Very little time at work today + no rain = recipe for a joyride!
I couldn’t decide whether to spend some quality time beating myself up on the West Hills or go to Sauvie Island–so in typical stasia fashion ended up doing both:) First, a trip to the cherry blossoms on the waterfront. With all the rain and grey days this spring, I don’t feel like they’ve ever had a chance to really shine. The blossoms themselves are already starting to look sparse, but it was still pretty:
(blossoms + bridge)
(just blossoms)
I realized I’d never actually biked to Pittock Mansion, which seemed like an egregious oversight. So from there it was over to NW Portland to try to find my way through the schmancy neighborhoods by 24th and Johnson, where all the street names become something terrace and become quite steep. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find it, but at the last minute I followed an innocuous dead-end street up to the bottom of the mansion’s grounds. Yay!
 
(Pittock sure had a sweet mansion)
Since I hate coming back the same way I arrived, I opted to take the main way down from Pittock, but then instead of jumping on Burnside, took Barnes, which ultimately led me up some more hill to Skyline Blvd. Sweet!
(from Skyline Memorial Gardens cemetery)
After a bit on Skyline, I realized that if I jumped down Germantown to Highway 30, I could make it out to Sauvie Island, too. It seemed like way too nice of a day to pass it up, so away to Sauvie I went:) And seriously, what a glorious day to be on the island. The clouds were crazy amazing and when the sun was shining I’m not sure anything could have been better in the world.
(the bridge to Sauvie)
After an epic tour of the island, I headed for home over the St John Bridge, since that may be my favorite bridge. There certainly aren’t particularly good spaces for cyclists on it, I mean, but if you go slowly and take the sidewalk, the views are spectacular:
(looking south)
I’m not sure how long this joyride ended up being, but it was a good few hours and exactly what today needed. It also felt like grand adventure. I think because I didn’t really know where the streets I was taking would lead me (until I turned toward Sauvie, that is), and because I didn’t have a particular route in mind, it felt like I was making things up as I went–and since spontaneounsness is perhaps a lot more important to me than your average bear, that makes me a pretty happy biker.
Plus, who can argue with a day that finally feels like spring, where it didn’t rain on me for the entire time I was out? :)