It was to be a Turkey Weekend spent fully within the woodsy bosom of that jewel of the Great Northwest, Portland OR. Indeed, the kid and I did make it, but our trip ended up being cut short, and so much I might have done fell away. I will spare you the details of the medical grief behind our early departure, but I will not spare you some of the more pleasurable details. After all, I love Portland in general, but now that we have seen the many facilities aimed at pooch pleasure, I dig it all the more.
As it turns out, other than a visit to Voodoo Donuts, Jackpot Records, and Powell's Books, most of our recreating was done in leash-free dog areas. This is something I would think could guarantee a happy Chihuahua, but I have a "special" chihuahua who did find something significant to complain about: having to wear a hoodie.
Call me crazy, but given the much chillier temps above the 45th parallel, I expected my doggie to thank me for putting his hoodie on him, but NO NO NO! Even though me and my friend Kevin were dressed practically for winter, the Chi insisted on having nothing to do with his hoodie. In fact he wouldn't even walk until I took it off him! I kid ye not!
Thankfully, I suspected he didn't like the hoodie rather than suspect he didn't like the off-leash action! After all, how can any pooch not love the 1000 ACRE(!) awesome off-leash area in Troutdale along the Sandy & Columbia River confluence in Lewis & Clark Park?
Indeed, the kid and I have been to some spectacular parks dedicated to dog pleasure, but this one ranks up there at the absolute tippy top. True, a 5lb Chi can't hike all day in that big of a place without getting mucho tired, but once he got the hoodie off and got his temp up (via brisk walking), the little guy had an awesome afternoon taking in all that he could.
I can't say enough good things about the park. The land is beautiful, which is very important, but we have visited many beautiful places that totally lacked the presence of other happy dawgs. This park was not suffering from such a malady. We saw many pooches and they were all Oregon-friendly, even to a Cali-Chi!
This was, by far, the coldest weather I have seen the Chi out-n-about in (around 40 or so), but he really didn't seem all that bothered. Now I know! I myself prefer 83 and sunny, but when the vistas are so nice (we don't get much "Fall Color" in evergreen Cali), I now know the kid can travel further north than I originally thought.
The park had lots of dogs to meet, but most of them were much much bigger than Boomie. Portland is a little more forgiving on cost of living, so it is easier to get bigger spaces to use to house bigger doggies. We come from little dog land, and are used to meeting up lots of shrimps, but not so in Troutdale. Even though we met many large doggies throughout the day, the kid's nose was kept busy with all the trail-marking done by the other happy hounds out along the trails. The Chi really surprised me by keeping interested and active for the entire hour + we were there - he usually doesn't enjoy scent tracking nearly as much as he did at Lewis & Clark Park. Very encouraging!
After a full afternoon of trekking around the park, we made our way back into the city. We had walked off our Thanksgiving Day spread (generously provided by our host), and were ready to head downtown. Usually, that holds little in the way of Chi-friendly activities, but this little perro was able to partake in at least one spectacular treat of an activity: Voodoo Donut.
I had seen Voodoo Donut highlighted on some Travel Channel show (I think it was that channel) many moons ago, but I had forgotten it was in PDX. Then, when walking downtown, we saw a MAMMOTH line stretching out the door. I usually hate lines like that, but often they indicate quality, and wanting to partake in a Portland-centric institution, we decided to wait in line for a box of donuts. I myself found them underwhelming (though the Grape Ape was inspired), but I decided to treat the doggie to the Maple Bar with Bacon. I actually only allowed him to eat part of the bacon, but he loved it and said it was the best donut ever. He doesn't yet realize it will be his only donut ever. I think, given the cost, wait, and return, I shant visit Voodoo Donut again, but if you catch them without a long line, I do think their raspberry filling is tasty, and again, the Grape Ape is quite a bit more delightful than you might think an artificial-grape-flavored donut might be.
Our host's apartment was right across the street from a nice neighborhood doggie park, so even when we just went out to make the poops and the PiPi, we were able to do so socially - a big plus for a little Chi.
