Portland, Oregon

Today I arrived in Portland in the rain, what a surprise.  But that's not really fair because by 1:00  the sun had come out and it was a glorious day.  It was so nice I decided to spend it outside.  I found a place called the Crystal Spring Gardens.  They specialized in azaleas and rhododendron, but they have ponds with wonderful ducks and grebes, redwing blackbirds and Western jays.  I walked the paths for several hours.  It felt so good to be out of the car and into the sunlight.  They had wonderful color variation in their rhododendrons, there were even yellows, which I had never seen before.  Portland is so wet that moss grows on everything that doesn't move.

After that I went searching and found a Grotto dedicated to the Sorrowful Mother.  The Grotto is rather shallow but is very interesting to look at.  They have an elevator that takes you to the top of the hill where'll the chapels, gardens and sculpture is located.  They have done a lovely job landscaping the area.  A lot of the sculpture are copies of famous works of art.  They have a labyrinth which I walked, always a good time to reflect on your life.  They even have a monastery on the premises.  The plant material absorbs all the sound so even though there were many people around I couldn't hear a thing.  It was pleasant to walk in the silence and just hear the song of the birds.

Tomorrow I will see what downtown Portland looks like though I did drive around today.  It looks quite nice.  Lots of people walking the streets and public transportation, buses and light rail.