Portland Arrival

We left home at the early hour of 3:45 a.m. for a 5:45 flight.  Yawn!!!  The flight was uneventful which is always a good thing.  A very helpful transit employee helped us figure out a train/bus trip from the airport which deposited us almost at the doorstep of our hostel.  We arrived at the hostel at 11:00--too early for the 3:00 check-in, so we walked a few blocks to  Kornblatt's Deli, billed as the best Jewish delicatessan outside of New York City.  We had a nice lunch and then walked to the Rose Garden (pictures to come).  On the way back we got caught in a short but heavy afternoon rainshower.  Fortunately we could take refuge under an awning, though we were both prepared with raincoats.

We are now officially installed at the hostel (both of us snagged bottom bunks--yeah!!).  We also received word that our bikes had arrived, so that will be our task for tomorrow morning. We will take the bus to the train station, reassemble the bikes and ride them back to the hostel. We are  planning our first leg of the bike journey which will be to the Columbia River Gorge.  The first hurdle is getting out of the city, but Caroline has found us a bike trail, so it should be easy.  Did I say easy?

Later,
Martha