Portland Eastside Ramble

Drove over to Portland's East side yesterday afternoon. First thing I noticed was this brand new fortress over by the airport:

FBI Portland Office

I swear it wasn't there last week. According to Google Earth, it's still not there.

First stop was IKEA, then Verizon, who directed us to Tech R Us for cell-phone repair. Smart phone glass replacement is going to take an hour, so we head over to Bearly Read Books. Okay, now we are heading into unexplored territiory. I have only been east of 205 maybe a half dozen times since we moved to Oregon. It's like a whole 'nother planet. Where downtown Portland is a tangled snarl of roads and bridges, the east side is a nice, flat, gird of asphalt streets. It was like being in foreign country.

Glendoveer Golf Course

On the way there we drive by Glendoveer Golf Course which looks like some kind of primeval fantasy land. Lush fields of green grass, which is what you expect on a golf course, but there was a also a forest of enormous trees. I've never seen anything like it.
    I did not see any golfers. Saw a few people with what looked like soccer balls. Evidently footgolf is now a thing.

Bearly Read Books

The place is totally crammed with books, almost all paperbacks. Aisles that in real stores lead to cross aisles that lead to more aisles are closed off here to provide more shelf space. The place is full of tiny little cul-de-sacs, each one devoted to a particular genre. Romance novels occupy an aisle that follows the walls and completely encircles everything else. Not surprising since they are the most read books in the world. Reminds me of the South American drug lord who was totally enamored of the Harlequin romances written by Joan Wilder in Romancing the Stone.

The high point has to be the Janet Evanovich Altar. I really like Janet's books. I've read a couple and they are great fun. I didn't realize that she had a cult following in East Portland.

I picked up half a couple of books:

• Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky
• The Burglar on the Prowl by Lawrence Block
• Vendetta by Michael Dibdin
• The Fifth Floor by Michael Harvey

I've read books by Block and Dibdin before, they're pretty great. Dostoevsky and Harvey, well, we'll just have to wait and see.

Portland Eastside Ramble

Heading home, I thought I would just follow Glisan (pronounced Gleason) Street west and see where it got me. After we had been driving for a while my wife noticed that we were driving by Providence Hospital, an East side Landmark that we visit annually. I was surprised, and then surprised that I was surprised because I knew Providence backed onto Glisan.