Last weekend Seth and I went up to Portland (fondly known as Stumptown --an old revitalized nickname) for the
Portland Old-Time Gathering. Three days of a rollicking good old time at the
Norse Hall (I'm glad they have a link as I neglected to take any photos of it--very old-school cool) in North-East Portland--just north of Burnside on 11th. Seth and the other members of
Molasses got down with some other folks in the ladies powder room! There were jams everywhere! I went to a clogging workshop, and the blowout square dance on Saturday had well over 200 people spinning in circles (and squares!).
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvEtI8RJLMjWNFU_2YsUjrhyphenhyphenQm9QSIk_9j99GKgpPO1qj9_ePkV9K7EmfvrvZw_lauzNqtpXYHP8Q9XEJXomSzniwtk50Iq-lpzVfRlzi6syPJTnWVL0f9t30xU40dJbpzRVBNUNVAHU58/s200/DSCF2858.JPG)
It was extra pleasant because we got to stay in our friends' cool old-school apartment building up in North-West.* I have a lower tolerance for jamming than Seth so I visited
Washington Park with Chris and Heather. It is the largest urban park in the United States, and it's only a few blocks from their place. Of course, since it's the largest park, it's close to many people!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjKdMdSdddD7jJY3rnOqqVkBNbIMSXvv4XbgL7oX5Ot-69lxFCQKcndiqhnDjjMbe6J69nHNAo6EObuy6AQU_S_e50dT8IUfArxvz290L_YGpg7kF4Dtuz_EsGFTT-dw0lYV-8WA7y0l7j/s200/DSCF2844.JPG)
We saw Mt. Hood on lovely display, but there was a big ugly building in the way, and though it was quite majestic in real life, it looks pretty weenie in the photo (it's coming out of Chris's left ear).
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8QZUh82o9rEKNsf-MdWU91BYFbytqBZ4lvd5AS0XTa9bbc3nZ4WhtTQpMV9mcAu3_x6Ea8roHDL2im0d80gA0dcan2T0Tj9WNcgQMgtmkT2oqM1vNTyFFprKqPUP8FXBq_8oCvxkUGFCg/s320/DSCF2842.JPG)
While Chris sketched the lampost, Heather and I crossed a cool bridge from 1925 into a hidden neighborhood saw this old gate leading up to a big house on a hill:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQsBinNdt_JwmH4b7HBHglQjk2vN_p408eQcSVBCLRfJzswe5A0OFF5QwY_Z0HCuYx2EhodLIPWs-IqUvZuoLHArsdG7Jfhz4-Iw__53UDrfVkZOY4v6hu3qNmzkIl5akfop-Km5XTSNT5/s200/DSCF2851.JPG)
The big synagogue in their neighborhood was also built in the 1920's and looks very classy (wood shakes on the roof and everything--very rare in modern urban settings, or anywhere much anymore).
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQfj3noeVm2Vi8A1_Wdzzd8qzM5BEVlppDG-FyCHhPyXscBl4OIu9khAnPS8iNPWQKgeo3wX-G-RRl_4Bs9NJrVnGv-4uDrlp3USel1ZVCgeluz9ETtS76U3jkf0lkBqX__jCaRqxzcFwF/s200/DSCF2859.JPG)
Portland is still a young city compared to Boston, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, etc. but it has a sense of history, and they haven't willy-nilly torn most of it down like they have in Eugene (sniffle).
*Portland Geography Primer: Portland is split North-South by the Willamette River which gives it and East side and a West Side. The roads that run north-south number out from the river congruently. I.E. there is a 1st Ave East and a 1st Ave West;a 2nd Ave East and a 2nd Ave. West, etc (well, more or less unless they've been re-named or dead end, but you get the idea). It is split North and South by a big road that runs East-West called Burnside. If I'm wrong about Burnside being the splitter street, please let me know. There are various semi-predictable, semi-alphabetic street names for the East-West roads, but they don't hold up under much scrutiny. Anyhow, so that makes Portland divided roughly into 4 quadrants which are known by their directional names. Clear as mud? No, Mudtown is the old name for Eugene...so, clear as a clearcut in Stumptown?
P.S. I swear I tried to indent my paragraphs, but this blog program just erases my spaces!