Still walking

I am still walking. Although last week I took a walking detour. See, there I was, walking toward the Broadway Bridge with vague plans of crossing it and making my way down to Powells or possibly elsewhere when two pedicabs accosted me. They were headed to the west side and were passengerless, so I got to ride across the bridge!



This is a shot taken while riding. I didn't want to impose by taking pictures of my charioteers, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Yesterday I did a long Southeast trek, stopping first to meet a friend for coffee, then heading down to 39th via a circuitous route. I got some stuff at the Fred Meyer, and discovered that I'd dropped my wallet somewhere. That's the trouble with deathmarching. Your desire to go and retrace your steps to find something lost is lessened with every mile you go. Yesterday's walk was 7 miles - about average for me, but I wasn't eager to make it 14.

Down Mississippi and across Russell to Irvington

Not every block in Portland is nice, or even inhabited.



This is Russell Street, not far from the Widmer Brewery. It's an area just itching for gentrification, but no one has hit it yet.

Mississippi Street south of Skidmore could use a little grooming:



It's full of stairs that go nowhere:



Maybe a block that burned down?

Then I made it to Irvington, which is much more sanitary and affluent. I almost bought a condo here:


Instead of the place I got so close to the no-man's land previously pictured. I think I like my neighborhood better, although Irvington is very nice to visit. They have cats right out in the open, hanging out on the porches. Look closely.

Pedestrians Keep Out

Most weekends I get a few blocks in the Pearl walked. I volunteer at a library on the West side, so it's a nice early morning walk to get there. The problem with the Pearl is all the construction. It has reached absolutely hyper levels of development, which I normally approve of. The problem is the frequency with which I run across signs like this on both sides of the street:



Come on Portland, have a heart. It's bad enough to make me cross the street eight times in eight blocks for various construction projects, but don't make me detour all the way around! I'm never going to mark off all my blocks at this rate.

One particularly egregious block is the one before the Bridgeport Brewery. They're putting in a large block of urban condos. I hope that the people who buy there make sure to stop by in the early morning, when the stench of brewing beer is incredibly strong and somewhat nauseating.

North Portland, Overlook Park to Kenton

So as you might have guessed, I live in the Mississippi neighborhood in Portland. I've also taken temporary charge of my downstairs neighbor's roommate, who is also a very eager walker:



We decided to take a serious walk, stopping first at Overlook park, so named for its overlook of the river:


We also took a detour on Melrose, a very short street north of the park which also has amazing views:


We then walked north across the Going St pedestrian bridge, up Denver and Greeley then Atlantic to a buddy's place in Kenton. At this point it became clear that 3 miles was just about enough for a little terrier, in spite of his protestations to the contrary, so my generous buddy shipped us home via Honda.

I've been walking less due to a business trip and laziness, but now that daylight savings time is giving me some nice evenings, I hope to be out and walking more often.

Down Hancock back on Broadway

So the deathmarch philosophy is to start from home and walk as far as you can. This is different, though, and to really get it going I realized that I needed to start driving to the starting point, especially since it's dark when I get done working.

Anyway, today it was Irvington. I walked down NE Hancock, which is a beautiful street with many old apartment buildings. One particular building was unusually good-looking at night.



It made me think of the haunted apartment building Cordelia moved into during Angel's first season.

I walked back via Broadway, and passed this place:



It's too bad it was closed, because it looks really old-school. Then I stopped at the Goodwill, and found a Web Searching For Dummies book that was published in 1996. I was a web-searching specialist in 1996 (what a ridiculous talent to have), and I will tell you this: It was out of date when published.

Crossing bridges

It occurs to me that I'm going to be crossing the bridges in town an awful lot. The second most beautiful bridge, in my opinion, is the Steel Bridge.



I got in a couple of miles of downtown. I'm excited about the extension of daylight savings time, it means I can step up this program.

Every Block in Portland: The FAQ

What is this blog for?

I plan to walk every block in Portland. Now, yes. That's quite ambitious. I know that. For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to consider Portland as not going farther East than, say, 60th Ave or farther West than Forest Park. It doesn't go farther South than Goose Hollow. North is easy to border: it stops being Portland when it starts getting wet. If I still feel like walking after I walk that area, then I'll go out to the farther parts of the city.

What? Why?

Like many of my fellow Americans, I appear to be made entirely out of ham, butter, and Wonder Bread. I started deathmarching because I needed exercise desperately and HATED the gym. I told myself that if I could spend an hour walking I could skip the gym that day.

I've been a deathmarcher (Deathmarch - To walk as far as you can with no particular destination in mind other than having a good wander) for several years now. I think technically I may have invented the phrase as it is used by the San Francisco Deathmarch Cadre. I don't claim any copyrights or proprietary interest in the term, however.

How many blocks ARE there in Portland, anyway?

Portland blocks are kind of pansyish. I'd say that they are about half the size of San Francisco blocks. This makes for a very pleasant walk where you can really feel like you're getting somewhere, even if you've only walked half a mile.

Who are you?

I'm a thirty-something woman who moved to Portland from the Bay Area. I love it here and want to get to know the city better.