My friend Dolores luckily had a lot to do in Portland as she waited for the train, and we still had 1.5 hour drive to the Gearhart on the Oregon Coast before we were home, after enjoying dinner at Yummy – an excellent wine bar at Seaside.. The next day we hit some of the local beaches – Cannon Beach and Mansanita – both lovely seaside towns with boutique shops and lots of people on the beaches – but NONE in the water – the locals obviously feel it is too cold – with only small children trying the waves. There were signs that it was a good surfing spot, but I did not see anyone except paddlers like me on the edge of the waves.
www.flickr.com
|
That night it was back to Portland – Dolores had got front row seats to a Melissa Etheridge concert – we were in spitting distance – right in front of a speaker, so it was something you definitely felt as well as heard. I enjoyed it, I am not that familiar with her music – but she is a great performer and her lead guitarist was AMAZING.
www.flickr.com
|
This is her Revival Tour and she essentially sang her way through her life – leaving Kansas and heading for California, a failed relationships, the search for love, breast cancer, and more recently her political activism with Al Gore (she did the soundtrack for Incovenient Truth) and the Democrats (she is singing at their convention next week). A great night out in a fabulous older concert hall (the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall) filled with Portland lesbians and a few staunch men. I think I will get some of the tracks off itunes when I get home.
Sunday – a visit to Astoria Sunday markets was in store – unfortunately it rained, so browsing was not too much fun, though I did manage to buy some fruit for the train journey. We were a bit late leaving and got caught in some traffic heading back to Portland – nearly had an Amtrak moment ourselves, as I was close to missing the train – but got there with 10 mins to spare.