05 Thursday May 2016
Posted in Travel
8:00 AM → 8:00 PM. Twelve hours, right?
Wrong.
It’s actually 21 hours, given the nine-hour time difference between Paris and Portland. Twenty-one hours, and it never got dark.
03 Sunday May 2015
Posted in Accommodations
That’s our balcony with the cathedral ceiling. The TV antennas are actually a half-mile away. We share real estate with them on top of Portland’s West Hills.
Yes, we’re back in Portland. No, there have been no medical emergencies. Yes, we’ve been busy. It’s that time of the year again. We’re moving.
08 Tuesday Apr 2014
Posted in Sentiments
Tags
Portland in the spring: streetcars and cherry blossoms
We thought this blog was over, but there’s been a great outpouring of “Now what?” Maybe two or three people, even! So here we are, back in Portland after our Senior Year Abroad. I love the cooler air, the gentler sun, and even the refreshing drizzle. I love that everybody speaks the same language. When we walk into a grocery store, we can identify everything in it. We have new phone numbers and we make calls like real people. If we haven’t called you yet, here’s why: Continue reading
05 Wednesday Feb 2014
Posted in Accommodations, Travel
Traveling as we do, we meet a lot of people. Conversations ensue. Questions are asked, and among the first is, “Where do you live?” Then the familiar words: vagabond, expat, ne’er-do-well, and homeless.
Homeless.
After we tell the story of our travels — so well-rehearsed we can recite it in our sleep — comes the inevitable question: “What will you do next?”
Our answer has always been, “We don’t know.” But now, with less than sixty days remaining of our planned expat adventure — less than sixty days! — we have decided.
We’re going home.
25 Wednesday Dec 2013
Posted in Sentiments
Tags
Kappy, Bernie and Kathy, Doyle, Michael, Beth and Jim, Sybil and James, Cole, Lillie, Weston, Hayden, Topaz, and Kerri — thanks for making our Portland Christmas everything we hoped it would be.
But enough of the freezing fog already. It’s back to Puerto Vallarta (and sun, and beach, and surf) tomorrow.
Tom & Louise
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(Photo by Sybil Lichty Fontaine)
24 Tuesday Dec 2013
Tags
Downtown Portland in gingerbread
Max, the light rail train, was waiting for us inside the airport. The fare was a dollar. It took us downtown, within two blocks of our hotel. We had arrived for Christmas in Portland.
18 Wednesday Sep 2013
Tags
That’s not a typo. The saddle in question is Buzz’s saddle. Buzz is my (electric) bike. You sit on bike saddles, not in them. And Buzz is in Portland — which is as close as we come to having a home. So you see, I’m back in (and on) the saddle again, both figuratively and literally.
I’ve been thinking about what that means to me.
Continue reading
22 Monday Apr 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Travel
I’m a Portland, Oregon native. Some say Portland is among the five best places to live in the world. Others say it’s where young people go to retire. That’s fine, but that’s not what Portland is all about. Portland is all about beer.
