August 3rd, 2018
Portland, OR
Distance: too much shopping!
Whew, what a day! It was NOT a day off or of rest, but I got most everything done on my list and then some. Just a heads up, I only included one picture for this day because I was too busy doing mostly mundane things.
First we had an awesome breakfast where we kind of munched for over 2 hours. Yes, we had “second breakfast”, thanks to Shelly who kept making food for us. I ate yogurt with cereal and blueberries, then bacon, eggs, and toast with avocado smear. I went outside to fetch my shoes, which I had washed the night before, and was surprised to find a slug snuggled up inside. It had left a slimy trail and poop all over both shoes, so I had to wash them again. Gross!
Then Skybird drove us to Trader Joes. It was really nice to get some of their specialty items like dried mango and Siracha bacon jerky. Spatz had never been to a TJ so I made sure to point out the free coffee and samples…3rd breakfast. Then it was REI, where I didn’t need anything more than a fuel canister but still spent a lot on some food items.
We had lunch at the nearby shopping center, which had everything. Foremost, there was a barber, which had a 15 minute wait, so I went to the cheap sushi place next door and downed 6 plates off the carousel in that amount of time. The perfect fast food. Then I enjoyed getting the back and sides of my head shaved…which already were shaved, I just needed a trim. When I wear my hair down, no one can tell that half my hair is missing. This way it is lighter, not as hot, and more manageable on the trail (except for when I got pine sap in it). The minute the lady touched my remaining thick hair, she exclaimed that she could see why I shaved the rest.
After all this, I still had room for a Jamba juice. Then we went to the final shopping stop, Fred Meyers. These stores are like a super Walmart and a bit overwhelming. I was all shopped-out by this point and only got a few critical things. I was shopping for food for most of the trail through Oregon–3 boxes worth.
On the way home, we realized that we had less than 2 hours to box all the stuff and get to the post office before it closed. Rushing like this was the most stressful part of the trip thus far but we got it done. I just hope I got my food calculations right. Either way, there is usually extra stuff to buy or in the hiker boxes.
Finally we got to relax somewhat. Dinner was awesome once again. We had a huge fillet of wild-caught salmon with corn and salads. For dessert, we had Marionberry pie with ice cream. We night-capped with a soak in the hot tub. My heartfelt thanks to Skybird and her family for making this all possible. It has been such an unexpected treat and immensely helpful in getting me get ready to tackle Oregon.