I've been a tourist today!

So, I'm ensconced in Vancouver, Washington--a suburb of Portland, Oregon. After I settled in last night, I found that having only had lunch and airplane snack packs, I felt restless. Since I'm in the suburbs (my motel is across the street from Vancouver's slightly ramshackle mall), I wandered out last night to stretch my legs in the rain and see about a snack. Naturally, all I could find open was a convenience store, so I went with my old standby: cheese.

Today, I did some tourism in earnest, taking my rental Kia into downtown Portland where I discovered the Pearl district, a combination loft/boutique/nightclub district that was a little sleepy in the rain today. I suspect I would enjoy it much more in the evening when the restaurants and clubs are hopping, rather than what looked like a somnolent Thursday morning (do they know it's Christmas season in the Pearl?). After stopping to visit my pal's office in Beaverton and a brief dash to the nearest mall for a Christmas errand, I had lunch at a local burger chain's Beaverton outpost. Burgerville was not bad--and the price was even easier to swallow than the reasonably good fries. My suggestion to them is to find a better burger bun! The sandwich would be a near-home run with that!

After lunch, I visited Portland's Japanese Garden. It's located in hilly Washington Park, near the zoo and arboretum; and the twisty, quiet roads on the steep slopes of the park made me wish for a sunny, dry day and my bicycle to go flying down those hills with no thought to my safety. The garden helped calm those thoughts. I've visited a surprising number of Japanese gardens, especially for an American who's never visited Japan, and found this one was first-rate. The garden is actually several different gardens mashed together on a knoll, interlaced with a few paths. I'm always struck by the Japanese approach to formal, decorative gardening. There isn't a bit of plant life, rock or any other material that isn't placed with painstaking deliberation and artifice. Yet the effect is one of slightly-manicured nature, as the gardener strives to permit enough of the natural to come shining through his efforts. This garden is also notably presentational in its approach, with nearly every inch of the paths intended to show you a calculated vista or corner of the garden. It was a shame, however, that the Tea House was not fully open for visiting or viewing.

This evening, I made one of those odd discoveries that shout with irony. I was using a web search to look for a decent restaurant here in the suburbs, you know, not a chain. The first site I pulled up ranked a Mongolian Barbecue restaurant very highly. Well, I've always had a thing for that kind of cuisine, to I checked the location... How about the back of my motel? I didn't want to miss that opportunity!

CDs listened to today:

• Harald Genzmer: Sonata for Trombone and Organ
• Jet: Get Born
• Jesus Guridi: Sinfonia Pirenaica
• Lars-Erik Larson: Concertino for Trombone and Orchestra
• Morcheeba: Big Calm
• Remy Shand: The Way I Feel
• stellastarr*: (eponymous)
• Ingram Marshall: Hymnodic Delays
• Olivier Messiaen: La Nativite du Seigneur