 and any hopes of a final run are quickly fading. The guys in the chair behind us were even more upset than us… spewing things that I cannot really repeat. Finally, five more minutes later, and we start moving again and are let off at the top at around 3:45 pm. Way too late to try anything real, because there isn’t any run that would be worth me having to trek it all the way to the top of the mountain by foot.
So it was a disappointing end to quite the fun day.
I guarantee you will be seeing me up there more often! I want to take E up and teach him how to ski…. He will be one of those little boys doing crazy jumps off the mountain in no time.

Now I just need to recover………