Some mornings, it was still very cold, so I did insist he wear his hoodie. I think I either wore down his resistance to the hoodie, or he actually was cold, because in time, he stopped fighting me about it.
As it turned out, for all that driving, we barely were in PDX for 36 hours. It is my fault. I had planned on doing more (and visiting other homies), but I got sick and decided to go home. I didn't make it in a straight shot either. We had to stop along the way for the night. We were sad to miss out on all the PDX-goodness we had originally planned.
That said, we did get to visit the lovely dog parks of a few other towns, including Medford (a place I very much love) and Roseburg (home of the Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad - and a lovely dog park along the Umpqua River.)
The doggie park in Ashland wasn't well-marked (or marked at all), but once we found it, we loved it. There was even a group of Chi's there who we hung out with for awhile! We will surely make it a regular stop on I-5.
While I am bummed we only got 2 hours in PDX for every hour of driving it took to get there, I can never complain about the beauty of the drive. Once the Sierra gives way to The Cascades, Cali definitely takes on the full imprint of the Cascadia Way. While the I-5 corridor gets much beauty value from Mt. Lassen and Mt. Shasta (both visible for hours along the way), I recommend going off I-5 and heading east towards Alturas and the Modoc Valley too. The beauty of that part of CA & OR is breathtaking too, especially as it dries out as you head east towards Nevada. I just can't say enough good things about that part of this country.
The corridor used to be a true hotbed for railfans, and at some level it still is, even though the death of the Southern Pacific takes some of the density out of the lines through the center-pass, the tracks are still spectacular, and some of the little shortlines still around have much to make them interesting. I am not sure if the YReka Western actually goes anywhere at this point, but I definitely plan on trying to hop on an excursion on the line from YReka up through Ashland & Medford. The grades through the Siskiyous are awesome.
I finally paid a visit to the train nerd mecca of Dunsmuir, and in looking at the setup (the town is tucked precariously along a river cut into the mountains), I understand its fame. The Amtrak train through there passes through at like 3 or 4am, so I have never felt compelled to ride it, but given the beauty around there, it is worth an effort to see it. If only they allowed dogs...
Our trip also took us through the lovely State Of Jefferson. While I agree that Cali needs more clout, and agree that splitting in two would be one way to do it, I don't agree with the split advocated by the folks behind Jefferson Public Radio, or even the State Of Jefferson Scenic Byway through the awesome Klammath River valley (truly remarkable - yet I didn't take it this trip...all in due time.) I may not share their sympathies politically, but I can understand why they feel disenfranchised. Their way of life is quite distinct from the rest of Cali and they are unlikely to be able to do much locally to thwart the wishes of the giant population centers (not that I think copper ore is anything around which to build a state/nation/etc.) But alas, this is the eternal tension of the nation - no reason Cali would be an exception.
A last highlight for me and the kid was the chance to check off another of the sites listed in our off-leash doggie in California book - this time, it was the Mud Creek Levee outside of Hamilton City.
The place itself is quite beautiful, and the dog loved hoofin' it up and down the levee, but I could find little in the way of markings to indicate we were in a spot open to anyone for any reason. The book correctly listed its location (other than saying it was in Glenn County, when it was actually in Butte County), and there was so much dog crap around, I am quite sure others visited it like we did. The place was rather remote, but in the beautiful warm Cali sunset, we had an awesome time walking up and down the creek and levee. We definitely will head back since there are lots of other things on our list out there (north of Chico.)
Fun as it was, nothing is as fun as sleeping in your own bed after being away for awhile, and indeed, that is what we most wanted to do, so after stretching our legs and letting the doggie lighten the load, we hit the road for the last stretch and made it back to Oakland. Turns out the weather was spectacular here while we were gone, but even so, I think the Chi & I did quite well for ourselves. Booms added new states and doggie parks to his list of conquered territories, I got to see my friend Kevin, we went to Powell's and the pooch had a bacon donut.
Much to be thankful for, yes?
Posted by rudayday at November 29, 2009 09:32 PM