Date: Tuesday, November 10
Distance: 22 miles
Destination: Symposium Coffee, Tigard, OR
Bike: Rivendell Bleriot
Beverage: Mocha
Bike Friendliness: Bike rack outside; viewable from large windows
Into bonus rides now, kind of like the fleche, where one has to ride a minimum of 360km, but you can keep going until you hit the 24 hour limit.
I had something to deliver in Tualatin, and it wasn't raining. I know how to get to Tualatin; it is between here and Wilsonville. But, how to get to that specific destination in Tualatin?
I would have taken my usual route through Cook Park, and gotten to the office from there. Spouse thought taking Durham Rd until it turned into 72nd and then riding through the big shopping mall (my destination was at the SW corner) would be faster. Mmmhmmm. (The red route is the outbound route, blue is the return)
And, wanting to coffeeneur someplace NICE and DIFFERENT, I checked for coffeeshops in historic downtown Tigard. Sure enough, right on the corner where I make the turn in Tigard, was Symposium Coffee.
I stepped outside and saw my breath. Excellent. Gray and cloudy, but not going to rain. Several layers and full lighting later, I was headed south, first working my way through neighborhoods, office parks, more neighborhoods and a bit of Denney Rd, to the prettiest part of the route, the Fanno Creek Trail.
Not many folks out, as it was a weekday mid-day. Heading south from Hall Blvd, I started thinking (dangerous) - it just rained. A lot. Would the Scholls Ferry Rd underpass be passable? Or would it be flooded, and I'd have to cross Scholls Ferry at grade?
It had been flooded, but the waters receded enough that I could slowly ride through. One more flooded spot a bit later, and then no more water issues.
The trail continues, sort of, south of Tigard Rd, but it isn't continuous, and has some street routing. I didn't know the extent of wayfinding signage, so I stuck to the route I knew, which is quite straightforward.
Through Tigard, then, when I would have kept straight on to go to Cook Park, I turned left on Durham. Very busy road, but it had a bike lane. After it turned into 72nd, I turned into the mall (one of those big Streets things), and slowly worked my way SW. Bad things happen in parking lots. I really dislike riding in parking lots.
But I did find my destination, transacted my business, and even ran into a former co-worker! Ex-Tektronix people are everywhere :-)
That managed, I tried a different route back to the trail - turned right out of the mall, and figured I'd turn left to get back to follow Boone's Ferry into "downtown" Tualatin, where I could get back on the trail. But! Even better! Directly across at the traffic light was Rivendell St, which I knew, from google map explorations, would take me to Arkenstone (I swear, those are the street names), which would dump me back onto a trail which lead to Cook Park.
Brief pause for a picture with the bike and street sign.
Oh this was so much nicer! Found the trail entrance, but had to make a brief across the grass detour where trail repaving was in process.
Through the park, up Hall Blvd, left into Tigard, and finally, back at Symposium Coffee. Artsy bike-shaped rack outside, by an enormous Mobius sculpture. More racks across the street at the transit center.
One large table, several smaller ones, each with one person at them. The large table had seating for 8, with 2 people in residence, so I took up a spot there.
Ordered a mocha, and what looked like one of two hazelnut pastries.
Made real progress on the sock. The young man at my end of the table asked about the knitting, so I asked if he was doing work or school on his computer (all people in coffeeshops these days seem to be staring at laptops). It was school, and we talked about his major, which was transitioning to electrical engineering, and then the conversation got way geeky. Oscilloscopes, sampling interval, and triggering may have been discussed.
Eventually the mocha and pastry were finished, and I had gotten into the stranded (two color) work on the sock. Time for the last errand of the outing, returning a library book - The Man in the High Castle, and I am still not sure about that book. It didn't seem terribly coherent.
Rather than turn onto Tigard St, I thought I'd try the new paved path which appeared to go in the same direction. And it did, until just before Tiedeman St, where I wanted to continue straight and it veered north. Got myself back onto Tigard St, and retraced my route until I got to 5th Ave in Beaverton, where I turned west to go by the library.
From there I returned home, and it was a very enjoyable outing all around.
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